BookTalk at BSC
BookTalk at BSC is the Bismarck State College Library annual book discussion series and made its debut in 2000. BookTalk discussions are held in the library's 2nd floor conference room in LEA Hall, Room 204, 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 a grant from the BSCFoundation.
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.
A Cautionary Tale 2021 BookTalk Guide
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Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
- Discussion leader: Rachael Southam
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1984 by George Orwell
- Discussion leader: Tayo Basquiat
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
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BookTalk 2020 -- Native Prairie
“The prairie is not a land to tell its story easily.” – Mary Taylor Young, Land of Grass and Sky
Native Prairie 2020 BookTalk Guide
Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears by Diane Glancy.
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber
- Author was in attendance - a BSC First!
- Discussion leader: Rachael Southam
BookTalk 2019 -- Off the Grid
“How many things there are that I do not want.” – Socrates, ca. 425 B.C.
Off the Grid 2019 BookTalk Guide
Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
- Discussion leader: Dr. Kimberly Crowley
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
- Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek
The Mosquito Coast: A Novel by Paul Theroux
- Discussion leader: Michael Tomanek
BookTalk 2018 -- ...And Justice For All
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
BSC 2018 online guide
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