All About Books

She was one of the most successful novelists and playwrights of our times who inspired generations of writers. On this week’s “All About Books”, an overdue introduction to Agatha Christie from Scott Clark a Christie enthusiast and expert.

The annual guide to holiday gift giving for all the readers and pre-readers in your life. Leslie Huerta returns with book suggestions for every interest: fiction, non-fiction, history, cookbooks, sports, and titles for young adults and children.

Carla Ketner’s son came up with the idea when she had difficulty choosing the subject for her first children’s book. Why not tell the life story of fellow Seward resident and friend, Ted Kooser? Hear an interview with author Carla Ketner and Omaha artist Paula Wallace as they collaborated in the creation of “Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder"

Reading to small children is a cherished part of family life, but introducing books to older children can also be a rewarding activity. Guest reader Mary Kay Roth joined host Pat Leach this week to talk about re-reading and discussing favorite books with adult children.

Omaha writer John J. Waters is a former U.S. Marine and Afghanistan and Iraq veteran. His novel, “River City One” follows a former soldier adrift who finds the hardest part of going to war might be coming home. Hear his conversation with host Pat Leach about the novel’s creation.

He travels to schools and libraries across the state presenting poetry, he teaches, writes and finds time to read too. Busy as he is, Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason keeps returning to certain books- find out what they are and how raising kids offeres another opportunity to re-read great books.

As co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Mary Louise Kelly finds herself in the common conflict between a demanding career and being present for her 2 teen-age children. Their time together before they leave home is running out. The story of this struggle is found in her book, “It Goes So Fast: the Year of No Do Overs.”

New York Times best-selling author Tosca Lee is a Nebraska writer and avid reader. She joins host Pat Leach this week to share the books she keeps returning to and her reasons for doing so.

South Dakota rancher Dan O’Brien knows a lot about bison. He’s operated a bison ranch for decades and was asked by the University Nebraska Press to write a book on the topic. Host Pat Leach talked to O’Brien about his book, "Great Plains Bison" and his appearance in the upcoming Ken Burn’s documentary, “The American Buffalo..”

“In Old God’s Time” by Sebastian Barry is a novel of love, trauma, memory and loss set along the Irish Sea. Hear a review of this novel which was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

Are there books you return to again and again? “All About Books” is asking readers which ones they revisit, and why. Writer, reader… and re-reader, Joanne Young joins host Pat Leach to talk about the books she keeps reaching for and what she’s learned from reading a good book again.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, “His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and Struggle for Social Justice” reveals the systemic racism that shaped Floyd’s life, his family history, and his tragic end.

He’s interviewed Presidents from Air Force One and followed Syrian refugees fleeing war, “All Things Considered” host Ari Shapiro shares the stories behind the reporting in his first book. “The Best Strangers in the World” Stories from a Life Spent Listening” Hear a review on this week’s “All About Books”

The One Book, One Nebraska selection has been named- “The Mystery of Hunting’s End” by Lincoln native Mignon Eberhart. “All About Books” welcomes Nebraska Wesleyan Professor Rick Cypert to introduce both the novel and life of this very popular early 20th century Nebraska author.

“The Crane Wife: a Memoir in Essays” by C.J. Hauser, are frank and funny reflections on love and intimacy. Incorporating friends, lovers, family and chosen family, it’s a new more expansive definition of love.

The beginning was bleak. There was no dedicated practice space and they had to raise money themselves for uniforms. Nebraska Women’s Volleyball has come a very long way. Hear an interview with journalist and author John Mabry about what happened behind the scenes in this rags to riches sports story. His new book is, “Nebraska Volleyball: The Origin Story”

Since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have described the males of the animal kingdom as dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted. A new book takes a fresh look at animal behavior with less bias. Hear a review of “Bitch: On the Female of the Species” by Lucy Cooke

Leading a team of chemists as woman in the corporate world of the 60’s was unusual. Elizabeth Zott is the unusual main character in the novel “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus. In store for Zott are single motherhood and hosting the countries best-loved cooking show. It's a witty take on mid century feminism.

Bird watching is the starting point for UNL Professor Thomas Gannon to visit other important topics. Enduring childhood poverty and prejudice, Indian Boarding School in South Dakota, and transcendent moments encountering birds of the Great Plains. Hear an interview with Gannon about his new book, “Birding While Indian: a Mixed Blood Memoir”.

“Horse” by Geraldine Brooks is a novel that leaps from 1850 to 1950 and finally to our time. It features an extraordinary race horse and the enslaved groom who helps him win and a painting of them both which haunts a modern art historian.

When a Lincoln man and his wife realized they were about to deal with Alzheimer’s together, there wasn’t a book that adequately explained everything they were to face. “Dear Judy: a Love Story Rewritten by Alzheimer’s” is the book Michael James wrote to help others make this journey.

The aptly named novel, “Trust” is about a man who accumulated a fortune in the early 20th century stock market. The flimflam nature of the stock market, its collapse in ’29 and even the unreliable nature of the story the author tells, are elements of this book that won the Noble Prize for Literature. “Trust” by Hernan Diaz

“Easy Beauty” is philosophy professor and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Chloe Cooper Jones memoir. It’s a frank depiction of her life with a congenital condition that affects her height, how she moves and her life with continuous pain- both physical, and always being seen as lesser.

In a mysterious, isolated town, motherhood has a different dimension- mothers sometimes disappear. In the novel “Elsewhere” author Alexis Schaitkin has written an allegory exploring motherhood, individual and community identity.

Three good friends leave Alabama to join the Army, eventually they're stationed in the exotic paradise of Manila. Then Pearl Harbor happened. What followed for U.S. servicemen in the Pacific was horrific. Nebraska author Tosca Lee has co-written a work of historical fiction about this time and place, “The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific” by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee.