Regional Reads Book Club
Regional Reads Book Club Events
Please let us know if you’ll be joining us as space is limited.
These events are Free.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 THE LINE BECOMES A RIVER, DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER by Francisco Cantu NONFICTION
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
13912 W. Camelback Road
The Line Becomes a River, Dispatches From The Border
This memoir by a former U.S. Border Patrol agent who chronicles his four years (2008-2012) working in the Southwest borderlands, intersperses personal stories of working the border with the history of the border itself. Taking the job fresh out of college, Cantu portrays the emotional toll and personal conflict of policing, the dehumanization of migrants, and the brutality of the border line. Cantu’s book combines memoir with history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to paint a full portrait of what the US-Mexico border means as place and concept. It also explores a personal perspective on a divisive issue.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 KISS HER GOODBYE by Lisa Gardner FICTION
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
13912 W. Camelback Road
Kiss Her Goodbye
Frankie Elkin, a specialist in finding missing people, searches for a recently arrived Afghan refugee who vanishes in Tucson. Sabera Ahmadi has been missing for three weeks, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter. With an unconcerned husband and indifferent police, the case becomes more complicated when a video surfaces of Sabera that appears to show her walking away from a double murder scene. In her investigation, Frankie must navigate the complexities of international trauma, the Afghan community, and a dangerous criminal. The novel also explores the immigrant experience, deep family secrets, and the lengths a person will go to protect a child.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
The Harvey Girls
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
13912 W. Camelback Road
THE HARVEY GIRLS by Juliette Fay
The Harvey Girls follows two vastly different women who discover companionship and independence while working as waitresses in America’s first hospitality chain along the Santa Fe Railroad during the 1920s. Charlotte Crowninshield, a Boston socialite, fleeing an abusive marriage, and Billie MacTavish, a teenager from a large impoverished immigrant family in Nebraska, share three things when they begin their training in Topeka, Kansas, a room, a heartfelt dislike of each other, and secrets that could get them fired. But when they are both stationed at El Tovar in the Grand Canyon, they must learn to trust each other and form a bond. While guarding their personal secrets, they face historical challenges of the era, including run-ins with the KKK and uncovering dark aspects of the national park’s history. The novel examines the subculture of the “Harvey” world as it explores the theme of found friendship in the setting of the wondrous natural world of the Grand Canyon.
Wednesday, December 2, 2026
Arizona's Murdered Mdams - Dath in the Red-Light District
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
13912 W. Camelback Road
ARIZONA’S MURDERED MADAMS–DEATH IN THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT by Merry Gordon
Come meet the author of this non-fiction work at our December meeting. Merry Gordon, a local writer, editor, and high school educator will join us to take questions and guide discussion of her recently published book.
Arizona’s Murdered Madams–Death in the Red-Light District explores the lives and violent deaths of three prominent Arizona territorial madams. Minnie Powers rose to prominence in Phoenix’s red-light district before dying in a murder-suicide in 1898; “Belgian Jennie” Bauters operated out of Jerome before being gunned down in the mining town of Goldroad in 1905, and “Dutch May” Prescott ran scandalous sex shows and a brothel in Flagstaff before her 1916 murder. As she describes the lives of these madams, Gordon also explores the broader realities of sex workers in the Old West and chronicles the harsh societal constraints that pushed women into prostitution. Limited employment opportunities for unmarried women on the frontier, the reality of life after divorce, and widespread drug and alcohol dependency channeled many women into the dangerous life as sex workers for their economic survival.
Come meet Merry Gordon and share her well researched insights into the complexity of prostitution in frontier Arizona. Please RSVP
