Join the Discussion

Book Talk

Book Talk meets monthly on the last Monday of the month at 10:00 am.
This group gathers in the library's meeting room for discussion. Everyone welcome.
We’ll provide a reading suggestion for each month. You pick your own book to read.

Monthly Reading Themes for 2026

January:Book has a dust jacket
February: Iowa Ties
March: A guide to...
April: All read the same book
May: Author's initials are the same
June: Murder to solve
July: Pioneer time period
August: Biography
September: A book from your ancestry
October: A book that costs you nothing
November: Based on a true story
December: Day of the week in the title
 

Oelwein Reads
Thursday, November 19th at 5:00. p.m. 

Oelwein Reads Book Club will meet at the library.
This book club will focus on books about Iowa or the Midwest.  
The book selected is Midnight Assassin by Patricia Bryan & Thomas Wolf 

Book summary:

In 1900, Margaret Hossack, the wife of a prominent Iowa farmer, was arrested for bludgeoning her husband to death with an ax while their children slept upstairs. The community was outraged: How could a woman commit such an act of violence? Firsthand accounts describe the victim, John Hossack, as a cruel and unstable man. Perhaps Margaret Hossack was acting out of fear. Or perhaps the story she told was true--that an intruder broke into the house, killed her husband while she slept soundly beside him, and was still on the loose. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and community sentiment was divided over her guilt. At trial, Margaret was convicted of murder, but later was released on appeal. Ultimately, neither her innocence nor her guilt was ever proved.