Focus on Nebraska authors: Mary Pipher

If your book group would like to select a nonfiction title to read, let me suggest getting to know Mary Pipher. Mary lives in Lincoln with her husband Jim and has written 9 books – four of which we have in our Book Club collection. My book group read The Middle of Everywhere a few years ago and as the setting for the text is Lincoln, many people recognized several locations and people mentioned. That is always an intriguing element of a book with a local author. The book is also informative as Mary presents Lincoln as a refugee relocation center and illustrates how new citizens of Lincoln need assistance. She coins the expression cultural broker and explains the sorts of ways she provides help to refugees earnestly trying to make the United States their home. My group had an excellent discussion with this title and I think yours could too. A colleague and I both read Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World at the same time and had great discussions. With this book we learned about Mary’s background and her personal life especially in terms of negotiating balance between her family and promoting her books. Mary read from this book at the Nebraska Book Festival sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and it was a pleasure hearing her voice present her own text.