All About Books | NET Radio

The most unusual novel about Abraham Lincoln ever written might be this years’ Man Booker Prize winner, “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders. It’s a moving father-son story with unforgettable characters both living and dead.

When a historic barn burns in Amish country, what looks like an accident turns out to be murder. Guest reviewer Marlene Cupp looks at the newest Linda Castillo mystery “A Gathering of Secrets”

A deep dive into the complexities of Berlin, told through a parade of characters who reveal the city’s past and present. The novel, “Here in Berlin” by Cristina Garcia

A look at graphic novels that earned main stream critical acclaim and pack an emotional punch. UNL’s Richard Graham reviews, “Sabrina” by Nick Drnaso the first graphic novel nominated for a Man Booker Prize and the memoir, “Rosalie Lightning” by Tom Hart.

A debut novel called, “American War” by Omar El Akkad, draws a bleak, dystopian vision of America entering a second civil war over fossil fuels. A young Louisiana girl is trained as an assassin to take revenge for her family and community.

Fleeing a country teetering on the brink of civil war, a young couple head into an uncertain future where they struggle to hold on to each other, their past, and a sense of who they are. “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid

Historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the gruesome world of nineteenth-century surgery and how a young, Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister transformed the field through the use of antiseptics. "The Butchering Art"

An award-winning debut novel set in Nigeria, features the alternating voices of husband and wife as they reveal the story of their marriage--and the forces that threaten to tear it apart. "Stay With Me" by Ayobami Adebayo

New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay has written a sensitive memoir about her struggles with food, her weight, health and the emotional issues behind it all. “Hunger” by Roxane Gay

Elizabeth Smith and her husband William Friedman are considered the Adam and Eve of modern cryptology. Elizabeth broke multiple versions of the Nazi’s enigma code in South America. Her remarkable life is told in “The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who...

A small town has big dreams that the success of their amateur hockey team will revitalize the local economy. What the community is willing to do to make their sports dreams come true, tears families and the town apart. “Beartown” by Fredrick Backman is one of the finalists for this year's, "One Book...

A failed novelist about to turn 50 runs away from a wedding invitation from a former boyfriend in a hilarious journey of escape and discovery. Winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Literature, “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer.

Inspired by the events of an actual textile-mill strike in 1929, a new novel tells the story of an ordinary Appalachian woman’s struggle for dignity and her rights in a North Carolina textile mill. “The Last Ballad” by Wiley Cash.

Separated from her parents as a young girl, Channy Laux survived starvation and brutality during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970’s. She joined “All About Books” host Pat Leach in the studio to talk about “Short Hair Detention”, her memoir of survival and coming to Lincoln Nebraska as a teenager

A new PBS series is asking the country, “What’s your favorite novel?" “The Great American Read” starts this week on NET. “All About Books” host, Pat Leach talks with Bill Gardner, Vice President of Programming at PBS, about the “Great American Read” series and how book fans can participate.