Discover Florida through the History Center book club’s 2026-27 season
Florida can be read through its big historical moments, but some of the most revealing stories are found among ordinary people and places we know. Across 10 books, the History Center’s 2026-27 book club selection moves through Florida’s history and literature, from a multigenerational novel and a family history to the story of a Tampa landmark, the Gulf South during the American Revolution and contemporary life in Florida.
One of the season’s strongest local connections is Patrick D. Smith’s “A Land Remembered.” The novel has introduced generations of Hillsborough County students to Florida’s history and remains a favorite among local educators. Following the MacIvey family through generations of change, the book offers a way to revisit a Florida landscape that has been transformed within living memory. This novel is currently in the process of becoming a television series.
For Tampa readers, “Tampa Theatre: A Century of Stories” offers a closer look at a place many already know by heart, from its ornate architecture and distinctive atmosphere to its role in Tampa’s cultural life since opening in 1926. The book carries a special significance as the final work of Tampa historian Andrew T. Huse. He passed away in 2025 before its publication, making this season’s discussion an opportunity to celebrate both his scholarship and the Tampa story he spent years documenting.
Book club also takes a closer look at Florida’s role in the American Revolution with “Fourteenth Colony.” The book explores the history of Florida and the Gulf South during the Revolutionary era and pairs especially well with the History Center’s current map exhibition, “Mapping the 14th Colony: British Florida and the American Revolution.”
The season also moves through fiction, essays and historical storytelling, from intimate family accounts and personal perspectives to stories of hurricanes, exploration and changing communities. Together, the selections move between the personal and the historical, the familiar and the unfamiliar, giving readers plenty to consider about Florida, the Gulf South and the people who have shaped both.
The book club meets on the third Thursday of each month from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Read Florida from more than one perspective
Grab a cup of coffee and join us monthly for an informal discussion about the best in Florida literature. Topics range from fiction to food, poetry to politics. Free with registration, the History Center’s book club meets in person and via Zoom from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Everyone is welcome.
Visit the links to learn more about each book, meeting dates and times, and register for the event you’d like to attend.
The 2026-27 reading list
- Sept. 17 – “It’s Hard to Kill a Bougainvillea: From Slavery to the American Dream” by Sylvia A. Alvarez, reviewed by Sylvia A. Alvarez
- Oct. 15 – “Brawler” by Lauren Groff, reviewed by Sharon Masturzo
- Nov. 19 – “Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era” by Mike Bunn, reviewed by Richard Kane
- Dec. 17 – “Tampa Theatre: A Century of Stories” by Andrew T. Huse, reviewed by Shelley Blood
- Jan. 21 – “A Land Remembered” by Patrick D. Smith, reviewed by John Nuekamm
- Feb. 18 – “The Life of Herod the Great” by Zora Neale Hurston, reviewed by Marty Sears
- March 18 – “Blue Marlin: A Novella” by Lee Smith, reviewed by Valerie Wolf
- April 15 – “The Last Train to Key West” by Chanel Cleeton, reviewed by Cathy Clayton
- May 20 – “The Moor’s Account” by Laila Lalami, reviewed by Brooke Kelly
- June 17 – “Anywhere Else: Essays on Florida” by Rachel Knox, reviewed by Amanda Hoffman
- July 15 – Florida Book Review
The reading list is available through the History Center’s Museum Store. When you purchase your books from the Museum Store, your purchase helps support the History Center’s mission to preserve and share Florida’s history. Sign up for upcoming book club discussions through our book club events page and choose to attend in person or via Zoom.
A year of reading Florida
A book can tell you about Florida, but a conversation can change the way you see it. That is what makes the book club more than a reading list. Each month, readers have the chance to bring their own experiences and questions to a different book and to hear how other people understood the same people, places and histories.
That conversation is particularly fitting for a reading list that moves so freely across Florida. A family history, a Tampa landmark, a novel set during a hurricane or an account of early exploration can all lead somewhere unexpected once readers begin talking about them.
Join the History Center book club for the 2026-27 season and bring a book, a cup of coffee and your own perspective to the conversation.
About the Author
Sara Cheesewright serves as Digital Marketing Associate at the Tampa Bay History Center. She holds a Master of Arts from St. John’s University and brings more than five years of editorial expertise to her work. As a lifelong storyteller, she is deeply...
