Middle School/Junior High
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Holes by Louis Sachar
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
High School
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
College
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
Adult
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
What were people reading in the….
1960s
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
The Autobiography of Malcom X
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
1970s
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi
1980s
Cujo by Stephen King
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Conversations in Columbus
Isabel Wilkerson, bestselling author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, will open the New Albany Lecture Series season Oct. 5 with a free virtual discussion about social justice and her novel.
The New York Times dubs Caste as “an instant American classic about abiding sin.” The book sold over half a million copies by the close of 2020 and continues to sell. Oprah Winfrey loved it so much she sent it to the CEOs of the top 100 companies and professors of the top 100 colleges because, she says, “It’s necessary for people who are leaders in our country to understand the origins of our discontents and what caste really means.” (CBS This Morning)
This isn’t the first time the New Albany Lectures Series has featured an author and believer in social justice. Some of the most attended events in the 2020-21 series were Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., author of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library hosts a monthly conversation series called Speak Up/Speak Out to promote conversations about race, racism and social justice issues.
“Talking about race and racism can be uncomfortable,” says Columbus Metropolitan Library Media Specialist Ben Zenitsky. “But we believe that true wisdom comes from reading and from listening. We want to foster a community dialogue so that we can be a wiser and more compassionate community – with a deeper understanding of our history, and how that history continues to shape the America that we live in today.”
YWCA Columbus Ohio puts on Community Conversations, a series that invites Columbus residents to talk openly and honestly about the effects of racism and sexism.
Check all organization websites for updated schedules of events, speakers and programs.
Mallory Arnold is a contributing writer. Feedback at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.