2026 Fall Read

For High Plains Public Radio Readers Book Club, I'm Shane Timson in Colby, Kansas. Today we're talking about the book Florida by Lauren Groff. This is a book comprised of several short stories. Now, I have to confess, I'm not really a short story guy. I felt like just when I was getting into the story and the flow of it, it was over.

Thank you for joining us at the High Plains Public Radio Station. My name is Jessica Sadler. I can usually be found in a secondary science classroom, but I am currently a Teacher Professional Development Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. I am here with the other book leaders to discuss Florida by Lauren Groff.

I’m Martin Fulmer from Goodwell, OK, here for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club’s 2026 Fall Read. One of the things that makes Lauren Groff’s Florida so compelling is the way weather refuses to stay in the background. Storms do more than change the sky. They interrupt plans, expose vulnerabilities, and make people see one another differently.

I’m Matt Kliewer, once from Cimarron, Kansas, now from Austin, Texas, coming to you from San Diego, California. So many of the characters in Lauren Groff’s Florida are separated from their landscape. They are walking, running, dreaming of a way away from where they come.

I'm Glenda Shepard. This is my book byte for Florida by Lauren Goff. I never seem to read The Radio Reader's Book Club books in order. For this fall's list I first listened to Florida and next The Children's Blizzard as audio books.

I’m Martin Fulmer from Goodwell, OK, here for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club’s 2026 Fall Read. When people hear the title Florida, they may picture beaches, palm trees, theme parks, or winter escapes. Lauren Groff’s Florida is a different place. It is lush and beautiful, but also humid, overgrown, unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous.

Every place has its own weather, and every landscape leaves its mark on the people who live there. While the High Plains are shaped by wind, wide horizons, and sudden storms, Florida is a place of heat, humidity, lush landscapes, and the ever-present possibility of hurricanes.

I have long thought that the primary reason we are known for our hospitality in this part of the country is that we are all equal in the wind. In this book I gained a much deeper understanding of why.

Hi! Marjory Hall here from Goodwell, Oklahoma, back with another BookByte for the Radio Reader’s Fall, 2026 season. One of my favorite elements of participating in a book club is the enjoyment of reading a great book that I would never have chosen on my own.

Hello Radio Readers! This is Marit Ehmke coming to you from west-central Kansas in Lane County. As I was on the tractor the other day, racing the coming rain to knock down very healthy weeds, it occurred to me that we’re such at the mercy of what the wind brings our way.