Palm Desert Reads Book Club

The Palm Desert Reads Book Club is dedicated to fostering a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment for adults and older adults. Our book club provides a space for lifelong learners to come together, share their love of literature, and engage in meaningful discussions. Through the exploration of diverse genres and authors, we aim to spark curiosity, build connections, and enrich the lives of our members, encouraging both personal growth and social interaction.  

The Library will have a limited number of copies available for the book club to check out. The books are on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, talk to a staff member.

If there are no copies left and you would like to put this item on hold with the library, check our catalog here: 

Physical Book: Mecca by Susan Straight

Our August pick is Mecca by Susan Straight

Johnny Frías has California in his blood. A descendant of the state’s Indigenous people and Mexican settlers, he has Southern California’s forgotten towns and canyons in his soul. He spends his days as a highway patrolman pulling over speeders, ignoring their racist insults, and pushing past the trauma of his rookie year, when he killed a man assaulting a young woman named Bunny, who ran from the scene, leaving Johnny without a witness. But like the Santa Ana winds that every year bring the risk of fire, Johnny’s moment of action twenty years ago sparked a slow-burning chain of connections that unites a vibrant, complex cast of characters in ways they never see coming.

In Mecca, the celebrated novelist Susan Straight crafts an unforgettable American epic, examining race, history, family, and destiny through the interlocking stories of a group of native Californians all gasping for air. With sensitivity, furor, and a cinematic scope that captures California in all its injustice, history, and glory, she tells a story of the American West through the eyes of the people who built it—and continue to sustain it. As the stakes get higher and the intertwined characters in Mecca slam against barrier after barrier, they find that when push comes to shove, it’s always better to push back.