About us

If you love to read you are definitely going to want to join the Waverly Public Library’s book club for adults (18 and over), “Read til YA drop”. The club reads Young Adult fiction from a wide variety of genres including realistic fiction, fantasy, dystopian, and more. We will provide the book to read ahead of time.

We meet the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm in the library’s conference room. 

If you’re interested in joining the club please contact Zack at the library: 319-352-1223 or waverly@waverly.lib.ia.us

March 2020 Book – Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 24th at the Waverly Public Library

About the book:

KIRKUS REVIEW

Bronx native Juliet Palante lands her dream internship in Portland, Oregon, the summer after her freshman year of college.

In 2003, the 9/11 attacks are a recent memory, mixtapes are in full effect, and Juliet comes out as a lesbian to her Puerto Rican family the night before she leaves town. Bearing the pain of her mother’s disapproval, Juliet bravely moves forward (pa’lante!) in hopes of self-transformation with Harlow Brisbane, author of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind—Juliet’s beloved “magical labia manifesto.” Curious and open, Juliet plops into Harlow’s white hippie world of polyamorous lesbians and feminism while she questions her purpose as a brown-skinned, curvy, asthmatic, Puerto Rican lesbian. When a Raging Flower reading blows up, Juliet flees, seeking refuge with her badass revolutionary cousin and her queer chosen family, further expanding her understanding of personal freedom. Diverse primary and secondary characters reflect believable communities in Portland and Miami, although the portrayal of Filipino tertiary character Phen lacks cultural texture. Rivera (America, Vol. 2: Fast and Fuertona, 2018, etc.) offers up a passionate tribute to the power of one’s voice through Juliet’s savvy and tender narration. Crucial and intense explorations of sexual orientation, gender identity, and race ring true. A white and Korean librarian love interest and a masturbation scene add sweet sensuality to Juliet’s self-discovery.

A whirlwind coming-of-age story that leaves one breathless.

 

**Reminder that the author will be at the GBPAC on March 26th!

February 2020 Book – Lovely War by Julie Berry

Meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 25th at the Waverly Public Library

 

About the book:

KIRKUS REVIEW

Love’s enduring power faces off against the horrors of war in this sumptuous Greek mythology–inspired romantic page-turner.

In a Manhattan hotel on the eve of World War II, Hephaestus catches his wife, Aphrodite, in a compromising position with his brother Ares. To exonerate herself of the crime of adultery, she weaves an intricate tale of mortal love during wartime that demonstrates the endurance of the human spirit. Vacillating between the present and the past, the goddess’s narrative centers on Aubrey, an African American musician; Colette, a Belgian singer; Hazel, a wide-eyed British pianist; and her paramour, James, an aspiring architect (the latter three are white), who are all brought together by happenstance during the First World War. The resulting interweaving story is an epic of Shakespearean emotional depth and arresting visual imagery that nonetheless demonstrates the racism and sexism of the period. Scheherazade has nothing on Berry (The Emperor’s Ostrich, 2017, etc.), whose acute eye for detail renders the glittering lights of Paris as dreamlike in their beauty as the soul-sucking trenches on the French front are nightmarishly real. The mortal characters are all vibrant, original, and authentic, but none is more captivating than the goddess of love herself, who teaches her husband that love is an art form worthy of respect and admiration.

An unforgettable romance so Olympian in scope, human at its core, and lyrical in its prose that it must be divinely inspired.

January 2020 Book – Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, January 28th at the Waverly Public Library

 

 

About the book:

We are starting off 2020 with a mystery!

KIRKUS REVIEW

Students attend the prestigious Ellingham Academy for myriad reasons, but all are geniuses, here to study that about which they’re most passionate.

Stephanie “Stevie” Bell studies crime, and there’s no better place to do this than where, in 1936, one of the nation’s most notorious crimes occurred. The wife and daughter of millionaire and school founder Albert Ellingham went missing. The only clue was a malicious, Dorothy Parker–style rhyme signed “Truly, Devious.” Although an innocent man was convicted of the kidnappings and the murder of Mrs. Ellingham (their daughter was never found), the crime was never truly solved. Stevie is obsessed with getting to the bottom of this decades-old case, and the crimes are made all the more real when one of her housemates is murdered and someone who calls themselves “Truly Devious” peremptorily claims responsibility.

There’s a comfortable and realistic diversity among the characters. Stevie’s STEM genius friend Janelle is a “girl of color” and a lesbian. A white female teacher has a shaved head and unshaven legs, and minor characters include a Muslim girl and an (assumed-white) girl in a wheelchair. Stevie herself is white and struggles with depression and anxiety, illnesses that have no easy answers but which are represented here with truth and compassion.

A classic mystery that would make Dame Agatha proud.