Take a Break
Book Club
FOR ADULTS AGES 18+
EVERY FOURTH Thursday AT 6:30 PM in the COMMUNITY ROOM
Come join your fellow community members for a lively discussion of both classic works and modern masterpieces. In addition to our discussion, we’ll have a little something extra each month, such as a craft, treat, or game that’s related to that month’s title.
Unless otherwise noted, a limited number of book club reading copies will be available for checkout from the circulation desk about a month prior to the meeting.
SCHEDULE
September 26, 2024—New Boy
October 24, 2024—The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter
November 11, 2024—Raven Black
No book club in December
January 23, 2025—A Fever in the Heartland
February 27, 2025—Flora and Ulysses*
March 27, 2025—Angels and Demons
April 24, 2025—My Sister the Serial Killer
May 22, 2025—Seabiscuit
June 26, 2025—An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good
No book club in July or August
*Our 2025 On the Same Page community reads book
Reading List
September 26, 2024
New Boy
by Tracy Chevalier
Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, a diplomat’s son, Osei Kokote, knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day so he’s lucky to hit it off with …
Read the full synopsis
October 24, 2024
The Incredibly Dead Pets
of Rex Dexter
by Aaron Reynolds
Rex Dexter is itching to have a dog. He was practically born to have one. His name is Rex, for crying out loud. It’s a dog’s name. Any pooch is preferable, but a chocolate …
Read the full synopsis
November 21, 2024
Raven Black
by Ann Cleeves
In the remote Scottish Shetland Islands, Det. Insp. Jimmy Perez investigates the murder of teenage Catherine Ross, found strangled on a snowy hillside shortly after …
Learn More!
January 23, 2025
A Fever in the Heartland
by Timothy Egan
The Roaring Twenties–the Jazz Age–has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate …
Read the full synopsis
February 27, 2025
Flora & Ulysses
by Kate DiCamillo
It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self …
Read the full synopsis
March 27, 2025
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
When a world, renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the …
Read the full synopsis
April 24, 2025
My Sister
the Serial Killer
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of …
Read the full synopsis
May 22, 2025
Seabiscuit
by Laura Hillenbrand
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more …
Read the full synopsis
June 26, 2025
An Elderly Lady Is
Up to No Good
by Helene Tursten
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free …
Read the full synopsis
September 26, 2024, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, a diplomat’s son, Osei Kokote, knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players – teachers and pupils alike – will never be the same again.
The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970’s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Peeking over the shoulders of four 11 year olds Osei, Dee, Ian, and his reluctant girlfriend Mimi, Tracy Chevalier’s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying and betrayal will leave you reeling.
part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series
For this book club, we have a limited number of books that may be kept if you choose.
You may also return the book, or pass it on to a friend.
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★★ and said “Wow! I’ve had reservations about Othello in the past. How could such a brave, wise, worldly man be so completely gullible? Emilia seems like a decent human being. How could she have possibly married Iago and why would she ever help him? In Tracy Chevalier’s retelling, it all makes sense. Immature, insecure twelve year olds? Early 70’s? Yes, this fits and is gripping, powerful. The ending was a jolt. OK, Osei doesn’t physically kill sweet little Dee, but there’s no happy, playground ending here. It is Othello, after all. I have to add that this is the third of the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings that I’ve read and all of them have been incredibly well done, the right authors paired with tales appropriate to their talents. I look forward to many more.
October 24, 2024, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter
by Aaron Reynolds
Rex Dexter is itching to have a dog. He was practically born to have one. His name is Rex, for crying out loud. It’s a dog’s name. Any pooch is preferable, but a chocolate Labrador is the pinnacle. The best of the best. The dream of all dreams.
When Rex’s B-Day for Me-Day finally arrives, his parents surprise him with a box. A box with holes. A box with holes and adorable scratchy noises coming from inside. Could it be? Yes! It has to be! A . . . a . . .
Chicken?
Pet poultry?
How clucky.
One hour and fourteen minutes later, the chicken is dead (by a steamroller), Rex is cursed (by the Grim Reaper), and wild animals are haunting Rex’s room (hounding him for answers). Even his best friend Darvish is not going to believe this, and that kid believes everything.
Rex’s uninvited ghostly guests are a chatty, messy bunch. And they need Rex to solve their mysterious deadly departures from the Middling Falls Zoo before it happens again.
But how?
book 1 in The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter series
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★★ and said “What a snickering joy! Rex is an egocentric, opinionated, disrespectful, loud mouth who really deserves everything that comes to him, even if it’s the ghost of a charred rhino. When Rex is cursed by the Grim Reaper and starts being visited by the souls of recently departed mammals (except for the shark that really doesn’t count), he has to broaden his perspective and learn to take an interest in someone, or something besides himself, a change which will bring a small amount of relief to his exasperated parents, much put upon teacher, and manipulated school mates. This middle grade novel is sure to be a hit with rambunctious tweens and those who take an interest in them whatever the age!”
