May 3, 2012 Book Club Choice

So Long, See you Tomorrow by William Maxwell will be discussed on Thursday, May 3 at the Pioneer Bookshop, 823 Fourth Street.   Prior to the discussion we will be celebrating the 5th anniversary of the Pioneer Bookshop.  The famous champagne cake from the Danish Maid Bakery will be served along with delicious mock champagne punch.   Everyone is welcome to join the party!  The club starts talking at 7pm. Come early for the celebration. 

Book Club Moved to April 12, 2012

The Pioneer Bookshop Book Club will postpone the meeting date to the week after Easter. The discussion of The Eyre Affair will be on Thursday, April 12 at 7pm at the PIoneer Bookshop, 823 4th Avenue.
Wishing you a wonderful Easter.

April 2012 Book Club Choice

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde will be discussed at the next meeting of the Pioneer Bookshop Book Club. All are welcome to join in on Thursday, April 5 at 7pm at 823 4th Avenue.

The May 2012 book to be discussed is So Long, See you Tomorrow by William Maxell.

The book club meets on the first Thursday of each month. You may contribute to the discussion that night, or on this blog. Please join us!

Author Dean Bakopoulos at the Pioneer Bookshop Feb. 2012

The Pioneer Bookshop Book Club was pleased to host Author Dean Bakopoulos, author of the novel Please Don't Come Back from the Moon. Bakopoulos, read from his book to give us a sense of the author's voice. The Grinnell College assistant professor of English engaged the audience with descriptions of his evolution as a novelist, the process of getting published and how he brings out his characters, sometimes from personal experiences. His second novel, My American Unhappiness, has been published, and he has two more books in progress.

The March 2012 Book Club choice is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. The club will meet on Thursday, March 2 at 7pm in the Pioneer Bookshop at 823 4th Avenue in downtown Grinnell. All are welcome to join us that night and/or to contribute comments to this blog. Book Club books are discounted by 25% at the Pioneer Bookshop.

Author Appearance Thursday, February 2 at the Pioneer Bookshop

Please Don't Come Back from the Moon

Author Dean Bakopoulos, Assistant Professor of English at Grinnell College will appear at the Pioneer Bookshop on Thursday, February 2, at 7pm to read from his book, Please Don't Come Back from the Moon. The story unfolds as a number of fathers in a down trodden Michigan town disappear. One shop keeper leaves a note on his door, "I'm going to the moon. I took the cash." The story centers around a group of adolescent boys left behind and their mothers who struggle to make ends meet.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend this special event of the Pioneer Bookshop Book Club.

January 5, 2012 Book Club Choice

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay will be discussed on Thursday, January 5, 2012 by the Pioneer Bookshop Book Club. The author tells two stories, one of a Jewish girl in 1942 France and the other of a current day American journalist living in France. Chapter by chapter the stories go back and forth until they blend together. This is a book I could not put down.





On February 2, 2012, author Dean Bakopoulos will be at the Book Club meeting to read from and discuss his
novel Please Don't Come Back From The Moon. All are welcome to attend this public event at 7pm at the Pioneer Bookshop.

December 2011 Book Club Book

Hilary Mantel is the 2009 recipient of the Booker Prize for her novel Wolf Hall. The prize goes to a novel written in English by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. Wolf Hall is a fictional portrait of Henry VIII's turbulent court

The club will meet to discuss Wolf Hall on Thursday, December 1, 7pm at the Pioneer Bookshop. Everyone is welcome to attend.







Scott Cawelti, author of Brother's Blood, visited the Pioneer Bookshop on November 10 to share stories surrounding his book. The audience was treated to a lively discussion about Cawelti's personal connections to the family and the investigators involved with the murders that took place in Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1975.