Looking for a book club? Join the Dedicated Readers Society at the library the second Monday of the month from 6-7pm at the Chippewa Falls Public Library. We are a small friendly low key group (no quizzing) of all ages and welcome new members. Give us a try. This book club is free and open to the public. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich Monday, September 8, 6:00 PM In Argus, North Dakota, a wedding intertwines the lives of Gary, Kismet, Hugo, and Crystal. Amidst personal struggles and love triangles, they face broader themes of time, climate change, and economic turmoil. The novel explores the complexities of ordinary people in a prairie community, highlighting their dreams, struggles, and resilience. The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende Monday, October 13, 6:00 PM Traces the ripple effects of war and immigration on two children, five-year-old Samuel, whose mother puts him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England in 1938, and seven-year-old Anita, who boards another train eight decades later to the United States, where she's separated from her mother. The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson Monday, November 10, 6:00 PM Diane Wilson’s novel follows a Dakhóta family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story about those who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools. The Huntress by Kate Quinn Monday, December 8, 6:00 PM Nina Markova always dreamt of flying. When the Nazis attack the Soviet Union, she joins the Night Witches, a female bomber regiment. Stranded behind enemy lines, she becomes the prey of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress and joins forces with a Nazi hunter and British war correspondent to find her before she finds them. The hunter becomes the hunted. Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey Monday, January 12, 6:00 PM A struggling single mother in Alaska, Birdie, finds solace and love with the reclusive Arthur in his remote wilderness life, but as she embraces this idyllic escape, she uncovers his dark secret and the unforgiving nature of the wild. Black Woods, Blue Sky is a novel with life-and-death stakes, about the love between a mother and daughter, and the allure of a wild life—about what we gain and what it might cost us.
Alexei Navalny began writing his memoir Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change in Russia cannot be resisted—and will come. "Will be seen as a historic text." (The Economist)
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Monday, March 9, 6:00 PM
Thackeray's upper-class Regency world is a noisy and jostling commercial fairground, predominantly driven by acquisitive greed and soulless materialism. Although subtitled
A Novel Without a Hero, the novel follows the fortunes of two contrasting but inter-linked lives: through the retiring Amelia Sedley and the brilliant Becky Sharp, Thackeray examines the position of women in an intensely exploitative male world.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Monday, April 13, 6:00 PM
In 1950 Washington, DC, at an all-female boardinghouse called Briarwood, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, drawing her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
Monday, May 11, 6:00 pm
A New Yorker staff writer examines the political factors in Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that have led to the humanitarian crises at the United States southern border, as told through the stories of these migrants—interspersed with commentary and history of immigration policy.
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven
Monday, June 8, 6:00 pm
A true story of survival in the Arctic follows the year-long battle against the elements waged by the stranded crew of the Karluk—and the captain's daring journey to save his surviving crew. Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, Jennifer Niven recreates with astonishing accuracy the ill-fated journey and the crew’s desperate attempts to find a way home.
James by Percival Everett
Monday, July 13, 6:00 pm
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, retold from the enslaved Jim's point of view has become a both harrowing and ferociously funny story in Percival Everett’s new novel, James. While many narrative set pieces of Twain's original novel remain in place, Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. (In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg.)
Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family's Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer by Brian Reisinger
Monday, August 10, 6:00 pm
The hidden history of an economic and cultural crisis that is threatening our very food supply—the disappearance of the American farmer. Taking on this working-class story of heart and hardship, award-winning writer and rural policy expert Brian Reisinger weaves forgotten eras of American history with his own family’s four-generation fight for survival in Midwestern farm country.
