Hoosier Authors Book Club

The Hoosier Authors Book Club began as part of our Indiana State Bicentennial programming for 2016. The Museum’s 2016 exhibit discussed the Golden Age of Indiana Literature, which began with the publication of Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur and went on to include prominent novelists such as Crawfordsville native Meredith Nicholson, Gene Stratton-Porter, and others. The program proved to be popular, so it has been extended.Over the years the book club has hosted discussions with some of the authors, including Susan Crandall and Kelsey Timmerman. This will continue in 2020 when author Ray E. Boomhower attends the March discussion of his biography of suffragist May Wright Sewall.

The book club meets in the ADA-accessible Carriage House. Copies of the books are often available for checkout beforehand at the Carriage House. Book club participation is free and open to the public, but space is limited. To RSVP or for more information call 765-362-5769 or email [email protected].

2020 Virtual Book Discussions

Thursday, October 1, 2020 – 7 pm – Sailing the Inland Sea: On Writing, Literature, and Land by Susan Neville

Neville’s book is a collection of essays and articles on Hoosier authors and their relationship with the land. Regulars from our book club will recognize many of the authors Neville discusses–including Scott Russell Sanders, Kurt Vonnegut, Jessamyn West, and others.

Past Books Discussed

• The Magnificent Ambersons – Booth Tarkington
• The House of a Thousand Candles – Meredith Nicholson
• The Hoosier School-Master – Edward Eggleston
• Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
• Prince of Graustark – George B. McCutcheon
• The Storied Sea – Susan E. Wallace
• Alice of Old Vincennes – Maurice Thompson
• The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
• A Girl of the Limberlost – Gene Stratton-Porter
• The Friendly Persuasion – Jessamyn West
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
• On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker – A’Lelia Bundles
• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
• The Massacre at Fall Creek by Jessamyn West
• The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall
• So Cold the River by Michael Koryta
• Dune Boy by Edwin Way Teale
• An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
• Brave Men by Ernie Pyle
• What This River Keeps by Greg Schwipps
• Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People Who Make Our Clothes by Kelsey Timmerman
• Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World by Scott Russell Sanders

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