Previous Common Readings
Want to find some other good books to read?
Here are the previous titles from OCTC's Common Reading series (these books are also available for check-out in the campus library):
- Fall 2023: Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón (poetry - KY author)*
- Spring 2023: The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin (novel)*
- Fall 2022: In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner (novel)*
- Spring 2022: Next Door to the Dead by Kathleen Driskell (poetry - KY writer)*
- Fall 2021: The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson (novel – KY writer)*
- Spring 2021: Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Asperger's by John Elder Robison (autobiography)*
- Fall 2020: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (novel - KY writer)*
- Spring 2020: Waverly by Amy Bellamy (novel - KY writer)*
- Fall 2019: We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride (novel)*
- Spring 2019: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (novella)*
- Fall 2018: Getting Out by Marsha Norman (play – KY native author)*
- Spring 2018: The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones (novel – KY writer)*
- Fall 2017: The Circle by Dave Eggers (novel)*
- Spring 2017: Earth Works: Selected Essays by Scott Russell Sanders (essays)*
- Fall 2016: Come and Go, Molly Snow by Mary Ann Taylor-Hall (novel - KY writer)*
- Spring 2016: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (novel)*
- Fall 2015: A Companion for Owls: Being the Commonplace Book of D. Boone Long Hunter, Back Woodsman, &c. by Maurice Manning (poetry - KY writer)*
- Spring 2015: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (novel)*
- Fall 2014: Folks, This Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin (nonfiction)*
- Spring 2014: A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (novel - KY writer)* - along with our 10-Year anniversary anthology of 6 former Common Reading authors
- Fall 2013: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)
- Spring 2013: Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande (novel)*
- Fall 2012: The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg (memoir/essays)*
- Spring 2012: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (novel) *
- Fall 2011:September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond (anthology)
- Spring 2011: Catalpa by George Ella Lyon (poetry - KY writer) *
- Fall 2010: Maus: My Father Bleeds History (Vol. 1) by Art Spiegelman (graphic novel)
- Spring 2010: Mothering Mother: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir by Carol O'Dell (memoir) *
- Fall 2009: House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War by Stephen Berry (non-fiction - KY theme) *
- Spring 2009: In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason (novel - KY writer) *
- Fall 2008: Dismal Rock by Davis McCombs (poetry - KY theme) *
- Spring 2008: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (novel) - (as part of Owensboro's The Big Read project)
- Fall 2007: Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York by Frank X Walker (poetry - KY writer) *
- Spring 2007: Reading Lolita in Tehran : A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (memoir / essay)
- Fall 2006: The Hidden Wound by Wendell Berry (essay / memoir - KY writer) *
- Spring 2006: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (novel)
- Fall 2005: Rafting Rise by Joe Survant (poetry - KY writer) *
- Spring 2005: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (novel)
- Fall 2004: A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (novel - KY writer) *
- Spring 2004: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (novel)
Many authors or related speakers have come to campus for a reading (see our OCTC Common Reading Facebook photo galleries for pictures of authors and information about other related presentations and events).
* Indicates authors who presented at OCTC during the semester their work was read.
To find these titles, and more by these authors, visit the OCTC library or OCTC Library Webpage.
