BookTalk at BSC
BookTalk at BSC is the 黑料网 Library's annual book discussion series and made its debut in 2000. BookTalk discussions are held at the Library in Skogen Hall and are free and open to all.
The books can be borrowed from libraries or purchased from local booksellers. For more information, call 224-5450. BookTalk is funded by the BSC Library and the Warren and Rose Marie Henke Memorial Library Endowment.
BookTalk 2025 - Unmoored
“We are all migrants through time.” – Mohsin Hamid
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Discussion leader: Dr. Kim Crowley
- Due to water damage in Skogen Hall, the January BookTalk will now occur in the Alumni Room in the Student Union at 黑料网: Sunday, January 5, 1-3 PM
The Beekeeper of Aleppo: A Novel by Christy Lefteri
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, February 2, 1-3 PM
Exit West: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, March 2, 1-3 PM
Discussions at BSC Library – Skogen Hall, Room 204
· Free and open to all.
· Books can be checked out from local libraries or purchased from local or online booksellers.
· Funded by BSC Library and the Warren and Rose Marie Henke Memorial Library Endowment.
BookTalk 2024 - I Spy
“You never know who's watching.” – Don Mattingly
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage by Cliff Stoll
- Discussion leader: Dr. Karen Arlien
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, January 7, 1-3 PM
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton
- Discussion leader: Dr. Lynette Borjeson Painter
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, February 4, 1-3 PM
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, March 3, 1-3 PM
Discussions at BSC Library – Skogen Hall, Room 204
· Free and open to all.
· Books can be checked out from local libraries or purchased from local or online booksellers.
· Funded by BSC Library and the Warren and Rose Marie Henke Memorial Library Endowment.
BookTalk 2023 - Braided Lives
“There is no getting out of our intertwined history.” – Zadie Smith
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, January 8, 1-3 PM
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, February 5, 1-3 PM
The Grass Dancer by (Mona) Susan Power
- Discussion leader: Dr. Kimberly Crowley
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, March 12, 1-3 PM
BookTalk 2022 -- Journeys...
"Life is a journey, not a destination." - Colson Whitehead
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, January 9, 1-3 PM
Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan Jerkins
- Discussion leader: Dr. Charlotte Williams
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, February 6, 1-3 PM
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion at BSC Library: Sunday, March 6, 1-3 PM
BookTalk 2021 -- A Cautionary Tale
“We warn children by telling them unsettling fairy tales. These tales are for the grown-ups.” – Tim Harford
*This year, we will gather virtually. The discussions are free and open to all.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
- Discussion leader: Rachael Southam
- Discussion: Sunday, January 10, 1-3 PM
1984 by George Orwell
- Discussion leader: Tayo Basquiat
- Discussion: Sunday, February 7, 1-3 PM
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Discussion: Sunday, March 7, 1-3 PM
BookTalk 2020 -- Native Prairie
“The prairie is not a land to tell its story easily.” – Mary Taylor Young, Land of Grass and Sky
Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears by Diane Glancy
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Date: January 5, 1-3 P.M.
Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Date: February 9, 1-3 P.M.
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber
- Discussion leaders: Author Ann Weisgarber & Rachael Southam
- Date: March 8, 1-3 P.M.
BookTalk 2019 -- Off the Grid
“How many things there are that I do not want.” – Socrates, ca. 425 B.C.
Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
- Discussion leader: Dr. Kimberly Crowley
- Date: Sunday, January 6, 1-3 P.M.
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Date: Sunday, February 3, 1-3 P.M.
The Mosquito Coast: A Novel by Paul Theroux
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
- Date: Sunday, March 3, 1-3 P.M.
BookTalk 2018 -- ...And Justice For All
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
- Discussion leader: Dr. AnnMarie Kajencki
BookTalk 2017 -- The Prize That Wasn't: 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize isn't an idea. It's a vote of confidence. Like literature, it exists purely in the mind. -- Jeffrey Eugenides, Winner, 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Middlesex
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- Discussion leader: Tempe O'Kun
The Pale King by David Foster Wallace
- Discussion leader: Dr. AnnMarie Kajencki
BookTalk 2016 -- War Stories: Vietnam
But the thing about remembering is that you don’t forget. -- Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
Matterhorn: a Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
- Discussion leader: Dr. Perry Hornbacher
Going after Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
- Discussion leader: Dr. AnnMarie Kajencki
BookTalk 2015 -- Road Trip
The journey not the arrival matters. -- T. S. Eliot
Blue Highways: a Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon
- Discussion leader: Clay Jenkinson
Wild: from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
- Discussion leader: Dr. Janelle Masters
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek