Fireside Readers Book Discussion Group (Wayne College)

2024

• February 26 , 2024: My Promised Land: the Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit
• March 18, 2024: Under a White Sky: the Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
• April 22, 2024: Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
• May 20, 2024: Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
• June 24, 2024: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by  Ed Yong
• July 22, 2024: Congratulations, the best is over! essays by R. Eric Thomas
• August 26, 2024: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk
• Sept. 23, 2024: Complicit: How we Enable the Unethical and How to Stop by Max H. Bazerman
• Oct. 28, 2024: The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann
• Nov. 25, 2024:  What an Owl Knows: the New Science of the World's most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
• Jan. 27, 2025: A Promised Land by Barack Obama

2023

• Feb. 27, 2023: South to America: a journey below the Mason-Dixon to understand the soul of a nation by Imani Perry
• March 27, 2023: Mobituaries: great lives worth reliving by Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg
• April 24, 2023: Solito: a memoir by Javier Zamora
• May 22, 2023: The world beyond your head: on becoming an individual in an age of distraction by Matthew B. Crawford
• June 26, 2023: Lady in waiting: an extraordinary life in the shadow of the crown by Anne Glenconner.
• July 24, 2023: Downton Shabby: one American's ultimate DIY adventure restoring his family's English castle by Hopwood DePree
• Aug. 28, 2023: How the word is passed: a reckoning with the history of slavery across America by Clint Smith
• Sept. 25, 2023: River of the gods: genius, courage, and betrayal in the search for the source of the Nile by Candice Millard
• Oct. 23, 2023: Finding me by Viola Davis
• Nov. 27, 2023: Madhouse at the end of the Earth: the Belgica's journey into the dark Antarctic night by Julian Sancton
• Jan. 22, 2024: Why we drive: toward a philosophy of the open road by Matthew B. Crawford

Fall 2022

• August 22, 2022: All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
• September 26, 2022: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by James Carreyrou
• October 24, 2022: The Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees Above Us by Meg Lowman
• November 28, 2022: An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives by Matt Richtel
• January 23, 2023: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

Spring 2022

• February 28, 2022: Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang
• March 28th, 2022: Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper
• April 25, 2022: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
• May 23, 2022: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
• June 27, 2022: I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg
• July 25, 2022: Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia by Lisa Dickey

Fall 2021

• August 23, 2021: I am Malala: the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai 
• September 25, 2021: Long walk to freedom: the autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela
• October 18, 2021: Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace in Israel by Elias Chacour
• November 22, 2021: We Can Make a Life: A Memoir of Family, Earthquakes, and Courage by Chessie Henry
• January 24, 2022: The Path Between the Seas: the creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 by David McCullough

Spring 2021

• February 22, 2021: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• March 22, 2021: Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams
• April 26, 2021: Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade
• May 24, 2021: Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght
• June 28, 2021: The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
• July 26, 2021: An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan

Fall 2020

• September 28, 2020: The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone. 
• October 26, 2020:  The pioneers: the heroic story of the settlers who brought the American ideal West by David McCullough
• November 23, 2020: A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost.
• January 25, 2021: Grant by Ron Chernow.

Spring 2020

• February 24, 2020: Say nothing: A true story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
• June 1, 2020: Dutch girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen 
• June 1, 2020: All the way home: building a family in a falling-down house by David Giffels
• June 29, 2020: Elderhood: Redefining aging, transforming medicine, reimagining life by Louise Aronson
• July 27, 2020: An American summer: Love and death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz
• August 24, 2020: The year without summer: 1816 and the volcano that darkened the world and changed history by William K. Klingaman and Nicholas P. Klingaman.

Fall 2019

• August 26, 2019: Becoming by Michelle Obama
• September 23, 2019: Full tilt: Ireland to India with a bicycle by Dervia Murphy.
• October 28, 2019: Love wins : the lovers and lawyers who fought the landmark case for marriage equality by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell
• November 25, 2019: The Elephant whisperer: My life with the herd in the African wild by Lawrence Anthony
• January 27, 2020: 1968: The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky

Spring 2019:

• February 25, 2019: I'll be gone in the dark:  One woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
• March 18, 2019: Just mercy: A story of justice and redemption by Bryan Stevenson
• April 22, 2019: We are all shipwrecks: A memoir by Kelly Grey Carlisle
• May 20, 2019: Endurance: A year in space, a lifetime of discovery by Scott Kelly
• June 24, 2019: Enlightenment NOW: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress by Steven Pinker
• July 22, 2019: The Library book by Susan Orlean

Fall 2018:

• July 23, 2018: All Creatures Great and Small by James Harriot
• August 27, 2018: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan
• September 24, 2018: Mercies in Disguise by Gina Kolata
• October 22, 2018: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
• November 26, 2018: Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
• January 18, 2018: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser.

