Curious Readers! Let’s sample myriad “best book” lists.
On Sept. 16:
Playground (2024) by Pulitzer-winner Richard Powers, “a grand old oak of American letters: a towering, sturdy figure often overlooked for flashier species” (New York Times). Longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and—closer to home, for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award for 2025—Playground weaves together four characters’ lives on a tiny atoll in a majestic ocean to get us thinking about technology, the environment, and “our shared humanity” (book jacket).
Oct. 14:
Wend your way into Guggenheim-winner Amity Gaige’s hot-off-the-press novel, Heartwood. This “terrifically moving and tense thriller” (Washington Post) sets us on the Appalachian Trail with two women searching for a missing hiker. “Heartwood never takes the obvious road,” notes the Wall Street Journal; the novel “generates real and satisfying suspense by leaving us to wonder whether, and how, all three women will emerge from their metaphorical woods,” adds the New York Times, which named Heartwood a “Best Book of the Year So Far” in two genres.
Nov. 11:
Finally, one book from the tantalizing 2025 Booker Prize Longlist: Endling, the debut novel from Ukrainian-born Canadian author, Maria Reva, a tale of power and powerlessness which sends three women and “one extremely endangered snail” through contemporary Ukraine as Putin invades. What the judges say: “Endling shouldn’t be funny, but it is – very. . . .Structurally wild and playful, Endling is also heart-rending and angry.” As always, the true pleasure lies in our debate, all the more spirited, good-natured, and thoughtful because of your insights.
Michele K. Troy is Presidents’ College Director and professor of English at Hillyer College, where she has taught since 2001. Her book, Strange Bird: The Albatross Press and the Third Reich, appeared with Yale University Press in 2017, followed by a German translation in 2022. In 2019, she received a Fulbright to Germany to pursue two other projects which explore Anglo-American books abroad: an in-depth look at the German book trade under the American Occupation, 1945-1949, with the University of Mainz; and research into Seven Seas Books, which produced English-language paperbacks out of East Berlin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Tuesdays, Sept. 16, Oct. 14, Nov. 11 | 2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. | KF Room/Harrison Libraries | $60
Brought to you by the Presidents' College, where we connect the curious through lifelong learning.
For other stimulating Presidents' College offerings, see our printable PDF.
Faculty and staff are eligible to take one Presidents' College lecture for free every semester, or to receive a one-session discount ($20) for a longer course. Contact us at pcollege@hartford.edu or 860.768.4495.
Our snazzy Presidents’ College Gift Certificates are also ready for purchase. Giving the gift of knowledge is a great way to celebrate birthdays and un-birthdays in style while inviting friends and family into the Presidents' College circle.