Book Clubs

Join the Discussion

Book Talk meets monthly on the last Monday of the month at 10:00 am.
This group gathers in the library's meeting room for discussion. Everyone welcome.

Join us in our love of books!
We’ll provide a reading suggestion for each month. You pick your own book to read.

 

Monthly Reading Themes for 2024
January: Title matches song lyrics
February: Book with a yellow spine
March: Iowa author
April: Subject you know little about
May: By a neurodivergent author
June: All read the same title
July: House on the cover
August: Set in the 1960's
September: Banned book
October: Released in 2024
November: Graphic novel
December: Set during a holiday you don't celebrate

Oelwein Reads
October 24th at 5:30. p.m.

This Oelwein Reads Book Club will meet at Oakdale Cemetery on 4th Street SW in Oelwein at 5:30 p.m. While at the cemetery we will try out our "witching rods" to find some graves. This method was mentioned in our September book, Dubuque's Forgotten Cemetery. Then we're off to Ampersand located at 110 South Frederick Ave. for the book discussion at 6:00 p.m. This book club will focus on books about Iowa or the Midwest.  
The book selected is The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow.

Brief summary:

As children, they formed a special bond, growing up in the small town of Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet they managed to maintain an extraordinary friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, the death of a child, and the mysterious death of the eleventh member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the enduring, deep bonds of women as they experience life's challenges, and the power of friendship to overcome even the most daunting odds.
The girls, now in their forties, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. The Girls from Ames demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women's lives-their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters-and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them. With both universal events and deeply personal moments.