Welcome to our curated collection of past selections from the Penn State Greater Allegheny Book Club! Explore the various selections we've journeyed through over the years. Whether you're seeking inspiration for your next read or simply curious about our selections, we invite you to check out our bookshelf and discover the stories that have sparked meaningful discussions.
Suggest A Book!
Do you have a favorite novel that you're eager to share? Have you stumbled upon a hidden gem that's begging to be discussed? Now's your chance to shape our reading list!
Fill out our Suggest A Book form and recommend your top pick for our next selection! Whether it's a thrilling mystery, a thought-provoking classic, or a contemporary bestseller, your suggestion could be the next book to spark lively discussions and inspire new perspectives!
Spring 2024 Selections
Born 1982, by Kim Jiyoung
One of the most notable novels of the year, hailed by both critics and K-pop stars alike, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows one woman’s psychic deterioration in the face of rampant misogyny. In a tidy apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, millennial “everywoman” Kim Jiyoung spends her days caring for her infant daughter. But strange symptoms appear: Jiyoung begins to impersonate the voices of other women, dead and alive. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her concerned husband sends her to a psychiatrist. Jiyoung narrates her story to this doctor―from her birth to parents who expected a son to elementary school teachers who policed girls’ outfits to male coworkers who installed hidden cameras in women’s restrooms. But can her psychiatrist cure her, or even discover what truly ails her?
The Woman In Me, by Britney Spears
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Fall 2022 Selections
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.
Passing, by Nella Larsen
Irene Redfield is a Black woman living an affluent, comfortable life with her husband and children in the thriving neighborhood of Harlem in the 1920s. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Clare Kendry, who is similarly light-skinned, Irene discovers that Clare has been passing for a white woman after severing ties to her past—even hiding the truth from her racist husband.
Spring 2021 Selections
The Art of Noticing, by Rob Walker
A thought-provoking, gorgeously illustrated gift book that will spark your creativity and help you rediscover your passion with “simple, low-stakes activities that can open up the world". Welcome to the era of white noise. Our lives are in constant tether to phones, to email, and to social media. In this age of distraction, the ability to experience and be present is often lost: to think and to see and to listen.
The Good Neighbor, The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, by Maxwell King
The Good Neighbor, the first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, tells the story of this utterly unique and enduring American icon.
Fall 2020 Selections
The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas's first novel about a teenage girl who grapples with racism, police brutality, and activism. The book became an immediate young adult bestseller and was adapted into a movie shortly after its release.
What The Eyes Don't See, a book by Mona Hanna-Attisha
From the heroic pediatrician who rallied a community and brought the fight for justice to national attention comes a powerful firsthand account of the Flint water crisis, a dramatic story of failed democracy, and inspiring citizen advocacy and action.
To learn more about the book and its topic, take a listen to an NPR interview and an Apple Podcast:
Spring 2020 Selections
Ready Player One, a novel by Ernest Cline
The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality game, the discovery of which would lead him to inherit the game creator's fortune.
Fall 2019 Selections
Educated, a memoir by Tara Westover
A #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe Bestseller. Educated is an unforgettable memoir about a young girl who kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family, and goes on to earn a Ph.D. from Cambridge University.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a novel by Mark Haddon
A bestselling modern classic that's both poignant and funny about a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.