The Friday Book Group will meet at 2:00 p.m. Fri. Nov. 15^th on the 2^nd floor of the library to discuss Tom Franklin’s “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.” In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas Jones were boyhood pals. Then Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found, Larry never confessed, and Silas left town. More than twenty years later, Larry lives a solitary existence, and Silas has returned as a constable. They have no reason to cross paths—until another girl disappears, Larry is blamed again, and the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they’ve buried for decades.

The Speculative Fiction Book Group will meet Wed. Nov. 20th at 5:15 p.m. at the library to discuss Sofia Samatar’s “Tender.” Divided into “Tender Bodies” and “Tender Landscapes,” the stories collected here in this first collection of short fiction from a rising star travel from the commonplace to the edges of reality. “Tender” explores the fragility of bodies, emotions, and landscapes, in settings that range from medieval Egypt to colonial Kenya to the stars, and the voices of those who question: children, students, servants, researchers, writers. 

The History Book Group will discuss Charles King’s “Gods of the Upper Air” at 6:30 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 21^st on the 2^nd floor of the library. At the end of the 19th century, everyone knew that people were defined by their race and sex. But one researcher looked at the data and decided everyone was wrong. Franz Boas proposed that cultures did not exist on a continuum from primitive to advanced; instead, every society solves the same basic problems—from childrearing to how to live well—with its own set of rules, beliefs, and taboos. Boas and his students mapped vanishing civilizations from the Arctic to the South Pacific and overturned the relationship between biology and behavior. Their work reshaped how we think of women and men, normalcy and deviance, and re-created our place in a world of many cultures and value systems.

The Speculative Fiction Book Group will meet Wed. Dec. 18^th at 5:15 p.m. on the 2^nd floor of the library to discuss Tamsyn Muir’s “Gideon the Ninth.” Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude, but her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds, she will become an all-powerful servant of the Resurrection—but without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

For more information, contact Carmen Buss (Friday Book Group) or Kristin Torresdal (Happy Hour, History, and Speculative Fiction Book Groups) at 563-382-3717.