FEBRUARY 2016

The non-fiction selection for our February discussion is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Here is part of a TED talk given by the author


Are you an introvert or extrovert?  Take the test here and learn more about the book.

Discussion is on Monday February 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in Eldridge

JANUARY 2016

Our January Discussion will take place on Monday January 25th @ 6:30 p.m. in Eldridge.  The book will be The Giver by Lois Lowry.  The Giver is a classic young adult novel that won a Newbery Medal in 1994.  It was made into a movie in 2014.

The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.

Fall 2015

September's pick is The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.  It's about a cranky young man who finds his life upended when someone leaves a baby girl at his book store. 

October's pick is The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel.  It's a true account of the space race from the wives' perspectives.  (Lots of drama behind the scenes!) 

November will be a special discussion because the author will be joining us.  The book is Will the Real Carolyn Keene Please Stand Up by Christine Keleny.  It was a Midwest Book Award Finalist and tells about 3 of the authors behind the famous Nancy Drew series of books. 

Book discussions take place on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room at the Eldridge branch library. 

JUNE 2015

In lieu of our usual book discussion, we are hosting Zeus himself on June 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room.  To prepare, we suggest reading Percy Jackson book 1, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  

200 N 6th Ave.
Eldridge, IA 52748

FEBRUARY 2015

February is a non-fiction month, so we have chosen to read In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson.  The book follows the lives of William Dodd and his family as they travel to Germany in 1933 for his position as ambassador.  They were, at first, welcomed by the German people and dazzled by the pageantry of the third reich.  Then they began to see the beginnings of what would become Germany's darkest period. 

Join us in Eldridge for discussion on Monday February 22nd at 6:30 p.m.  Books are now available for checkout.

January 2015

For January, we are starting the New Year with our first fiction pick, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.

Set in a small English village, Harold is a predictable fellow whose life is the same, day in, day out.  One day he receives a letter from Queenie, a friend who did something "nice" for him 20 years prior.  The letter is sent from her hospice where she will likely die.  Harold writes her back, but then has a change of heart and decides to walk the letter to her...600 miles across England.

Our discussion will take place on Monday January 26th at 6:30 p.m. in Eldridge.  Books are now available.

December 2014

December's book is Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
Loewen got the idea for the book after reviewing about a dozen American history textbooks and finding glaring omissions and even blatant lies about our history.

Check out this video with the author:



Join us for our discussion on Monday December 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room, Eldridge library.  Books available now!

November 2014

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell is our November selection for the Scott County Reads book discussion.  This quirky thriller was a bestseller for debut author Bazell in 2009. 

 Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.

Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might-just might-be the same person ...

Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours-and somehow beat the reaper. 

November discussion will be on Monday the 24th at 6:30 p.m.  Books will be available for pick up in Eldridge in late October.  

October 2014

The October selection is Playing with the Enemy by Gary W. Moore.  It's a true story about Gary's father, Gene.  Gary was unaware of his father's talent in baseball until just before his death.  After extensive research, he found his father's story to be compelling enough to write this book. From the author's website...

Headed for baseball stardom with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Gene’s destiny was interrupted by Pearl Harbor. After playing ball for the Navy in the Azores and North Africa, Gene and his team were sent to the States for a special—and top secret—mission: guarding German sailors captured from U-505. Unable to field a team, Gene convinced his commander to allow him to teach the enemy how to play baseball while he and his teammates waited for the war to end so they could be called up into the Major Leagues. But Gene’s future changed irrevocably in Louisiana. His life . . . and maybe our national pastime . . . was forever altered.

The October discussion will take place at the Eldridge branch library on the 27th at 6:30 p.m.  Books are available now for pick up in Eldridge. 

Sept 2014

Our September fiction selection is Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.  Here's the book summary:

Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse...
As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.

Discussion will take place on Monday September 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at the Eldridge branch library.  

