The summer seems to just be flying by. We are already entering the final week of our summer reading program, “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” Keep logging your minutes and entering your tickets for the prize drawing.
At the time of writing, we are well on track to meet our community-wide goal of reading 1 million minutes this summer! Shaun Klee With the end of summer approaching that means we are going right into our fall programs. With the start of fall that means our book clubs will begin meeting again, including the popular local history book club, Bygone Book Club, a partnership between the Grand Island Public Library and the Hall County Historical Society. Local historians from the historical society lead the monthly discussion of a book that covers Grand Island, Hall County, Nebraska, or regional history.
The book club meets monthly from August through April, with a break in December. Come listen to the discussion leader and learn about a wide range of historical subjects. The first meeting of the season for the Bygone Book Club is set for 11:30 a.
m. Saturday, Aug. 10.
Note the discussions will be starting 30 minutes later this year. “Murder in the Land of Broken Promises,” by local author and Central Community College history instructor Linda Wilke Heil, will be the focus when the Bygone Book Club resumes Aug. 10.
The club, a collaboration between the Grand Island Public Library and the Hall County Historical Society, meets monthly from August through April, with a break in December. Linda Wilke Heil The book selection for August is “Murder in the Land of Broken Promises,” by local author and Central Community College history instructor Linda Wilke Heil. “Evil besieged a thriving English colony on Horse Creek in western Nance County Nebraska on a mild fall day in 1884,” reads the book’s description.
“The brutal murders of Henry Perceval, his wife, baby, Hugh Mair, and Harry Baird were an execution-style slaughter that rocked their tiny corner of the world. Who could have done this to these bright young immigrants, and why? Though a suspect was quickly determined, he was never caught and the murders remain unsolved.” The discussion will be led by the author.
On Sept. 14, the club will discuss “An Unspeakable Sadness: the Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians,” by David J. Wishart.
Local author and historian Jean Lukesh will lead the Bygone Book Club’s September meeting which will feature “An Unspeakable Sadness: the Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians,” by David J. Wishart. Jean Lukesh “Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples’ lands.
To Euro-Americans, this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians, the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity.” The discussion will be led by Jean Lukesh. On Oct.
12, the history of Grand Island movie theaters and show houses is up for discussion with John Sorensen’s “Our Show Houses: the History of Movie Theaters in Grand Island.” Discussion leader will be Mac Martin. For the last discussion of the fall, on Nov.
9, Sue Clement will lead the discussion of Willa Cather’s “One of Ours.” “Follow Claude Wheeler, the sensitive, aspiring protagonist of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from the wide-open farmlands of Nebraska to the brutal battlefields of 1918 World War I France. An idealist without an idea to cling to, Claude struggles to find life’s purpose on his family’s Nebraska farm, only to ironically fulfill his romantic idealism in the trenches of Europe.
” The Bygone Book Club will take a break in December and resume the series in January 2025. The Bygone Book Club is just one of the many book clubs and programs offered at the Grand Island Public Library. Keep up-to-date on all of our events by following us on social media or by visiting our website at www.
gilibrary.org . We hope to see you soon! Shaun Klee serves as the reference and collection services librarian for the Grand Island Public Library.
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