Avoca Book Club discussion

Here some books that take place in Iowa, that I would recommend. How many have you read?

Fiction
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
Blue Jasmine byKashmira Sheth
Spirit Lake by MacKinlay Kantor
The Christmas List by Pete Nelson
Eleven Days by Donald Harstad
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Sleeping With the Enemy byNancy J. Price
Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas
Safer by Sean Doolittle


Non-Fiction

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression byMildred Armstrong Kalish
Taking Back My Life by Nancy Ziegenmeyer
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World byVicki Myron
Dear Ann, Dear Abby: The Unauthorized Biography of Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren by Jan Pottker
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
Mark, I Love You by Hal Painter

Wow, I didn't know there were so many titles! Sandra Dallas is one of the authors I enjoy.

I also have a book An Ocean in Iowa by Peter Hedges. I haven't read it yet, so can't confirm it takes place in Iowa. But from the book cover I'd say it does.

I have read all Donald Harstadbooks and loved them.

I have Safer signed by the author who is just a peach to chat with.

I might write down all these titles for my lunch/book club at the Harlan library.

I read Weight of Silence and Loved it!

also another author who is from Iowa/Minnesota is

Julie Kramer

WOW!! There are so many of them!! Sadly, I've read only one & that is Weight of Silence. Fantastic book!!!

I just recently heard of another non-fiction that I put on my to read list Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler.

All of the ones I mentioned above I have read.

Dara S. wrote: "I just recently heard of another non-fiction that I put on my to read list Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler.

All of the ones I mentioned above I have read."

Dara, I recently purchased this one at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. I can't wait to read it!

Ginger wrote: "WOW!! There are so many of them!! Sadly, I've read only one & that is Weight of Silence. Fantastic book!!!"

Get with it Ginger! I am kind of surprised you have not read Dewey, unless you are not a cat person. {Smile}

Dara....I'll have you know we have TWO cats (giggling at you!) as well as 2 dogs. I'm a cat~dog person!! But you're right...I do need to get with it!! :)

is an Omaha author who grew up in a small town of Iowa.

Love her stuff and her first Maggie O'dell book is in Omaha , Perfect Evil with even further down the series, Omaha is mentioned and the background scene for a couple more books in this series.

Author Sean Doolittle was also born in Nebraska and now lives in Iowa

this book is set in OmahaThe Cleanup

and the Rambo movies were based off books written by an Iowa professor

First Bloodbeing the first title with Rambo II and III being the titles of the next books by David Morrell

I'm currently reading a book where Plano, Iowa is the location for an asylum where Max has to be placed. I'm going to look to see if Plano is an actual place or if it's fictional. The name of the book is Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten.

Yep! I just checked and Plano is a real place!! ;-)

Awesome! Thanks for adding another book featuring Iowa!

J.R. Robb has mentioned (in a couple of books) in her Eve Dallas series Omaha,Ne and Ottuma (sp) Iowa. Kind of funny when I see that...

One was the now stripper who came from Iowa looking to be a star in New York...