July 2014

Our July pick is Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland.  This historical novel follows the life of Clara Driscoll, an artist who worked for the Tiffany Glass company in 1893.  At the time, she was not given credit for much of her work and struggled personally with relationships, knowing that Mr. Tiffany did not employ married women.  This novel is an interesting look at life during that time, the struggles for women, and differences in class. 


Book discussion will take place on Monday, July 21st at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room in Eldridge.  Books are available now. 

March 2014

Our March Discussion will take place on week late, on March 31st at 6:30 p.m.


Our selection for this month is Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin.  Part love story, part literary mystery, Melanie Benjamin’s spellbinding historical novel leads readers on an unforgettable journey down the rabbit hole, to tell the story of a woman whose own life became the stuff of legend. Her name is Alice Liddell Hargreaves, but to the world she’ll always be known simply as “Alice,” the girl who followed the White Rabbit into a wonderland of Mad Hatters, Queens of Hearts, and Cheshire Cats. Now, nearing her eighty-first birthday, she looks back on a life of intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. First as a young woman, then as a wife, mother, and widow, she’ll experience adventures the likes of which not even her fictional counterpart could have imagined. Yet from glittering balls and royal romances to a world plunged into war, she’ll always be the same determined, undaunted Alice who, at ten years old, urged a shy, stuttering Oxford professor to write down one of his fanciful stories, thus changing her life forever.

Books are available now at the Eldridge Branch Library.  Discussion will take place in Eldridge in the First Amendment Room.  Newcomers are welcome.

January 2014

To kick off the new year, we have chosen to read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

The book follows 16 yr old Jacob as he explores his grandfather's past and the mysterious photographs from a children's home that was destroyed in World War II.  He journeys to a small island off the coast of Wales and begins to uncover haunting secrets.

Discussion will be on January 27th at 6:30 p.m. at the Eldridge branch library.  Books are available now.

December 2013

On December 30th, we will be discussing the book Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel and Bret Witter.
This non-fiction book explores the little known MFAA division of the military that worked to protect and recover works of art and other important cultural artifacts during WWII.  The story has been made into a movie that will be out in theaters in February.  Check out the trailer here.


Our discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m.  Books are available at the Eldridge branch library.  

October 2013

Our October discussion will actually take place on Monday, November 4th at 6:30 p.m.  We will be welcoming a special guest, Theodore Roosevelt!  "TR" will talk about his life and Presidency.  We will also be discussing the book, Island of Vice by Richard Zacks.
 

The Theodore Roosevelt impersonator session will be open to the public, and is free.

August 2013

On August 26th, Scott County Reads will be discussing The Man Who Invented the 20th Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity by Robert Lomas.  This biography compares the lives of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.  How did one become a household name, while the other seems to have been forgotten though he contributed so much more?

Discussion will take place at the Eldridge branch at 6:30 p.m.

July 2013

For our July meeting, we will discuss Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  The novel was adapted into a screenplay and the trailer for the film is below...


In modern-day Paris, a journalist (Kristen Scott Thomas) finds her life becoming entwined with a young girl whose family was torn apart during the notorious Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942.

Discussion will take place in the First Amendment Room at the Eldridge branch library on July 22nd at 6:30 p.m.  Books are available now.

April 2013

In April, Scott County Reads will be discussing Mao Zedong: A Life by Jonathan Spence.  The biography is interesting look at how Chairman Mao, from humble beginnings, came to be the communist ruler of the People's Republic of China.

Discussion will be on Monday April 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room in Eldridge.  Books are available now. 

January and February 2013

Our title for the next two months is Team of Rivals by Doris Goodwin Kearns.  For January we will read the first 13 chapters.  In February we will finish the book and our discussion.

Books are available at the Eldridge branch library.  Discussions are January 28th at 6:30 p.m. and February 25th at 6:30 p.m.

Check out the trailer for Lincoln, based on this very book

December 2012

Our book discussion for the month of December will be held a week earlier than usual, on December 17th.  Because of the shortened reading time, we chose a short book, the classic The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Copies are now available at the Eldridge library. 

Join us for the discussion on the 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the First Amendment Room.

Check out the website for info on the upcoming theatrical release starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.  http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/