Public Books Circle
A public reading and discussion group
Would you like to attend a terrific book discussion led by a UT expert without leaving your home?
The UT Humanities Center now offers a free public book discussion online! Students, faculty, and members of the public are all welcome. We will help you to keep reading and learning at all stages and walks of life.
On the day of the discussion, you can join a University of Tennessee faculty member in an online book discussion via Zoom. Our UT faculty read widely and deeply into perspectives ranging from the ancients to the moderns, from work in ancient archeology to contemporary poetry, new economic theory, and media studies. Join us to hear an expert in the field talk about the major ideas of a text that you have read, and engage in an enlightening discussion!
How it works:
- Check the discussion schedule below to find a book that you really want to read and discuss with others (we hope you choose them all!)
- Register for the book discussion meeting by clicking on the registration link (you'll be sent a confirmation email with your own unique link to the discussion)
- Buy a copy of the book or check it out from the library to read.
- Read, enjoy, and join the book discussion online on the date of the event!
Join us for a Zoom discussion of the book with a member of the UT faculty!
Our Discussion Schedule
Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
All discussions start at 7:00 pm Eastern
Please note: We are in the process of updating our website - Registration links will be coming soon!
Date |
Discussion Leader |
Book |
Registration link |
Wednesday |
Jon Garthoff
|
Discussion of Peter Godfrey-Smith’s book, Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind |
|
| Wednesday October 12, 2022 |
Amy J. Elias
|
Discussion of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants | |
| Wednesday November 9, 2022 |
Lisi M. Schoenbach
|
Discussion of Jenny Odell's book, How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy | |
| Wednesday February 8, 2023 |
Sara Ritchey
|
Discussion of Lauren Groff's book, Matrix: A Novel | Register |
| Wednesday March 8, 2023 |
Megan Bryson
|
Discussion of Duncan Ryūken Williams’s book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War | Register |
| Wednesday April 12 |
Beauvais Lyons Chancellor's Professor, Ellen McClung Berry Professor School of Art |
Discussion of Antoinette LaFarge's book, Sting in the Tale: Art, Hoax, and Provocation | Register |
Past Meetings
Date |
Discussion Leader |
Book |
Wednesday, September 8 |
Martin Griffin, |
The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984 |
Wednesday, October 13 |
Amy J. Elias, UTHC Director |
Appleseed: A Novel
|
Wednesday, November 10 |
Robert Bast, Associate Professor of History |
The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance and Forty Years that Shook the World, 1490-1530 |
Wednesday, December 8 |
Hilary Havens, Associate Director of English
|
Pride and Prejudice |
Wednesday, February 2 |
Urmila Seshagiri, Associate Professor of English |
Unaccustomed Earth |
| Wednesday, March 2 | Dawn Coleman, Associate Professor of English | God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O’Gieblyn |
Wednesday, |
Rosalind Hackett, Emerita Professor of Religious Studies |
Girl |
Date |
Discussion Leader |
Book |
Wednesday, January 20 |
Ann Pancake, author, and |
Strange as This Weather Has Been |
Wednesday, February 3 |
Tina Shepardson, Professor of Religious Studies, and |
The Bible With and Without Jesus
|
Wednesday, February 17 |
Katy Chiles, Associate Professor of English |
The Age of Phillis |
Wednesday, March 3 |
Matthew Brauer, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies, MFLL |
Wanderlust: A History of Walking |
Wednesday, March 17 |
Dan Magilow, Professor of German, MFLL |
What Tech Calls Thinking: An Inquiry Into the Intellectual Bedrock of Silicon Valley |
Wednesday, April 7 |
Dawn Coleman, Associate Professor of English |
A Children’s Bible: A Novel |
Wednesday, April 21 |
Roy Liuzza, Professor of English |
Beowulf: A New Translation |
Wednesday, May 5 |
R.E. Toledo, Distinguished Lecturer of Spanish, MFLL |
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope |
Wednesday, May 19 |
Heather Hirschfeld, Professor of English |
Hamnet |
Wednesday, June 2 |
Georgi Gardiner, Assistant Professor of Philosophy |
Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women |
April 22, 2020 |
Margaret Lazarus Dean, Dept. of English, and Scott Kelly |
Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly with Margaret Lazarus Dean |
April 29, 2020 |
Lisa King, Department of English, and author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz |
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States For Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz |
May 6, 2020 |
William Hardwig, Dept. of English |
The Line that Held Us by David Joy |
May 13, 2020 |
Vejas Liulevicius, Dept. of History |
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga ofChurchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz |
May 20, 2020 |
Urmila Seshagiri, Dept. of English |
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie |
May 27, 2020 |
Ernest Freeberg, Dept. of History |
Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams |
June 3, 2020 |
Hilary Havens, Dept. of English |
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi |
June 10, 2020 |
Monica Black, Dept. of History |
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe |
June 17, 2020 |
Christopher Hebert, Dept. of English |
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli |
June 24, 2020 |
Katy Chiles, Dept. of English |
A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland by DaMaris Hill |
July 1, 2020 |
Amy Elias, Dept. of English and Director, UTHC |
The Overstory by Richard Powers |