Looking for your next great read but not really sure where to start? Let our librarians help you! Fill out this form and we’ll send a personalized list of titles you, your child or teen might enjoy.
Adult Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Children Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Teen Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Are you starting a book club, or already have a book club and need books? We’ve got you covered. The Library checks out Book Club Kits that contain between 8-15 copies of fiction and nonfiction books. The Kits check out for 8 weeks. Find the list of Kits here Book Club Kits.
Copies of each month’s selection are available at the Adult Services Desk at the Main Library.
We are all in need of lights to follow.
One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.
Back at home, Rebanks couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly—and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.
This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.
Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.
Already in a book club? You can checkout sets of books from APL’s previous book club selections. Each bag contains 8-12 copies of the book and check out for 8 weeks.
Questions about APL book clubs? Email us at librarywebteam@cityofalbany.net
Albany Public Library is excited to offer access to New York Times Digital by remote code activation. See instruction below to get started.
Remote Access:
Through a joint project between the Albany Regional Museum and the Albany Public Library, approximately 7,000 photos from the Robert Potts Collection were numbered, sorted, and scanned. This project is supported in part by a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
Click here to access the historical photos: Online Collections | Albany Regional Museum
Robert “Bob” Potts was a lifelong Albany resident, serving in the military as a ham radio operator during World War II. He was a co-owner of Duedall & Pott’s Stationery Store in downtown Albany for many years. Potts was very involved in the history of Albany and spent many years collecting photographs. In the 1990s, Potts wrote six books on Albany’s history, which included hundreds of historic photographs.