All About Books
A weekly book review and discussion program hosted by Pat Leach. Updated on Thursdays.
Episodes
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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December 29, 2023 • 9 mins
Not long ago, Beth Moore was filling arenas as a popular speaker and Bible teacher, especially to women in the Southern Baptist church. Her memoir, “All My Knotted Up Life”, reveals her abusive childhood and how evangelicals embrace of Trump eventually led to her leaving the church.
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December 20, 2023 • 15 mins
Eric Buchanan is an avid reader who’s enjoyed introducing his reading group and his adult sons to books he’s passionate about. He gained new insight into his favorite books by the different things these readers picked up on.
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December 13, 2023 • 18 mins
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.
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December 6, 2023 • 17 mins
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.
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