Spring 2018:

• January 22, 2018: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
• February 26, 2018: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
• March 19, 2018: Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
• April 23, 2018:  Prince Charles by Sally Bedell Smith
• May 21, 2018: The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan
• June 25, 2018: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Fall 2017:

• July 24, 2017:  Born a Crime: Stories from a South African childhood by Trevor Noah
• August 28, 2017: Hillbilly elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis by J.D. Vance
• September 25, 2017: Barbarian days: A surfing life by William Finnegan
• October 23, 2017: Hidden Figures: The American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly
• November 27, 2017: When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi

Spring 2017:

• January 23, 2017: Andrew Wyeth: A secret life by Richard Meryman
• February 27, 2017: Resistance: A woman's journal of struggle and defiance in occupied France by Agnes Humbert
• March 27, 2017: American heiress: The wild saga of the kidnapping, crimes and trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin
• April 24, 2017: Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city by Matthew Desmond.
• May 22, 2017: A House in the sky: A memoir by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
• June 26, 2017: Hero of the empire: The Boer War, a daring escape and the making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard.

Fall 2016

• July 18, 2016: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
• August 22, 2016: Seabiscuit: An American legend by Laura Hillenbrand
• September 26, 2016: An Amish paradox: Diversity and change in the world’s largest Amish community by Charles E. Hurst and David L. McConnell.
• October 24, 2016: A Short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson.
• November 28, 2016: The Rainbow comes and goes: A Mother and son on life, love, and loss by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt

Spring 2016

• January 25, 2016: McCullough, David. The Wright brothers.
• February 22, 2016: Stark, Peter. Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's lost Pacific empire: A story of wealth, ambition, and survival.
• March 28, 2016: Harmetz, Aljean. The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie magic and studio power in the prime of MGM and the miracle of production #1060.
• April 25, 2016: Cain, Susan. Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking.
• May 23, 2016: Tarnoff, Ben. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco writers who reinvented American literature.
• June 26, 2016: Montgomery, Ben. Grandma Gatewood's walk: The inspiring story of the woman who saved the Appalachian Trail.

Fall 2015

• July 27, 2015: Smith, Sally Bedell. Elizabeth the Queen: The life of a modern monarch.
• August 24, 2015: Varty, Boyd. Cathedral of the wild: An African journey home.
• September 28, 2015: Gawande, Atul. Being mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end.
• October 26, 2015: Croke, Vicki. Elephant company: The inspiring story of an unlikely hero and the animals who helped him save lives in World War II.
• November 23, 2015: Larson, Erik. Dead wake: The last crossing of the Lusitania.

Spring 2015

• January 26, 2015: Ciezadlo, Annia. Day of Honey: A Memoir of food, love, and war.
• February 23, 2015: DeFede, Jim. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland.
• March 30, 2015: Boo, Katherine. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity.
• April 27, 2015: Kiernan, Denise. The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II.
• June 22, 2015: Menaker, Daniel. My Mistake.

Fall 2014

• July 28, 2014: Bryson, Bill. One Summer: America, 1927.
• August 25, 2014: Edsel, Robert M. The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.
• September 22, 2014: Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Ida McKinley: The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady Through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability.
• October 27, 2014: Dedman, Bill. Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune.
• November 24, 2014: Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times.

Spring 2014

• February 3, 2014: Fink, Sheri. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital.
• March 3, 2014: Roberts, Cokie. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation.
• April 7, 2014: Frank, Jeffrey.  Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage.
• May 5, 2014: Conroy, Pat. Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son.
• June 2, 2014: Cannato, Vincent J. American Passage: The History of Ellis Island.

Fall 2013

• August 5, 2013: Gilman, Susan Jane.  Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven.
• September 9, 2013: Adams, Mark. Turn Right at Machu Picchu
• October 7, 2013: Schwalbe, Will. The End of Your Life Book Club.
• November 4, 2013: Jourdan, Carolyn. Heart in the Right Place.
• December 2, 2013: Dreher, Rod. The Little Way of Ruthie Leming.

Spring 2013

• February 4, 2013: Albright, Madeleine.  Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 
• March 4, 2013: Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.
• April 1, 2013: Koppel, Lily. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal.
• May 6, 2013: Hancock, Noelle.  My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir. 
• June 3, 2013: O'Reilly, Bill.  Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot.

Fall 2012

• August 20, 2012: Larson, Eric. In the garden of beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin.
• September 10, 2012: Norris, Michele.  The Grace of Silence.
• October 1, 2012: Greitens, Eric.  The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL.
• November 5, 2012: Moorehead, Caroline.  A Train in Winter: A Story of Resistance, Friendship and Survival.
• December 3, 2012: Bryson, Bill.  In a Sunburned Country.

Spring 2012

• February 6, 2012: Langguth, A.J. Driven West: Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears to the Civil War.
• March 5, 2012: St. John, Warren.  Outcasts United: A Refugee Soccer Team, an American Town.
• April 9, 2012: Massie, Robert K. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman.
• May 7, 2012: Miranda Kennedy. Sideways on a scooter: life and love in India.
• June 4, 2012: Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.

Fall 2011

• August 1, 2011: Hillenbrand, Laura.  Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption.
• September 12, 2011: Avlon, John. Wingnuts: how the lunatic fringe is hijacking America.
• October 3, 2011: Gill, Michael Gates. How Starbucks saved my life: a son of privilege learns to live like everyone else.
• November 7, 2011: Johnson, Steven. The ghost map: the story of London's most terrifying epidemic--and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world.
• December 5, 2011: Novogratz, Jacqueline. The blue sweater: bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world.

