BookTalk at BSC
BookTalk at BSC is the ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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.
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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 ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥: Sunday, January 5, 1-3 PM
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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: ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
“ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥re is no getting out of our intertwined history.” – Zadie Smith
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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. ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥se tales are for the grown-ups.” – Tim Harford
*This year, we will gather virtually. ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
“ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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.
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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.
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Stranger in the Woods: ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
- Date: Sunday, February 3, 1-3 P.M.
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Mosquito Coast: A Novel by Paul ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥roux
- 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Round House by Louise Erdrich
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
- Discussion leader: Dr. AnnMarie Kajencki
BookTalk 2017 -- ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Prize That Wasn't: 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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, ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Things ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥y Carried
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ Things ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥y 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
ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ 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