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
Coming Up
Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
Join us at the library.
January 18, 2021 @ 6:30 PM
The Paris Wife
by Pauls McClain
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.
Join us at the library.
February 15, 2021 @ 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
Radium Girls
by Kate Moore
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.
Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive ― until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.
But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.
Join us at the library.
January 21, 2022 @ Noon
Coming Up
In Five Years
by Rebecca Serle
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers.
She is nothing like her lifelong best friend—the wild, whimsical, believes-in-fate Bella. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content.
But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake. In Five Years is an unforgettable love story, but it is not the one you’re expecting.
Join us at the library.
February 18, 2022 @ Noon
What Are You Reading?
We want to hear all about what you're reading! Join us at 7:00 PM on the fourth Tuesday of each month to share your thoughts and hear what others are reading. If there's time, library director, Katie Pauls, will share some new titles in the collection.
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88053653111
2022 Dates
| January 25th | July 26th |
| Feburary 22nd | August 23rd |
| March 22nd | September 27th |
| April 26th | October 25th |
| May 24th | November 22nd |
| June 28th | December 27th |
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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