All About Books

“The Biography of X” by Catherine Lacey is a novel adventure. When a polarizing artist and writer known as “X” dies unexpectedly, her widow goes on a quest to write a biography only to discover a life filled with deceptions.

Ava Chin was confused that the stories her grandparents told her did not match the history she learned in school. Her research into family history and the father she never met, led to a single building in New York’s Chinatown where many of her ancestors lived. “Mott Street” by Ava Chin

Like others, author Amy Tan was becoming discouraged by a world filled with fear and strife. She turned to nature for relief, specifically the birds that visited her backyard. “All About Books” host Pat Leach talked with the author of the “Joy Luck Club” about her new book, “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” written and illustrated by Amy Tan

“The Berry Pickers” by Amanda Peters is a novel revealing the lives of migrant workers in Maine. It’s a harrowing story of Indigenous family separation and trauma.

Safiya Sinclair grew up in Jamaica with an oppressive Rastafarian father who thought women’s highest virtue was their obedience. She escaped this limited world through her mother’s gift of books, poetry, and education. Her memoir is “How to Say Babylon”

The Kaw River runs from the high plains of Colorado, through Nebraska, all the way to Kansas City. The prairie environment and the life the river sustains is the focus of the book “In the Country of the Kaw: A Personal Natural History of the American Plains” by James H. Locklear, director of conservation at Lauritzen Gardens.

A construction project uncovers a human skeleton in Pottstown Pennsylvania. The mystery of who this person was uncovers the history of a dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived together. Learn more about this New York Times bestseller, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride.

What can you learn from tapeworms and lice? A good deal according to Dr. John Janovy emeritus professor of biology at UNL. His new book, “Life Lessons from a Parasite” shows how these remarkable creatures can teach us how to deal with some of humanity’s most difficult problems.

A ready-to-retire CIA officer stationed in the Middle East has one final mission- which ends up going dangerously awry. That’s the plot of this year’s Edgar Award for Best First Novel, “The Peacock and the Sparrow” by J.S. Berry, who was herself a CIA officer.

This week “All About Books” welcomes Dylan Teut, Executive Director of the Plum Creek Literacy Festival to introduce the children’s picture book, “The Yellow Bus” by Loren Long. This New York Times #1 bestseller is about the long journey of a forgotten school bus that finds happiness and purpose in the most unexpected places.