Cuyahoga Community College's Common Reading Program

Presenting the Common Reading Text for the 2026-2027 Academic Year:

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

The instant USA Today bestseller

A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.

But there are rules:

• He cannot look inside the box.
• He cannot ask questions.
• He cannot tell anyone.
• They must leave immediately.
• He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.
— From the publisher

If you plan to use the text in class or would like to know more, contact your campus Common Reading Program leadership listed below:

Eastern Campus
Sean Swogger
John Rasel

Metropolitan Campus
Brenda Hartley 

Western Campus
Sara Clark
Joe Fell 

Westshore Campus
Vicky Bonillas

What Is Tri-C's Common Reading Program?

Tri-C's Common Reading Program builds community and fosters intellectual engagement by drawing faculty and students together in discussion of a common fiction or nonfiction text. The program also creates venues for interdisciplinary learning as students explore the common text through different lenses in various classes and events across the College community.

Unlike many colleges that only schedule programming for the text at the onset of the school year or in FYE courses, Tri-C provides exciting opportunities to engage with the text throughout the academic year. Please see the "Events" tab for more information.

Find out how the Collegewide Common Reading Committee chooses the text, faculty and student resources and event updates. We look forward to working with you and your students in the coming year!