A book about American families for whom eviction is an everyday reality will be the focal point of the Multnomah County Library's 2017 Everybody Reads community reading program.

"Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" (Crown, 432 pages, $28), by Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, follows eight Wisconsin families who struggle to pay their rent. The book has received much critical praise - The New York Times described it as an "unignorable book," adding, "after 'Evicted,' it will no longer be possible to have a serious discussion about poverty without having a serious discussion about housing." The New Yorker excerpted it over two issues.

The library's director, Valley Oehlke, who chose the title, called it "a very timely selection for our community."

Related: Wave of evictions leaves renters few options in record-setting apartment market

"I've been wanting to find a book that would be a good generator of conversation around the issue of homelessness," she said Thursday. She had a list of possible titles, such as Jeannette Walls' 2006 memoir "The Glass Castle," but wanted a book that was "a little fresher, a little deeper and more relevant." Then she heard about "Evicted" at a library conference.

What Oehlke has taken away from the book is "that housing status can be so incredibly tenuous for people. ... That notion of living right on the brink of eviction, I can't imagine that - this book makes that really real for someone like myself that hasn't had that experience." What she hopes readers take away from the book is a deeper understanding of homelessness and housing insecurity, as well as the opportunity to have discussions and insights that they might not have had otherwise.

"This is a complex issue and there's no single solution and it's affecting a whole lot of people in our community in different ways," she said. "Those conversations are happening, I know - this is just another way to support and enrich those conversations."

Matthew Desmond

As part of the Everybody Reads program, Literary Arts will bring Desmond to Portland for an appearance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets will be $15 to $65 and will go on sale Friday.

Andrew Proctor, Literary Arts executive director, called Desmond "a phenomenal writer" who is skilled at creating empathy and illuminating the complexities and structural issues around homelessness.

"It's really exciting to read the book in a sense that you really get immersed in these characters and their lives," Proctor said. "The tenants are complicated, fleshed-out people, the landlords are complicated, fleshed-out people. They're all kind of trapped in this system that's not working."

The library will stock extra copies of "Evicted" beginning in January. Watch the library website for details about 2017 Everybody Reads programming, including public lectures and book discussion opportunities.

"I have a lot of hope that this will continue to move us in a more constructive direction in how we deal with this issue in our community," Oehlke said.

-- Amy Wang

awang@oregonian.com

503-294-5914

@ORAmyW