Each semester the Honors College sponsors a series of informal reading groups, now called Webster Book Clubs. The groups meet for an hour and typically read and discuss about 50 pages per week. Books are provided free of charge to all participants and moderators. The books cover a wide range of topics and most have been recommended by Honors students. To participate, students commit to reading the book and attend the weekly discussion meetings. The goal of the program can be summarized as "maximum information and enjoyment, with zero stress." All OU students are welcome to participate.
Looking for a reason to read something great—and people to talk about it with? Webster Book Clubs bring together curious readers from across the OU community for thoughtful conversation, good company, and the simple pleasure of slowing down with a book.
Open to all members of the OU community—students, faculty, and staff—Webster Book Clubs meet weekly during the semester to discuss a shared reading in a relaxed, welcoming setting. Whether you love deep literary analysis, lively debate, or just hearing how others experienced the same pages, there’s a place for you at the table.
| Book | Author | Moderator | Time | Location | Synopsis |
| A Streetcar Named Desire | Tennessee Williams | Mason Willis | Friday, 4:00 p.m. | DLB 146 | A fading Southern belle moves in with her sister and confronts harsh realities, class tensions, and personal decline in postwar New Orleans. |
| When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalanithi | Janani Easwar | Friday, 3:00 p.m. | Cate 214 Room | A neurosurgeon facing terminal cancer reflects on mortality, meaning, and what makes life worth living. |
| Long Division | Kiese Laymon | Catherine Mintler | Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. | Cate 214 | A genre-bending novel exploring race, identity, time travel, and the complexities of growing up in Mississippi. |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale Hurston | Alexis Brown | Thursday, noon | Cate 214 | Janie Crawford’s journey toward self-discovery, independence, and love in the American South. |
| All That Is Solid Melts into Air | Marshall Berman | A. K. M. Ajwad Murshed | Monday, 4:00 p.m. | Cate 214 | A landmark study of modernity and how social, political, and economic change shapes human experience. |
| Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi | Andela Skramoncin and Ajwad Murshed | Thursday, 4:30 p.m. | Cate 214 | A graphic memoir chronicling the author’s childhood during the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. |
| The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption | Robert Jackson Bennett | Jacob Carpenter | Monday, 1:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | A fantasy mystery series following investigators who solve crimes in a strange empire shaped by biological magic. |
| Recursion | Blake Crouch | Katie Guntorius | Friday, 4:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | A mind-bending science-fiction thriller about memory, time, and the consequences of altering reality. |
| Tender Is the Night | F. Scott Fitzgerald | Abigail Swinford | Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. | Cate 214 | A tragic story of love, wealth, ambition, and decline among American expatriates in Europe. |
| All the Pretty Horses | Cormac McCarthy | Payton Scantling | Monday, 3:00 p.m. | DLB 146 | A coming-of-age Western following a young Texan’s journey into Mexico in search of freedom and purpose. |
| William Shakespeare’s Four Great Tragedies: Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth | William Shakespeare | Lilly Ross and Kember Sloat | Friday, 5:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | Four classic plays examining ambition, betrayal, revenge, power, and the tragic flaws of humanity. |
| The Spear Cuts Through Water | Simon Jimenez | Joshua Bell and Henry Christiansen | Monday, 4:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | An epic fantasy blending myth, adventure, and storytelling as two warriors escort a fallen goddess across a dangerous land. |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | Alexandre Dumas | Annaliese Turner | Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. | Cate 214 | An epic tale of betrayal, imprisonment, revenge, and redemption in nineteenth-century France. |
| The Martian | Andy Weir | David Mackowski | Thursday, 9:15 a.m. | HC Library | An astronaut stranded on Mars uses science, ingenuity, and humor to survive against overwhelming odds. |
| All Quiet on the Western Front | Erich Maria Remarque | Eric Mata | Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. | Cate 214 | A powerful portrayal of soldiers’ experiences and the devastating human cost of World War I. |
| The Let Them Theory | Mel Robbins | Meghan Warren | Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. | HC Library | A self-help guide encouraging readers to let go of others’ opinions and focus on what they can control. |
| Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | Paul Gilmore | Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. | HC Library | A sailor joins Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest to hunt the elusive white whale. |
| Chernobyl Prayer | Svetlana Alexievich | Sophia Yastrebov | Monday, 12:30 p.m. | HC Library | An oral history capturing the personal stories of those affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. |
| The Once and Future Witches | Alix E. Harrow | Kathryn Joyce | Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | Three sisters revive the lost power of witchcraft while fighting for women’s rights and social change. |
| Elantris | Brandon Sanderson | Audrey Longwell | Thursday, 10:30 a.m. | HC Library | A fantasy novel about a fallen magical city, political intrigue, and the struggle to restore hope. |
| Buddenbrooks | Thomas Mann | Daniel Shansee | Thursday, noon | HC Library | A multigenerational saga tracing the rise and decline of a wealthy German merchant family. |
| Satantango | László Krasznahorkai | Daniel Shansee | Tuesday, noon | HC Library | A dark, atmospheric novel depicting decay, desperation, and manipulation in a remote Hungarian village. |
| One | Graham Priest | Gareth Gilbert | Tuesday, 11:00 a.m. | Cate 214 | A philosophical exploration of unity, identity, interconnectedness, and the relationship between individual things and the world as a whole. |
| The Name of the Wind | Patrick Rothfuss | Gareth Gilbert | Thursday, 10:00 a.m. | Cate 214 | The legendary Kvothe recounts his life story, from gifted child to infamous wizard and adventurer. |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | Ryan Felice | Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | A sweeping science-fiction epic of politics, religion, ecology, and power on the desert planet Arrakis. |
| The Ministry for the Future | Kim Stanley Robinson | Timothy Bradford | Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. | DLB 146 | An ecofiction novel set in the near future with an epic cast of characters who seek solutions to environmental collapse. |
| Essays: First and Second Series | Ralph Waldo Emerson | Declan Bunch | Monday, 5:00 p.m. | Cate 201 | Emerson explores individuality, intuition, nature, spirituality, and the power of independent thought, urging readers to trust themselves and seek truth beyond convention. |
| Orlando | Virginia Woolf | Elijah Paden | Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. | DLB 146 | An aspiring poet lives for centuries, changes sex, and encounters shifting ideas about identity, love, art, and society throughout English history. |
| The Odyssey | Homer | Hadi Wynne | Thursday, 10:30 a.m. | DLB 146 | After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces monsters, gods, temptation, and danger during his long struggle to return home to Ithaca. |
| Twilight: New Moon and Eclipse | Stephenie Meyer | Nora Reese | TBD | TBD | Bella Swan confronts separation, supernatural conflict, and an increasingly difficult choice between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. |
