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.

“This month I’ve been reading Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The novel, set in 1920s Mexico, follows Casiopea Tun after she accidentally frees Hun-Kamé, the Mayan god of death, and must go on a quest to help him reclaim his throne from his brother. I picked up a copy from Half Price Bookstore because I read her other novel Mexican Gothic and really enjoyed it.” -Sarah Kee

“I’m apparently on an unintentional World War II historical fiction spree. I recently finished The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan. It is a novel about three women from very different backgrounds (a librarian, a Jewish refugee, and a university-bound teenager) who come together to create and maintain a community built around books in wartime London while navigating war-created challenges in their personal lives. I’m now reading The Stranger from Berlin, a novel by Melissa Amateis, a familiar name to those who know her from the Center for Great Plains Studies. The paths of two people with secrets intersect: a history professor from Germany who has been dismissed from the University of Nebraska for suspected Nazi sympathies and a war widow and single mother who is feeling increasingly out of place in the small town that bills itself as ‘the most patriotic town in Nebraska.'” -Joyce Gettman

“I am making my way through books gifted to me over time and am fully, passionately invested in Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. Theo is an old man who appears in the southern town of Golden on business not yet known and finds himself the purchaser of hand-drawn portraits of the town’s residents. His mission is to gift each one to its subject, making meaningful connections along the way and radiating genuine kindness and generosity to unexpecting strangers. Especially while humans have forgotten to be kind to one another, I don’t ever want this book to end.” -Taylor Gilreath

“I’m going to Ireland in September so wanted to get a better sense of Irish history. Just started reading David McKittrick’s Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland to get a better sense of the complexity of Ireland’s and Northern Ireland’s relationship with each other as well as with England. That work is serious hardcore history, so I also thought a little escapist fiction about Ireland might be in order, so I started reading James L. Nelson’s Fin Gall: A Novel of Viking Age Ireland. Nelson isn’t Irish, but he has been a sailor, and I trust the storytelling of folks who have been to sea.” -Clark Whitehorn

“This month I’ve been reading The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis. The novel follows a female anthropologist and her tragic experience in 1930’s Egypt and then fast-forwards to New York in the 1970’s and her job at the Met. The heroine must return to Egypt to confront her past, sparking everything from mystery, to romance, to fantasy, and I’m really enjoying it so far. My husband gave me the book because he knows I like this author and her other books, especially The Spectacular.” -Emily Casillas

“I’ve been reading The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout, which is the first selection for the book club partnership between Revolving Books and the University of Nebraska Press! The writing in this book is captivating and descriptive, and while the book was written years ago, the storyline is relevant to events we see unfolding today. I’ve really enjoyed the online engagement of the virtual book club, with chapter-by-chapter discussion on the Fable app.” -Lacey Losh

“This month I’ve been returning to Thanks for This Riot by Janelle Bassett, which UNP published back in 2024. Bassett is such a clever writer, and I’ve been in need of a good laugh. I also finally got my hands on Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second book in the Southern Reach series. I heard from many that it does not quite live up to the first, but I disagree! While the horror of ecological disaster and otherworldly entities loomed large in Annihilation, the malevolent workings of a humanity that can’t understand its own destruction in Authority made the horror hit even closer to home. Complacency was in fact the specter flying over every page of the story, and the true death knell of humanity. I’m excited to see where VanderMeer takes me next.” -Rebecca Jefferson