HPPR Radio Readers Book Club

This is Glenda Shepard and my Radio Readers BookByte for And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado by Bonar Menninger. This book scores a direct hit with High Plains Public Radio's theme of wind and weather.

Every High Plains family seems to have a tornado story. Some are rooted in history. Some become family legends. Others begin with the simple words, "My dad always used to say..." Long before weather apps, Doppler radar, and instant alerts, people learned to live with the uncertainty of tornadoes by sharing stories—some practical, some reassuring, and some simply unforgettable.

Hello radio readers! This is Marit coming to you out of Lane County, KS. Mostly since it's been a race against the weeds with undercutting season at our farm, I had the pleasure of listening to Lauren Groff’s Florida in her own voice while out on the tractor.

I’m Martin Fulmer from Goodwell, OK, here for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club’s 2026 Fall Read. By the time I reached Lauren Groff’s story “Above and Below,” I had begun to understand that Florida is not only interested in storms as dramatic events.

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.