All About Books
A weekly book review and discussion program hosted by Pat Leach. Updated on Thursdays.
Episodes
May 15, 2024 • 14 mins
For an apprentice librarian working on the luxury liner Titanic, being late for work turned out to be fortunate indeed. In the novel “The Titanic Survivors Book Club” the lucky librarian opens a bookstore in Paris and is invited into a most unusual book club of fellow Titanic survivors. Learn more from the author, UNL Professor of English and Creative Writing, Timothy Schaffert
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May 8, 2024 • 8 mins
A new landmark biography of Martin Luther King Jr. reveals him as a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements. This week a review of “King: a Life” by Jonathan Eig.
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May 1, 2024 • 8 mins
The mostly retired members of the “Thursday Murder Club” have a new mystery to solve. This adventure leads them into the antiques trade only to encounter drug dealers and art forgers. “The Last Devil to Die” is the latest in the very popular mystery series from Richard Osman.
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April 24, 2024 • 15 mins
Some readers give another chance to that novel which challenged them in school, for others it’s the comfort of the books they loved as a teenager. This week’s program wraps up our series on re-reading with Amy Mather Partnerships Manager for Omaha Public Libraries.
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April 17, 2024 • 8 mins
In the novel “Foster” by Claire Keegan, a small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when she will return home. In the strangers' house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before. Then a secret is revealed. Hear a review on this week’s “All About Books”
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April 10, 2024 • 16 mins
Part memoir, part investigative journalism, “The Exvangelicals” is NPR reporter Sarah McCammon’s story of growing up in the evangelical church only to question these beliefs later in life. Host Pat Leach interviewed McCammon about her experience.
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April 1, 2024 • 19 mins
Dr. Dolores Simpson-Kirkland, a retired counselor for Lincoln Public Schools, is the guest on this week’s “All About Books”, she talked to host Pat Leach about what titles she rereads for comfort, inspiration, and meditation.
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March 27, 2024 • 9 mins
Two books dealing with similar themes are reviewed this week Host Pat Leach looks at two releases recognizing the importance of wonder and awe in our lives. “Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age” by Katherine May and “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life” by Dacher Keltner
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March 20, 2024 • 15 mins
Two women come to Paris in 1938 as foreign correspondents- a shy pacifist Mennonite, the other a brash, American journalist who is soon to become a fascist propagandist. This is the scene for Omaha author Ted Wheeler’s new novel “The War Begins in Paris”. Hear an interview with Wheeler
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March 13, 2024 • 10 mins
Like most people, host Pat Leach has a guilty list of important and influential books she’s never gotten around to reading. One of these she recently picked up- the landmark conservation book, “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold. First published in 1949, this collection of essays vividly describes the land around the author’s home in Wisconsin.
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March 13, 2024 • 8 mins
It’s a psychological cat and mouse thriller set in an unexpected place- a small town public library. “How Can I Help You” by Laura Sims is chilling and darkly humorous. Hear a review from “All About Books” host, and retired librarian, Pat Leach.
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March 6, 2024 • 13 mins
Retired history Professor Bruce Pauley has written a readable history of his hometown, “Portrait of a City: Lincoln, Nebraska, at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” The book focuses on the everyday lives of people in Lincoln during an era that saw rapid change in technology and society.
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February 28, 2024 • 8 mins
This new biography is aimed at readers of any level of familiarity with the Nebraska author, “Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather” by Benjamin Taylor, takes readers on an exploration of Cather’s life, poetry, stories, and letters.
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February 21, 2024 • 9 mins
Erika Krouse has one of those faces that invite confessions from complete strangers. This led to her becoming a private investigator assisting law firms with their cases. Her book “Tell Me Everything” combines autobiography with True Crime as she details her investigation of a college student’s sexual assault by football players at major university.
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February 14, 2024 • 17 mins
The books most people come back to again and again are religious texts. This week “All About Books” welcomes Senior Minister of First Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, Reverend Dr. Jim Keck. He’ll speak to why people re read the Bible in ways similar, and yet different from other books.
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January 31, 2024 • 8 mins
A remote village in the Scandinavian tundra is not a place you’d expect a writer to tell an epic love story. This harsh environment, over 150 years ago, is the setting for the novel, “The End of Drum Time” by Hanna Pylväinen. Learn more about this story of a Lutheran minister trying to convert the native reindeer herders with their culture of age-old traditions.
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January 24, 2024 • 10 mins
NPR’s long-time legal correspondent Nina Totenberg has written a memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and close relationships, including her friendship of nearly fifty years with the lawyer who would become Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.“Dinners with Ruth: a Memoir on the Power of Friendships.”
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January 17, 2024 • 12 mins
Cartoonist Bill Watterson has largely been out of the public eye for nearly 30 years, ever since retiring from his hugely popular "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip. He’s back with a new and completely different project, “The Mysteries.” described as a fable for grownups. UNL Professor Richard Graham, a graphic novel expert, introduces this mysterious and beautiful work,
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January 10, 2024 • 12 mins
Part 2 of our conversation with of Aaron Douglas Professor of English at UNL, Stephen Buhler. He talks about why we re-read and teach certain books. He’ll discuss Shakespeare, how time and age change our reading, and his favorite books to read again.
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January 3, 2024 • 14 mins
An English Literature class typically reads classic works as generations of students have before. Why do we re-read these books? We asked this question of Aaron Douglas Professor of English at UNL, Stephen Buhler. He’ll talk about re-reading to teach and how time changes the reader- if not the book.
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