Adults
Reading Recommendations for All Ages!
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.
Check out our Book Club Kits
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.
Book Club
APL Book Club
Join us on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 12:00 p.m. for lively discussions and great reads!
Next Meeting: January 20
We’ll be discussing The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
Copies of each month’s selection are available at the Adult Services Desk at the Main Library.
“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”
Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.
Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.
Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.
February’s Title: The Place of Tides, by James Rebanks
Book Club Bags
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
New York Times Digital Access
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:
- Click here to redeem the promotional code, you must create or log-in with a NYTime.com account
- Promotional code is active for 72 hours. After 72 hours, you can redeem a new code by clicking here.
Adult Reading Recommendations
Historic Albany Photos Online
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
About Robert Potts
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.