Pig Tales: An Arkansas Series

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club

 
 

Pig Tales: An Arkansas Series is back in 2023! The Ozark Literacy Council Book Club will read one book each quarter over the course of 2023. The book series begins with a curated list of books set in Arkansas or about Arkansas natives. The third book of the series will be chosen by book club readers during the second quarter of 2023. Enjoy an intimate, cozy gathering with a group of Arkansas natives, transplants, and guests. Take exciting trips that help bring the sometimes thrilling, sometimes sobering nonfiction accounts to life.

Suggested donation of $25/member to participate. Book club members are responsible for their own books. We will all read one book per quarter. The book club will be split into groups of ~10 members and be led by one of our facilitators. Each of these small groups will meet (virtually or in-person) to share their thoughts. We will also host special events throughout the year where all book club members are invited; this could be a field trip to a site mentioned in that quarter's book, an event hosted at a local business, or something in-between. Individual book club meetings and collective book club meetings will be scheduled toward the end of each quarter.

Pig Tales is welcome to all! Our book club is open to anyone looking for a unique opportunity to read about Arkansas and socialize to broaden their knowledge.

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club groups will be meeting to discuss Carlotta Walls Lanier’s A Mighty Long Way between April 23 and May 6, 2023.

First Book

Mara Leveritt’s All Quiet at Mena

All Quiet at Mena is Mara Leveritt’s personal account of the obstacles faced by investigators reporting on one of the most secretive episodes in America’s long war on drugs. Starting with the crash that killed Emile Camp, a co-pilot of the notorious cocaine smuggler Barry Seal, she explores how a money laundering investigation prompted by Seal’s move to Arkansas collided with Reagan-era politics, leaving the drug war’s touted objectives—and law enforcement itself—in the wreckage.

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club groups will be meeting to discuss Mara Leveritt’s All Quiet at Mena between February 26 and March 11, 2023.

 

Second Book

Carlotta Walls Lanier’s A Mighty Long Way

When fourteen-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the “Little Rock Nine,” as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club groups will be meeting to discuss Carlotta Walls Lanier’s A Mighty Long Way between April 23 and May 6, 2023. Vote on mystery book!

 

Third Book

It’s a Mystery!

Even to us… The third book will be selected by the book clubbers who participate in the 2nd book. They will be asked to submit any and all book suggestions for the 3rd book, no holds barred.

 

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club groups will be meeting to discuss a mystery book between September 17 and 30, 2023.

 

Fourth Book

Sandra B. Tooze’s Levon

Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation."

Ozark Literacy Council Book Club groups will be meeting to discuss Sandra B. Tooze’s Levon between November 26 and December 9, 2023.