Spring 2011

• February 7, 2011: Horwitz, Tony.  Confederates in the attic: Dispatches from the unfinished Civil War.
• March 7, 2011: Child, Julia.  My life in France.
• April 4, 2011: Gentil, Olivia.  Life list: A woman's quest for the world's most amazing birds.
• May 2, 2011: Rice, Condoleezza.  Extraordinary, ordinary people: A memoir of family.
• June 6, 2011: Eggers, Dave.  Zeitoun.

Fall 2010

• August 2, 2010: Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
• August 2, 2010: Reisen, Harriet. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women.
• September 13, 2010: Boser, Ulrich. The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft.
• October 4, 2010: Lopez, Steve. The Soloist.
• November 1, 2010: Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
• December 6, 2010: Finkel, David. The Good Soldiers.

Spring 2010

• February 1, 2010: Kennedy, Edward.  True Compass: A Memoir.
• March 1, 2010: Heng, Liange.  Son of the Revolution.
• April 5, 2010: Gordon, Linda.  Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits.
• May 3, 2010: LaNeir, Carlotta Walls.  A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High.
• June 7, 2010: Norman, Elizabeth M.  We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped in Bataan by the Japanese.

Fall 2009

• August 3, 2009: Horan, Nancy.  Loving Frank : A Novel.
  August 3, 2009: Drennan, William R. Death in a prairie house: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders.
• September 14, 2009: Cohen, Rich.  Sweet and low: A Family Story.
• October 5, 2009: Goodwin, Doris Kearns.  No ordinary time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The home front in World War II.
• November 2, 2009: Chang, Leslie T. Factory girls: From village to city in a changing China.
• December 7, 2009: Millard, Candice.  River of doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s darkest journey.

Spring 2009

• February 2, 2009: Greenspan, Alan.  The age of turbulence : adventures in a new world.
• March 2, 2009: Gilbert, Elizabeth.  Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia.
• April 6, 2009: Larson, Erik.  Thunderstruck.
• May 4, 2009: Bryson, Bill.  A walk in the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.
• June 1, 2009: Toobin, Jeffrey.  The nine : inside the secret world of the Supreme Court.

Fall 2008

• August 4, 2008: Kingsolver, Barbara.  Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year in food life.
• September 8, 2008: McCourt, Frank.  Teacher man: A memoir.
• October 6, 2008: Krakauer, Jon.  Into the wild.
• November 3, 2008: Shields, Charles J.  Mockingbird: A portrait of Harper Lee.
• December 1, 2008: Ackerman, Diane.  The Zookeeper’s Wife.

Spring 2008

• March 2, 2008: Mortenson, Greg.  Three cups of Tea : one man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations -- one school at a time.
• April 7, 2008: Larson, Erik.  The Devil in the White City: Murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America.
• May 5, 2008: Hunt, Irmgard A.  On Hitler’s mountain: Overcoming the legacy of a Nazi childhood.
• June 2, 2008: Egan, Timothy.  The Worst hard time: The untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl.

Fall 2007

• September 2007: Johanyak, Debra.  Behind the veil: an American woman's memoir of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis.
• October 2007: Walls, Jeannette.  The glass castle: a memoir.
• November 2007: Smardz Frost, Karolyn.  I've got a home in glory land: a lost tale of the underground railroad.
• December 2007: Beah, Ishmael.  A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier.
• January 2007: None
• February 2007: Goodwin, Doris Kearns.  Team of rivals: the political genius of Abraham Lincoln.

Spring 2007

• February 5, 2007: Kurson, Robert.  Shadow divers: The true adventure of two Americans who risked everything to solve one of the last mysteries of World War II.
• March 5, 2007: Winchester, Simon.  The professor and the madman: a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary.
• April 2, 2007: McCullough, David G.  The Johnstown flood.
• May 7, 2007: Gruenewald, Mary Matsuda.  Looking like the enemy: My story of imprisonment in Japanese-American internment camps.
• June 4, 2007: Gardner, Chris.  The pursuit of happyness.

Fall 2006

• September 11, 2006: Nafisi, Azar.  Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books.
• October 2, 2006: Obama, Barack.  Dreams from my father: a story of race and inheritance. *
• November 6, 2006: Fuller, Alexandra.  Don't let's go to the dogs tonight: an African childhood.
• December 4th, 2006: Kimmel, Haven.  A Girl named Zippy: Growing up small in Moorland, Indiana. *

Spring 2006

• February 6, 2006: Baker, Russell.  Growing up.
• March 6, 2006: Bragg, Rick.  All over but the shoutin'.
• April 3, 2006: Conway, Jill K.  The road from Coorain.
• May 1, 2006: Kingston, Maxine Hong.  The woman warrior: memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts.
• June, 2006: Beard, Jo Ann.  The boys of my youth.

Fall 2005

• October 10, 2005: Shah, Saira.  The Storyteller’s daughter. *
• November 14, 2005: Mah, Adeline Yen.  Falling leaves: the true story of an unwanted Chinese daughter.