Decorah Public Library staff are hosting five book discussions in November. The groups are open to the public and newcomers are encouraged to attend. Anyone interested should call the library at 382-3717 to learn more or to reserve a book. Zoom links are available on the Library’s website or you can email ktorresdal@decorahlibrary.org to be added to any of the groups’ email distribution lists. Funds for multiple copy sets were generously provided by Friends of Decorah Public Library.

The Happy Hour Book Group will meet at Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. Wed. Nov. 8 at 5:15 p.m. to discuss the first half of Abraham Verghese’s “The Covenant of Water” (pp.1-403). Set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, “The Covenant of Water” spans the years 1900 to 1977 and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. The second half of the book will be discussed in December. 

For more information, contact Tricia Crary (Friday Book Group) or Kristin Torresdal (Happy Hour, History, and Speculative Fiction Book Groups) at 563-382-3717.