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 The Midnight Shift, a vampire murder mystery, by Cheon Seon-Ran and translated by Gene Png. I picked it up because I have been trying to read more translated literature this year, and I generally enjoy reading anything that has to do with vampires.” -Sarah Kee

“I just finished Votes for Women! American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling. I didn’t expect this suffragist history to be so engaging, but Conkling weaves the fight for the vote together beautifully over a long span of time and great many historical figures. This feels particularly relevant in the era of the SAVE Act. Another great book on this topic for younger readers (that I had the pleasure of designing) is The Silent Sentinels by Jason Nord.” -Lacey Losh

“Recently I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, which is a classic that I’ve been meaning to get to for a long time. It was surprising and devastating, and I’m already planning on reading more from Hurston. I’ve also been listening to a biography, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance by A’Lelia Bundles to learn more about the period that Hurston was publishing in. A’Lelia Walker was Madam CJ Walker’s heiress daughter, so it’s a fascinating look at wealth and race in New York during the 20s and 30s.” -Madison Wigley

“I’m reading Heartwood by Amity Gaige, a detective mystery about a middle-aged woman who goes missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine. The story centers on her experience being lost and the young female park warden who’s in charge of the search for her. With several interesting peripheral characters/stories, it’s been good so far. I started listening to it on my drive but just returned it to borrow the print version; much of the novel is comprised of the interior dialogue of the two main characters and it’s not working (for me) as an audio book. Detective novels are my go-to for the commute, easy to keep track of the story line when coping with less-than-thoughtful drivers!” -Annie Shahan

“This month I am reading Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life by Ferris Jabr. I have become very curious about how exactly life evolved billions of years ago, and this book, so far, has been a nice summary of that very complicated story.” -Clare Jones

“I am on a Toni Morrison journey right now and am reading Sula for the first time. This is Morrison’s second novel about the coming of age of two young girls in a small Black community in post-WWI Ohio. I recently read The Bluest Eye and will start Beloved for the second time when I’m finished with Sula. I feel that reading Morrison is a conscious commitment one must carve the time to experience; she’s not a quick, mindless read. She commands one’s full attention having written so beautifully and achingly about being Black in the Deep South. I’m looking forward to listening to Namwali Serpell’s upcoming literary analysis, On Morrison, on audio.” -Taylor Gilreath

“I’ve been reading H. G. Parry’s The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, a novel about a scholar who keeps bringing fictional literary characters to life and whose lawyer brother has to help him contain the wayward creations. It’s a wonderful exploration of the power of literature over our imaginations. I’ve always liked Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart, where the focus is on containing a single villainous character, so I figured Parry’s book would be equally fun. I also just finished James Nelson’s The Lord of Vík-ló, the third book in the Norsemen Saga, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this poor band of Vikings led by Thorgrim Night Wolf are never going to escape Ireland. It’s a bit like ‘Hotel California.’ He keeps checking out but he can never leave. Guess it’s a lesson about invading and raiding countries that don’t want you there.” -Clark Whitehorn

“I decided to start making my way through the book stack I acquired at AWP 2026 with Tim Hillegonds’ memoir And You Will Call It Fate. It was a moving examination of recovery, and what we owe to those who simultaneously help and harm us. Hillegonds eschews easy answers; the memoir’s greatest strength for me was sitting in the in-between. So many of the things we do to and for each other can’t fit into easy boxes and descriptions, Hillegonds tells us that’s okay, that love, hurt, and the overwhelming generosity of almost strangers is just a fact of our human condition.” -Rebecca Jefferson

“I just finished West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. This novel was a fictional retelling of the real-life event of transporting two giraffes that survived a hurricane across the U.S. in 1938. An interesting story in itself, Lynda Rutledge brings to life the characters, including a teenaged boy who lost his family in the Dust Bowl, a female photographer, and the keeper of the giraffes, whose lives become intertwined during the transport. I loved this book and now have a higher appreciation for giraffes and the challenges zoos endured to procure animals.” -Emily Casillas