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 received a copy of No-No Boy by John Okada while attending the AUP conference in Seattle and started reading it on the flight home. The opening reception began with an interesting talk from Shawn Wong about the history and importance of this novel, which follows a Japanese-American in the aftermath of the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.” -Sarah Kee

“I just finished Wyrd Sisters by Sir Terry Pratchett. Wyrd Sisters is part of the Discworld series, which can be read in any order and super funny, and the second of the Witches books. I’ve also been reading Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus, which is a cross-country journey of hot dogs, class, capitalism, and American food culture written by a comedian who made it her mission to eat five hot dogs a day during her hot dog research.” -Taylor Martin

“I’m reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, which looks at the many lives and communities inside Annawadi, a slum right outside the Mumbai International Airport. Boo spent almost four years in Mumbai learning about the systemic corruption behind India’s economic boom, which left the rich richer and the poor fighting for their lives in poverty with the backdrop of a sparkly, multimillion-dollar airport. It is at times a devastating read, but a necessary one to understand the human impact on global change.” -Taylor Gilreath

“As part of Kindle Unlimited, I get to select a certain number of free books to read every month, so on a whim I chose one, T. Kingfisher’s Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief, because I liked the cover and title. This highly entertaining story is about nine goblins magically transported from a battlefield where they are fighting humans to a forest where they encounter an elf veterinarian (the elves are also the goblins’ enemy). Sergeant Nessilka and her “Whinin’ Niners” must then engage with a world of elves, trolls, and humans to return home, and they find an unlikely ally in the elf veterinarian, Sings-to-Trees. I love the way this narrative makes goblins the relatable protagonists rather than the evil foils found in so many other fantasy books. I’ve also been reading Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water: A Trilogy, the story of his raising pet otters on the wild Scottish coast. This trilogy published by Godine brings together three non-fiction books Maxwell wrote and published about otters and other wildlife encounters in the 1960s: Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Seek Thy Brother (1969). Otters are always fascinating, but I hadn’t heard of this book until someone referenced it in the context of promoting Marcy Cottrell Houle’s book about peregrine falcons, Wings for my Flight, and what it did to help awareness about their endangered status.” -Clark Whitehorn

“I have been reading Let the Forest Go, a new volume of poetry by Justin Wymer, published by University of Kentucky Press.” -Clare Jones

“I recently finished Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart. This is a novel told through the lens of a 10-year-old girl who’s navigating her half-Jewish, half-Korean heritage as the stepchild of a white mother. She’s been kept in the dark about her long-lost biological mother and ends up turning to the AI in her chess board as comfort, confidant, and to help her make sense of clues about her parents and their lives.” -Lacey Losh

“This month I read Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, which is based on a real event in which 27 people drowned while trying to cross the channel from France to England on an inflatable dinghy. The French authorities refused to send help and claimed the passengers were in English waters. Delecroix narrates from the perspective of the French woman who answered the desperate calls for help from those in the dinghy as it was capsizing, which made for a very fascinating and uncomfortable perspective as she is questioned by police after the fact. It’s not light reading, but it is a very short novel, and very relevant, so I highly recommend it!” -Madison Wigley