This is just one of the books that KERA listeners suggest Texans read to learn more about the Lone Star State.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: A Cleburne college student is getting lots of criticism for her African animal hunt; Dallas Cowboys read mean tweets; a recap of the New Cities summit; and more.

• What are the 12 books every Texan should read? On a recent episode of KERA’s Anything You Ever Wanted to Know, a listener new to Texas asked for suggestions of books that would help him to learn about the Lone Star state. So we polled the smartest audience in radio, and we’ve created this list of the 12 books listeners recommended the most. There’s “The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes.” There’s “Goodbye to a River.” Don’t forget “The Son” by Philipp Meyer and “Texas” by James Michener. Read all about it here.

• A writer who visited Dallas for the New Cities Summit examines the state of the city. Aaron M. Renn writes on NewGeography that while not many urbanists are fans of Dallas-Fort Worth, it’s “unfair to judge the quality of a city without considering where it is at in its lifecycle.” North Texas is young compared to other metro areas.  “It’s not everyday when you can be part of building a new aspirational future for a city that’s already been a successful boomtown,” Renn wrote. “The locals I talked to were pretty pumped about their city and where it’s going.”

• A Texas Tech student from Cleburne is attracting controversy for posting Facebook pictures of animals she has shot and killed in Africa. In fact, she’s generated international attention. Thousands of comments from people opposed to hunting have flooded Kendall Jones’ Facebook page. One man told her he hopes she gets eaten by a lion. Another called her a coward. She’s also been called “scum,” “bimbo” and “horrible.” A British tabloid called her the “Baby Faced Killer.” Jones has been in Zimbabwe and South Africa, hunting leopards, elephants, crocodiles and other animals with bows and guns, the Cleburne Times-Reviewreports. “I really am shocked at how rude many people are by name calling and swearing,” Jones told the newspaper. She wrote on her Facebook page: “How can it be possible that someone can love the earth, and take from the Earth in the name of conservation? For some folks, they’ll never understand. For the rest of us…we were born that way.” On Facebook, she says she hopes to eventually host a television program. When she was a kid, she traveled with her dad to Africa – she was too small to hold her dad’s guns. Gawker has written about Jones with this headline: “Meet the Texas Cheerleader Famous for Killing Animals in Africa.” See the animal hunt pictures here.

• Lots of people can’t stand the Dallas Cowboys – or at least their losing ways – and they’re sharing their disappointment on Twitter. Last week, some of the Cowboys appeared on camera to read some of those mean Tweets. Tony Romo read this one: “I want the Dallas Cowboys to be the pallbearers at my funeral so they can let me down one last time.” Romo responded: “Well just give us your number!” Brandon Carr read this one: “Brandon Carr is OVERpaid and OVERrated!! He’s been getting burnt like toast all year. Smh (Shaking my head)!!!!” Carr responded by eating some bread.

• Credit the drought for a ring reunion. An 84-year-old Washington state woman will soon be reunited with her 1953 university class ring after someone found it in a dried-up West Texas lake. Elizabeth Clark lost her Howard Payne University class ring in 1954 in Lake Nasworthy near San Angelo when she and her future husband went for a picnic and to wade into the water. After years of drought, the ring revealed itself in the bed of the lake and was found by a Texas woman in March. Clark’s daughter says the ring means the world to her mother because she worked so hard to become the lone child out of 16 to finish college. The ring will be returned to Clark at a family reunion Friday near Lubbock. [The Associated Press]