The History Book Group will discuss Richard Rhodes’ “Energy: A Human History” at 6:30 p.m. Thurs. Oct. 17^th on the 2^nd floor of the library. People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Energy details how this knowledge of our history can inform our way tomorrow.

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

The Friday Book Group will meet at 2:00 p.m. Fri. Oct. 18^th on the 2^nd floor of the library to discuss Jeanette Walls’ “Half Broke Horses.” By age six, Jeannette Walls’ resourceful, no-nonsense grandmother Lily Casey Smith was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town—riding five hundred miles on her pony, alone, to get to her job. Lily survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, and the Great Depression. Jeannette’s mother told her that she was like her grandmother, and in this true-life novel, she channels that kindred spirit.

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

Decorah Public Library staff are piloting a new speculative fiction book discussion group in September and October. The group is open to the public, and anyone interested is encouraged to call the library at 382-3717 to reserve a book or sign up for future info via email.

The September session will be facilitated by Erin Larson and will meet Wed. Sept. 25^th at 5:15pm at the library to discuss Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Trail of Lightning.” While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster who took her is more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

The October session will be facilitated by Kristin Torresdal and will meet Wed. Oct. 23^rd at 5:15pm (location TBD) to discuss Brandon Sanderson’s “Skyward.” Defeated and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship which appears to have a soul, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and persuade the strange machine to help her.

For more information, contact Kristin Torresdal at ktorresdal@decorah.lib.ia.us or Erin Larson at erin@decorah.lib.ia.us.