The List - Nebraska Authors

Nebraska is a small state, population-wise, the majority of it living in the two biggest cities, Omaha and Lincoln. We're proud to be the birthplace and/or home of many famous people (okay, maybe not so proud of some of them). Some of those people we're so proud of are authors. Maybe you know some of these folks?

1. Ron Hansen - author of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (made into a movie starring Brad Pitt)

2. Roxane Gay - born in Nebraska, Gay is best known as the author of Bad Feminist and An Untamed State

3. Mignon Eberhart - at one time Eberhart was the leading female crime novelist in the U.S. and one of the highest paid female crime novelists in the world.

Willa Cather

4. L. Ron Hubbard (yeah, this is one we're not so proud of) - Hubbard wrote prolifically for pulp fiction magazines, mostly fantasy and science fiction works, before founding the Church of Scientology for which he is best known.

5. Nicholas Sparks - yes, THAT Nicholas Sparks, was born in Omaha and for a time lived in Grand Island, Nebraska, which is not in any way, shape, or form and island.

6. Richard Patrick Dooling - Dooling is the author of White Man's Grave which was a finalist in 1994 for the National Book Award in fiction.

7. Willa Cather - author of O, Pioneers and My Antonia, Cather is a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Timothy Shaffert

8. Alex Kava - best known for her Maggie O'Dell series, Kava has written 15 novels and been a contributor to a number of short story collections.

9. Timothy Schaffert - I've talked about Schaffert a lot on this blog as he is the driving force behind the Omaha Lit Fest and the author of several books, most recently The Swan Gondola.


10. Rainbow Rowell - Rowell started writing in Omaha as a columnist for the paper but gave that up to begin writing novels. As much as I enjoyed her column, I'm mighty glad she gave it up to write Eleanor and Park among others.

The List - Spring Reading

So, yeah, that whole #readmyowndamnbooks thing is a great idea, in theory, but Netgalley had so many shiny new books that called to me. And TLC Book Tours had a couple of books I couldn't pass up even as I'm trying to pull away from scheduled reviews. Plus, there are book club selections to be read.

What I'm saying is, my spring is pretty filled up with books I need to read once I finish the books I have going right now. I'm looking forward to all of them so it's not going to be a terrible task to do the reading (although I will have to battle The Big Guy to get the iPad as much as I'm going to need it). Here's what's on the agenda:

Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen

At The Edge Of The Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

When The Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

A House For Happy Mothers Amulya Malady

Beyond The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

The Secret Daughter by Shilpa Somaya Gowda

I'm pretty excited about all of these but I'm also hoping to add in a couple of more books from my shelves and my Nook. I did, after all, recently download Notorious RBG and I'm so eager to get to that one. Of course, that's what I saw about all of my pretties when I look at them!

What are you hoping to read in the next couple of months?