Loyal Blues Book Club with Evviva
![Evviva Weintraub Lajoie, Vice Provost for University Libraries.]()
Evviva Weintraub Lajoie, Vice Provost for University Libraries
Evviva Weinraub Lajoie, Vice Provost for University Libraries hosts our virtual book club exclusively for Loyal Blues.
You’ll have the opportunity to connect with alumni and friends, all while having an expert educator guide you through several books annually.
Our Summer Book
I'm excited to read All Systems Red, the first book in the Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries series, with you this summer. This Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella introduces readers to a rogue security android who just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite soap operas - but keeps getting dragged into saving humans instead.
While fast-paced and often laugh-out-loud funny, All Systems Red also opens the door to deeper questions about autonomy, artificial intelligence, corporate responsibility, and what it means to be sentient.
I hope you'll join us for a lively conversation about the book's humor and heart - and the surprising ethical questions it raises about innovation, ownership, and identity in an increasingly tech-driven world.How it works
![Book cover of Martha Wells’ “All Systems Red.” The artwork shows a humanoid figure in futuristic white armor, partially shadowed, standing against a hazy, otherworldly backdrop with muted green and gray tones. The title “All Systems Red” appears in bold red lettering, with the author’s name, Martha Wells, in white above it.]()
There is no cost to participate. Simply purchase a copy of the book and sign up below to receive emails.
This title is available through GooglePlay, Amazon Kindle, and Red Shelf. If you need help finding a copy, just let us know.
Summer Reading Cycle
Once you've signed up, you will receive weekly emails to guide you through the reading period, which will run from August 5 until August 28. You can also join our Facebook Forum to discuss the book and post questions.
Virtual Events
Thursday, August 28, 2025 | 12:00-1:00 p.m. EST
Loyal Blues Book Club Discussion:
Evviva Weinraub Lajoie
Vice Provost for University Libraries
Dominic Sellitto
Clinical Associate Professor, Management Science and Systems
We hope you can participate in our virtual discussion of All Systems Red, where we'll be joined by UB Professor Dominic Sellitto who will help guide our conversation and talk about the book, deeper questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and corporate responsibility.
Discussion Questions & Resources
Questions:
1. Murderbot hides the fact that it has hacked its governor module. Why do you think it chooses secrecy over openly asserting independence?
2. We see moments where the human team begins to interact with Murderbot. Although this series is set in the distant future, presumably one where people have a great deal more interaction with artificial intelligence, the humans (and the Murderbot) are still awkward. Why do you think this is? What do you think it says about the idea of actual artificial intelligence?
3. Consider how Murderbot often uses sarcasm and understatement when describing both itself and the humans. How does that humor influence your perception of its identity—does it make Murderbot feel more human, or more machine‑like?
Links:
Moskowitz, Clara. (2025, July 11). We’re light‑years away from true artificial intelligence, says Murderbot author Martha Wells. Scientific American.
Questions:
1. How do you feel about the team referring to Murderbot as “it”? In contrast, what do you make of Murderbot calling the humans “the clients,” and do you think this serves a similar purpose or has a comparable effect?
2. Have you experienced an uncanny valley sensation while reading – what moments, if any, triggered that for you?
3. Gurathin, a member of the crew, has cybernetic augmentations and so is also not completely human. Do you think that influences the dynamic or shapes the interactions with the rest of the group and Murderbot in particular?
Links:
Mesa, Natalie. (2023, September 29). The uncanny valley, explained: Why you might find AI creepy. National Geographic.
Questions:
1. Why do you think Murderbot chose to leave at the end of the story? What does this decision say about its sense of identity and autonomy? Did this choice reframe your understanding of its relationships throughout the story?
2. If we had sentient AI in realty, do you think we would make the same ethical choices that play out in the book? How do you think our society might decide where to draw the line?
3. Over the course of the book, how did Murderbot’s sense of identity change—or not change?
Links:
Ghosh, Pallab. (2025, May 26). The people who believe that AI might become conscious. BBC News.
Joshi, Amit., & Wade, Michael. (2025, April 14). Corporate A.I. ethics is now a boardroom issue: The business case for doing A.I. right. Observer.
Previous Loyal Blues Book Club Reads:
- Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
- City of Light by Lauren Belfer
- Dubliners by James Joyce
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
- Louise Blanchard Bethune: Every Woman Her Own Architect by Kelly Hayes McAlonie
- North By Shakespeare by Michael Blanding
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
- The Personal Librarian by Heather Terrell and Victoria Christopher Murray
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
Suggest a Book
Have a book that you think might be interesting for the book club to read? Drop us a note and we'll add it to our list of recommendations.