Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

August’s title is The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on August 5 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

July’s title is To Save and to Destroy by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer comes a moving and unflinchingly personal meditation on the literary forms of otherness and a bold call for expansive political solidarity.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on July 8 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

June’s title is The Lilac People by Milo Todd.

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and In Memoriam, a moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of pre-war Berlin to survive first the Nazis and then the Allies, while protecting the ones he loves.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on June 10 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

When: Monday, May 11, 2026 at 5 pm
Where: Aalfs Downtown Library (529 Pierce St.)

Book Summary: After the murder of her best friend, a librarian’s search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from the author of the beloved bestseller The Life We Bury.

CLICK HERE to find the book in the Library catalog

For more information on the All Iowa Reads initiative: https://statelibraryofiowa.gov/programs/all-iowa-reads

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

May’s title is Tilt by Emma Pattee.

Set over the course of a single day, an electrifying debut novel from “a powerful new literary voice” (Vogue) following one woman’s journey across a transformed city, carrying the weight of her past and a fervent hope for the future.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on May 6 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

April’s title is Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards.

A poignant and heart-wrenching coming-of-age story that follows the friendships, hopes, fears, and struggles of a group of Native high school students from Winnipeg, Manitoba’s North End, illuminating what it’s like to grow up in the heart of an Indigenous city.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on April 8 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

March’s title is the 2026 Sioux City Read Book: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of mid-century American life, The River We Remember offers an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on March 4 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

February’s title is The Art Thief by Michael Finkel.

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, Michael Finkel gives us one of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of our times, a riveting story of art, theft, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on February 4 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

January’s title is The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani.

Fed by the author’s cherished Italian roots comes a bighearted, hilarious novel of the the story of one woman’s determination to live a creative life that matters, with enough room left over for love. With a one-way ticket to Italy, Jess is determined to write a new story on her own terms–this time, in stone.

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on January 7 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!

Two In-Person Sessions:
10 – 11 am at Morningside Branch Library
5 to 6 pm at the Aalfs Downtown Library (free parking in the evening)

November’s title is Midwestern Food by Paul Fehribach

An acclaimed chef offers a historically informed cookbook that will change how you think about Midwestern cuisine. 

Can’t make it to the in-person meetings? Sign up to attend the Virtual Book Club via Zoom on November 5 from 12 noon to 1 pm – Get Registered Here!