UNP staff members are always reading new books, both within our list and outside of what we publish. Here are some of the titles where our noses have been buried.

“I recently finished Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson. The author’s poetic storytelling style drew me into this middle grade book. The main character is the child of an NFL player, enjoying his life filled with friendship, adventure, and family connection. You see the story through his eyes, as his father begins to experience side effects from his many concussions over his years as a football player. Personality changes, memory loss, and the extreme pain of his traumatic brain injuries leave his father almost unrecognizable at times. While focusing on challenging subject matter, powerful expressions of love and community fill the pages of this story.” -Lacey Losh

“From September to November I like to read books that feel like autumn and Halloween, so I’ve kicked off my ‘spooky’ reads with From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty, which examines different cultural practices surrounding how we take care of our loved ones after they pass, and The Yellow WallPaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a classic crossover of feminist and horror literature.” -Taylor Martin

“This month, I’ve been reading John Mabry’s Nebraska Volleyball. It’s a great read for any Husker Volleyball fan wanting to learn more about the history of the program at UNL! My other read for this month has been the out-of-print Bison Books edition of Mignon Eberhart’s The Patient in Room 18, which follows Nurse Sarah Keate as a patient has been found dead at St. Ann’s hospital and the radium used to treat them has disappeared. I found a copy on Thrift Books’ online store to complete my Bison Books Eberhart collection.” -Sarah Kee

“I’m currently reading Plainsong by Kent Haruf, a novel that’s been on my TBR list for quite a while that I found at a thrift store! Told through the eyes of different residents of a town in Colorado, the landscape narrative and themes of rugged living are well written. I like to sprinkle Cormac McCarthy books in my fiction circle, and the setting of the harsh Great Plains in Plainsong kind of reminds me of his writing. Not necessarily a classic, but a very accessible and bestselling novel for readers that enjoy shifting POV and landscape-driven stories!” -Taylor Gilreath

“I’m borrowing Tayler’s copy of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. There’s nothing more I can say that reviewers haven’t said already!” -Rosemary Sekora

“I just finished The Spectacular by Fiona Davis. Although the novels by this author are hit or miss, I really enjoyed this one. Davis takes us back to 1950s Manhattan, where a young woman decides to follow her dream of becoming a Radio City Rockette rather than agreeing to her father’s wishes to marry her high school sweetheart. In addition to her rebellion, she teams up with a psychologist to track down a criminal who has been terrorizing the city. This book includes lots of girl power, along with a bit of mystery and suspense.” -Emily Casillas