• 'Eddie Winston is Looking for Love' by Marianne Cronin
• 'What Happened to the McCrays?' by Tracey Lange
• 'With This Ring' by Amy Clipston
• 'The Favorites' by Layne Fargo
• 'Playground' by Richard Powers

• 'Clever Little Thing' by Helena Echlin
• 'The Business Trip' by Jessie Garcia
• 'Held' by Anne Michaels

Fans of Sally Rooney will certainly enjoy 'The Rachel Incident' by Caroline O'Donoghue, which is available on the @libby.app. I took the time to read the acknowledgements section at the end and was delighted to read that O'Donoghue is good friends with another favorite author of mine, Dolly Alderton. I felt like I found my niche in reading: women struggling with this business of living and always on the outside of things looking in.

"Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph."~ Goodreads.com (4.09 rating)

Happy reading, friends. ~Heather

My choice for this month's Adventures in Bookclubbing book club was 'New Boy' by Tracy Chevalier. It is a retelling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy 'Othello.' Set in the 1970s, it takes place on an elementary school playground throughout the course of one school day. It's told in 5 parts, made up of several recesses, after-lunch, and after-school times. The characters are primarily 6th graders, and their world revolves around who has a crush on whom, who is breaking which rules, and who has studied for the latest test. A new student, Osei, arrives and that throws ripples into the lives of many of the kids; he is black, from Africa, and has been through five schools in the past year so he knows what it is like to be the 'new kid.' All the other students are white, and he quickly befriends the most popular girl in school, Dee. Dee's classmate Ian is overcome with jealousy and begins plotting on how he can put the new student 'in his place.' I enjoyed it; it is a very quick read, and made me learn more about 'Othello.'

This book is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project, which has several authors rewriting Shakespeare for modern audiences. The entire list of books in the project can be found at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/.../hogarth-shakespeare/. The Vinton Public Library currently has Chevalier's 'New Boy' and 'Vinegar Girl' by Anne Tyler in our physical collection, and the remaining titles can be found on Libby.

Happy reading!

~Kelly Henkle, Library Director

Join us for our 2nd Annual Red Carpet Party at the library! We will be watching the celebrity red-carpet arrivals in Hollywood for the Academy Awards. Our night includes Oscar-themed trivia games, beverages, appetizers, and more! Formal dress is encouraged but not required. Thanks to a generous donation from Express Limousine of North Liberty, we are also holding a raffle for a 2-hour limo ride prior to the event. Purchase your raffle ticket at the library, or as an add-on during the Eventbrite ticketing process. Add on an optional VPL wine or beer glass for $15 as well. Beast & Bird of Vinton will be onsite selling a variety of beers and wine. All proceeds will benefit the 2025 Children's Summer Reading Program at our library. Thank you for your support!

VS Seniors: Stop into the Vinton Public Library to work on your college and trade school scholarship applications! We’ll have free printing, free envelopes, snacks, and experienced professionals on hand to help answer your questions and provide essay feedback.

We're holding three sessions for your convenience:
Saturday, 2/15/25 from 9am-12pm
Saturday, 3/15/25 from 9am-12pm
Saturday, 3/22/25 from 9am-12pm

Join us for our monthly book club where you pick the book! This month we reading books written by authors with red hair. Get creative and have fun with it! We're meeting at two different times; pick the session that works best for you!

*Thursday, February 20th, 2025 at Noon

*Thursday, February 20th, 2025 at 6pm

This guy has read 200 books!

We would love to hear what your favorite books were from 2024 and what you hope to read this year! Our director, Kelly Henkle, shared this exercise with us during our latest staff meeting and I thought it would be great to share with our patrons, too! Let us know what you look forward to reading this year!

Check out my top three books from 2024 and what I look forward to reading in 2025! What were your favorite books in 2024 or what do you look forward to reading in 2025?

Cheers to a new year of reading!! I'd love to hear the books on your TBR for 2025!

~Kelly Henkle, Library Director

Mondays: 9a-5p

Tuesdays: 9a-8p

Wednesdays: 9a-5p

Thursdays: 9a-8p

Fridays: 7a-4p

Saturdays: 9a-Noon

Sundays: Closed

Copy services: $0.20 per black and white, $0.25 per color

Fax services: $1.00 for 1-2 pages, $2.00 for 3+ pages

Notary services: No charge, call 319-472-4208 for availability

Free Wifi

Boardroom available at no charge; reservations required

Email: library@vintonia.gov
Website: vinton.lib.ia.us
Location: 510 2nd Avenue, Vinton, IA, USA
Phone: (319) 472-4208
Facebook: facebook.com/heartofvinton