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BookTalk at BSC

BookTalk at BSC is the Bismarck State College 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.

Online BookTalk Guides

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 Bismarck State College: 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

BSC 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 at BSC 2023 Online Guide 

BookTalk 2022 -- Journeys...

"Life is a journey, not a destination." - Colson Whitehead
BSC BookTalk 2022 Journeys

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 at BSC 2022 Online Guide

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.
BSC BookTalk 2021 a Cautionary Tale

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

A Cautionary Tale 2021 BookTalk Guide

BookTalk 2020 -- Native Prairie

BSC 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. 

Native Prairie 2020 BookTalk Guide

BookTalk 2019 -- Off the Grid

BSC 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.

Off the Grid 2019 BookTalk Guide

BookTalk 2018 -- ...And Justice For All

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.BSC BookTalk 2018 And Justice for All

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

BSC BookTalk 2017 The Prize That Wasn'tThe 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

BSC BookTalk 2016 War Stories: VietnamBut 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

BSC BookTalk 2015 Road TripThe 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