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Introducing Talk of Iowa's Book Club picks for 2024

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Introducing Talk of Iowa's Book Club picks for 2024


Join Charity Nebbe and your fellow book lovers on Talk of Iowa for a live, on-air book club! Discuss the themes, characters and big-picture questions raised by the titles on our reading list. Then, continue the conversation between shows by joining the Talk of Iowa Book Club Facebook group.

Here’s the list!

2024 Reading List

Get a copy of these books, find a comfortable chair and read — or re-read — right along with us!

The Color Purple

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By Alice Walker

Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize, The Color Purple tells the story of Celie, who grows up poor in rural Georgia in the early part of the 20th century. Through letters she writes to God, and later to her younger sister Nettie, we follow Celie through her struggle with an abusive father, a racist and sexist culture and an abusive marriage. We also follow her through the forging of strong loving relationships and personal growth and discovery.

Join the discussion on Feb. 20.

The Seed Keeper

By Diane Wilson

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The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family over multiple generations, from the 19th century to the early 2000s. It’s largely told from the perspective of Rosalie Iron Wing, a young Indigenous woman who has grown up in rural Minnesota, but who is placed in foster care after her father dies. As she grows up she learns that she loves to garden, and the book goes on to explore the relationship between the land and Rosalie’s Dakhóta ancestors, the injustices that the Indigenous people of South Dakota have endured and how those injustices are both a social and environmental concern.

Read along and join Talk of Iowa on April 23 to discuss the book.

Solito

By Javier Zamora

In his memoir Solito, Javier Zamora recalls his “trip” — his word — from El Salvador to the United States in the late 1990s at just nine years old, on his way to be reunited with the parents he hasn’t seen in years. Zamora recalls leaving his home and the harrowing migration story in vivid detail — alternating among funny, heartbreaking and hopeful moments. The story’s deep insight and beautiful prose about such a politicized issue makes it almost startling when Zamora mentions his favorite cartoons or wanting to go to the zoo — which reminds us that he is just a child.

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Follow the trip — and the conversation — on June 18.

Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You

By Lucinda Williams

Recommended by Iowa Public Radio’s own Lindsey Moon, this New York Times bestseller is from the unique perspective of Grammy award-winner and songwriter Lucinda Williams. In the book, she writes about being raised in a working class family in the Deep South, moving from town to town each time her father — a poet, a textbook salesman, a professor, a lover of parties — got a new job, totaling 12 different places by the time she was 18 years old. Her mother suffered from severe mental illness and was in and out of hospitals. And when Williams was about a year old, she had to have an emergency tracheotomy — an inauspicious start for a singing career. But she was also born a fighter, and she developed a voice that has captivated millions. In Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, Williams takes readers through the events that shaped her life and music.

Read the book and join the discussion on Aug. 20.

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Eleanor and Park

By Rainbow Rowell

It’s 1986 in Omaha, Neb. Eleanor and Park are 16-year-old misfits who strike up a friendship on the bus. They connect through comic books and mixtapes and eventually fall in love. It may sound like a stereotypical YA romance, but the challenges that Eleanor and Park face are complex, real and thought provoking.

Read along and tune in to Talk of Iowa for the book club discussion on Oct. 15.

Kitchen Arabic: How My Family Came to America and the Recipes We Brought With Us

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By Joseph Geha

In 1946, Joseph Geha boarded a ship with his family in Beirut, Lebanon. Their eventual destination was Toledo, Ohio. Geha grew up with his family stories and delicious Lebanese food. Now, he’s woven these together in his book, Kitchen Arabic: How My Family Came To American and the Recipes We Brought With Us. Geha is professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at Iowa State University.

Join the conversation on Dec. 17.





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Elections live updates: Key races to watch in California, Iowa, Montana and New Jersey primaries

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Elections live updates: Key races to watch in California, Iowa, Montana and New Jersey primaries


Live Coverage

In California, competition is fierce for the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral nominations. Iowa, Montana and New Jersey have open U.S. Senate seats. In New Jersey, a silent congressman could lose his House seat.

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Iowa joins wave of states forcing porn sites to verify users’ ages

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Iowa joins wave of states forcing porn sites to verify users’ ages



Beginning July 1, Iowans must verify they are adults to access porn websites.

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Iowa will require porn websites to verify users are at least 18 under a new law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds. 

The Hawkeye State joins at least 25 other states, including Kansas and Nebraska, in requiring age verification for adult content in an effort to prevent minors from accessing it. 

House File 864 is modeled after a Texas age verification law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 6-3 decision in June. The measure will apply to websites or apps if at least one-third of their content is pornographic. 

Beginning July 1, the law will require the websites to verify a user’s age using government-issued identification, financial documents or other documents that are “reliable proxies for age.” Age verification may also be performed by third parties or through any “commercially reasonable and reliable method.” 

The law states websites and third parties “shall not retain, sell, lease or otherwise disseminate any identifying information of an individual subject to reasonable age verification unless retention or dissemination of the identifying information is required by law or a court order.” 

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It also requires third parties and websites to use “reasonable methods given the person’s scope of business to secure all data collected and transmitted” during the age verification process.  

Under the new law, Iowa’s attorney general can sue companies in violation of the law. Violators could face fines up to $1,000 for each time an individual accesses a site in violation of the law. Civil penalties for providers are capped at $10,000 per day.

Iowa Senate lawmakers unanimously approved the measure while the House advanced it 82-2.

Rapid Response Politics Reporter Maya Marchel Hoff can be reached at mmarchelHoff@usatodayco.com. You can find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @mmarchelhoff.

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Iowa Democratic Senate primary: Wahls, Turek make final push before election

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Iowa Democratic Senate primary: Wahls, Turek make final push before election


DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — Iowa’s primary election is Tuesday, and candidates across the state are making their final push to voters.

One of the most closely watched contests is the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The winner will advance to November’s general election to compete for Senator Joni Ernst’s seat.

Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls and State Representative Josh Turek are competing for the Democratic nomination.

Wahls spent Monday in Des Moines speaking with voters about the issues they want addressed in Washington.

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“It’s time for change. We’ve been talking about it from day one. Iowans have been failed by leaders in both parties for far too long,” Wahls said. “In order to get the change that we need, we need a leader and a fighter who’s willing to challenge the broken status quo and clean up the corruption in Washington DC.”

Turek toured the state during the final days of the race. He was in Sioux City Friday and said he will represent working class Iowans if elected.

“I come from a working class family, a working class community, somebody that’s gone through a lot of hardships, a lot of struggle, both on the economic and on the health care side,” Turek said. “I think what’s fundamentally wrong with DC right now is we’ve got enough millionaires up there. I’m the only one in this race that’s not a millionaire.”

For the first time in more than a decade, Iowa will have an open U.S. Senate seat.

While campaigning, candidates have heard concerns ranging from affordability and housing costs to agriculture and water quality.

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Polls open Tuesday morning across Iowa.

Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.

Copyright 2026 Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau. All rights reserved.





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