Happy October! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us last season. We have such a great community, and we’re glad that there are so many readers!
This newsletter has a lot of info! Vine Street Market is having their Harvest Festival this month (and then they’ll be closed for a while), Banned Books Week is coming up, and our book clubs have selected their October books! Scroll down for all the things.
Since it is officially fall, we’ve got our fall reading recommendations ready for you. Tap or click one of the banners below to find them!
Vine Street Market
Saturday, October 17th is the Harvest Festival at Vine Street Market! It is also the last day to shop at Vine Street Market until the Thanksgiving Market on November 21st. The market hours are from 8am to 12pm.
Banned Books Week
October 4th – 10th is Banned Books Week. The theme for this year is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.”
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, which compiles data on book challenges from reports by library professionals, documented that 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025. Most books are not challenged by individuals – in fact, the ALA found that 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials and decision makers.
You can check if your favorite books have been banned anywhere using Is It Banned or the Censorship Search Portal. If there are any specific banned books you would like to own, please let us know – we would be happy to order them for you!
Each day during Banned Books Week, we will post information about a banned book that we have in the store. If you’re interested in what books we posted about last year, you can find them here. For this year’s, please click or tap the banner below!
Voter Registration
This year is an election year! The 2026 General Election takes place on November 3rd. If you’re a citizen of voting age, it is important that your voice be heard. General Elections determine who leads at local, state, and federal levels. They are a great way to influence your immediate community, as well as the nation as a whole.
If you live in the city of O’Fallon, you can register to vote at City Hall. If you live anywhere in Illinois, you can register to vote online through the Illinois Online Voter Application. Make sure that you register to vote under your current address! Elections for St. Clair County are handled through the St. Clair County Clerk’s Office. On their website, you can find information about current and past elections.
To find where to cast your vote, you can check this page of the State Board of Elections website. If you are scheduled to work on Election Day, the state of Illinois entitles you to request up to two hours off to accommodate voting.
If you’re looking for in-depth information and possible sample ballots, Illinois has a very useful Voter Guide. Vote.org is a good resource. Ballotpedia is a good, easy-to-use resource if you’re in any state and has a helpful Voter Toolkit.
Voting is a vital part of being an active citizen. The US has always striven for ideals that exist before the nation’s capacity to fulfill them, which is particularly evident in the evolution of our voting rights, and voters help determine the future of their local communities as well as the entire country. Remember: no candidate will ever be perfect, and whether you vote or not, someone will be elected.
Sisters in Service
Sisters in Service holds Community Hours at TBR Books on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month and every Friday from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
During Community Hours, their team will work on nonprofit initiatives while creating a welcoming space for women veterans, community partners, and supporters to connect and learn more about their mission.
Whether you’re curious about their programs, interested in supporting local veterans, or simply want to say hello, we invite you to stop by. Learn more about Sisters in Service at www.sistersinservicestl.org.
Book Clubs
TBR Books hosts multiple book clubs! They are very casual and FREE to join. Even if you didn’t finish the book, you can still join in! Books for the next month’s meeting are chosen at the end of each meeting. See below for the book clubs’ meeting dates and book selections.
- Non-fiction
- When: October 6 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: Whatever you’ve been reading
- Queer Voices
- When: October 6 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: The Song of Achilles
- Thriller
- When: October 9 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: The September House
- Young Adult
- When: October 9 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: Gallant
- SciFi/Fantasy
- When: October 20 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: Whatever you’ve been reading
- Adult Fiction
- When: October 22 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: Witches of Honeysuckle House
- Romance
- When: October 22 at 6:30pm
- Where: TBR Books
- Book: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Event Space
Our back room is ready for everyone to enjoy! It is a cozy reading room and event space. Are you interested in hosting your next gathering at TBR Books? Check out our Event Room page for more information!
Hispanic Heritage Month
We posted about Hispanic Heritage Month in our September Newsletter, but the celebration is from September 15th to October 15th, so we’re posting about it in this newsletter as well! Click or tap the banner below for more information and book recommendations.
Italian-American Heritage & Culture Month
Italian-American Heritage Month was first celebrated in October in 1989. Its purpose is to educate and celebrate the contributions and culture of Italians in the United States.
Italy became a unified nation decades after the formation of the United States, but people from what is now Italy had been immigrating to the US since its early days. Most Italian-Americans arrived in the later 1800s and early 1900s, with more than 4 million Italians immigrated to the US between the 1880s and the 1920s. Today, around 16.3 million Americans (4.8%) have Italian ancestry.
To learn more and check our book recommendations, please click or tap the banner below.
Polish American Heritage Month
Polish-American Heritage Month has been celebrated in October since 1986 and honors the contributions of Polish Americans throughout US history. Polish people arrived in the Americas in 1608 with some of the earliest European settlers. Casimir Pulaski Day, which is in March, celebrates Pulaski, who was a Polish hero of the American Revolution, although over 100 Polish people came to the US specifically to help fight for freedom. Polish people came in larger numbers in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with an estimated 2 million Polish immigrants arriving by the 1920s.
Today, around 8.6 million (6%) Americans have Polish ancestry. Here in Illinois, 10% of the state’s population (930,000 residents) have Polish ancestry. The Chicago area is even home to the largest Polish community outside of Poland.
We don’t have any book recommendations for Polish American Heritage Month yet, but if you’d like to check out links to additional online resources (like Polish American museums and organizations), click or tap the banner below. If you have any books by or about Polish Americans that you would like us to order for you, let us know!
October Literary Celebrations
Here are some literary celebrations that you might be interested in!
- National Book Month
- National Cookbook Month
- National Reading Group Month
- National Arts & Humanities Month
- October 10: Let Freedom Read Day
- October 16: Dictionary Day
- October 17: Black Poetry Day
- October 20: National Day on Writing
- October 18-24: Friends of Libraries Week
Reminders
If you or your friends like to listen to audiobooks to read e-books, you can still support TBR Books by using Libro.fm (for audiobooks) and Bookshop.org (for e-books or physical books).
As it gets cooler outside, it’s a good time to remind you that we have a Community Resources page, where you can find out how to find local warming shelters and food pantries. (We just added the voting information from this newsletter to the page, as well).
No AI was used in writing this newsletter or making any of the graphics. For TBR Books’ AI policy, check our About page. If any of our links don’t work, please let us know by commenting on this post!
Leave a comment