November 21, 2024, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
In the remote Scottish Shetland Islands, Det. Insp. Jimmy Perez investigates the murder of teenage Catherine Ross, found strangled on a snowy hillside shortly after New Year’s. Police and citizens alike are quick to lay the blame on local eccentric Magnus Tait, who was not only the last person to see Catherine alive but also the prime suspect in the disappearance eight years earlier of another girl. Perez is soon drawn into an intricate web of lies as he unearths long-buried secrets that go deeper into the past of the Shetland Islands than anyone wants to go.
book 1 in the Shetland Island series
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★ and said “This is my first Ann Cleeves novel and she has definitely won me over due largely to her meticulously drawn characters. I was also quite taken with the intriguing setting. I’ll be reading more.”
Mindy rated it ★★★★.
January 23, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
by Timothy Egan
The Roaring Twenties–the Jazz Age–has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.
Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he’d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows – their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman – Madge Oberholtzer – who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.
A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Emily rated it ★★★★★ and said “This is one book that it seems icky to rate 5 stars. However, it is exceptionally well-written and meticulously researched. I learned so much that I never knew. I was equal parts horrified by the rise of the KKK and elated at its downfall. Books like this are so very important. The nasty parts of our history serve as warnings for us now. I just hope people begin to heed them. Hate should have no place here (or anywhere if we’re talking pipe dreams).”
February 27, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo
This is our selection for this year’s community reading event On the Same Page.
Free copies will be given away starting in mid-January.
It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry—and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart.
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★★ and said “Holy unanticipated occurrences! This is a fun, fast read with a lot of substance. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.”
Bekka rated it ★★★★★ and said “What a great book this is! Its a totally worthy addition to the Newbery list. Right from the beginning with that great cartoon, this book had me interested and laughing. K.G. Campbell’s illustrations are so great throughout! They really add to the storyline in a very tangible way. The language in this book is so quirky and charming, it totally matches the illustrations. DiCamillo has a real talent in being able to portray very real people and situations in a way that is compelling and enjoyable. I loved Flora! And Ulysses is a character pretty much unique, at least in my reading! I think this is an excellent read for middle-school kids and older, as they will be able to relate to Flora’s situation. Grown-ups will love it for different reasons, but will love it equally.”
March 27, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
When a world, renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man’s chest. His baffling conclusion: it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years – reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic church.
In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair – a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican.
But with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invisible enemy…
book 1 in the Robert Langdon series
For this book club, we have a limited number of books that may be kept if you choose.
You may also return the book, or pass it on to a friend.
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★★.
Bekka rated it ★★★★.
Susan rated it ★★★★.
April 24, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This’ll be the third boyfriend Ayoola’s dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede’s long been in love with him, and isn’t prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other…
My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker – and more difficult to get out of the carpet – than water…
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★★ and said “This bizarre tale of a sister gone wrong is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It’s bad enough having a sibling with a nasty habit of knocking off boyfriends, but when she starts dating the man of your dreams? The tension built by Braithwaite was palpable and deliciously painful with pathos and dark humor that wouldn’t let me set it aside. 4+ stars. Highly recommended.”
Lorna rated it ★★★★ and said “I’m not sure I get all of the dark humor but it was crafty and interesting.”
May 22, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:
Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.
Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.
For this book club, we have a limited number of books that may be kept if you choose.
You may also return the book, or pass it on to a friend.
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Susan rated it ★★★★★.
Vivian rated it ★★★★ and said “This is definitely a story worth telling, and Laura Hillenbrand tells it very well. Her account is nothing short of fascinating, and thorough.”
June 26, 2025, at 6:30 pm in the Community Room
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way.
Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
book 1 in the Elderly Lady series
Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians
Cathy rated it ★★★★ and said “Oh, my, she really is. A one sitting read for me!”
Regular Hours of Operation
- Monday: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
- Tuesday - Wednesday: 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
- Thursday: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
- Friday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
- Saturday: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
- Sunday: CLOSED
Closures in 2024
- January 1 – New Year’s Day
- January 15 – Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
- February 19 – Presidents Day
- March 22 – Staff Development Day
- April 6 – Building Maintenance
- May 25-27 – Memorial Day
- June 19 – Juneteenth
- July 4 – Independence Day
- August 31 – September 2 – Labor Day
- September 20 – LCEI Conference
- October 5 – Building Maintenance
- October 31 – Open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
- November 11 – Veterans Day
- November 27 – Closing at 5:00 pm
- November 28-30 – Thanksgiving
- December 24-26 – Christmas
- December 31 – New Year’s Eve
- January 1, 2025 – New Year’s Day
Address
73 North Center
Rexburg, Idaho 83440
We are located on Center Street, just north of Main Street, by the Historic Rexburg Tabernacle.
Contact Us
(208) 356-3461
24 Hour Phone Renewal: (208) 356-6658
askmadisonlibrary@madisonlib.org