Book Clubs
The Maquoketa Public Library has two book clubs that meet every month. We also host book discussions from time to time, check our calendar for more details.
If you run or are thinking about starting a book club, we have a collection of multiple copies of books you are welcome to check out. We are also happy to help assist you in interlibrary loaning materials at a reasonable cost.
Fireside Book Club
This book club meets the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30 PM. We read mostly fiction but sprinkle in a few nonfiction books here and there. Some of the titles we've read in the past include Empire Falls by Richard Russo, Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, and The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester.
Currently Reading
Three Graves Full
by Jamie Mason
There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard. But it could always be worse…
More than a year ago, mild-mannered Jason Getty killed a man he wished he’d never met. Then he planted the problem a little too close to home. But just as he’s learning to live with the undeniable reality of what he’s done, police unearth two bodies on his property—neither of which is the one Jason buried.
Jason races to stay ahead of the consequences of his crime, and while chaos reigns on his lawn, his sanity unravels, snagged on the agendas of a colorful cast of strangers. A jilted woman searches for her lost fiancé, a fringe dweller runs from a past that’s quickly gaining on him, and a couple of earnest local detectives piece clues together with the help of a volunteer police dog—all in the shadow of a dead man who had it coming. As the action unfolds, each character discovers that knowing more than one side of the story doesn't necessarily rule out a deadly margin of error.
Jamie Mason’s irrepressible debut is a macabre, darkly humorous tale with the thoughtful beauty of a literary novel, the tense pacing of a thriller, and a clever twist of suspense.
Join us at the library.
October 18, 2022 @ 6:30 PM
Coming Up
Oh William!
by Elizabeth Strout
I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William.
Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are.
So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart.
Join us at the library.
November 15, 2022 @ 6:30 PM
Lunchtime Book Club
Formerly known as the Ladies' Book Club, this group meets every third Friday at noon. This group often focuses on lighter fare and often features female main characters and authors. Some of our past books include The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnely, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.
Currently Reading
A History of Wild Places
by Shea Ernshaw
Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Often hired by families as a last resort, he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—and is soon led to a place many believed to be only a legend.
Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.
Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.
Join us at the library.
October 21, 2022 @ Noon
Coming Up
The Editor
by Steven Rowley
After years of struggling as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally gets his big break when his novel sells to an editor at a major publishing house:none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie, or Mrs. Onassis as she's known in the office, loves James's candidly autobiographical novel, about his own dysfunctional family.
As Jackie and James develop an unexpected friendship, she pushes him to write an authentic ending, encouraging him to confront the truth about his relationship with his mother. But when a long-held family secret is revealed, he realises his editor may have had a larger plan that goes beyond the page…
Join us at the library.
November 18, 2022 @ Noon
Hometown Pride Book Club
Maquoketa Hometown Pride and Maquoketa Public Library have partnered to bring you Hometown Pride READS, a free community-focused book club whose main topic is just that – building community.
Limited copies of the titles will be available on a first come, first serve basis at the front desk. Participants are also encouraged to take part in our InterLibrary Loan program, download eBooks or audiobooks, or purchase their own copies. (Sharing of physical copies is a great way to build community!).
Not currently a library patron? What a great time to stop by the library and sign-up for a library card!
Hometown Pride READS is a partnership of Maquoketa Hometown Pride and Maquoketa Public Library.
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