Oregon City Adult Staff Picks List

Titles recommended by Adult Services staff in the Oregon City Adult Collection.

Updated October 25, 2025
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Go tell it on the mountain
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
"Nothing but the darkness, and all around them destruction, and before them nothing but the fire--a bastard people, far from God, singing and crying in the wilderness!" First published in 1953, Baldwin's first novel is a short but intense, semi-autobiographical exploration of the troubled life of...
A short history of nearly everything
Bryson, Bill
Paper Book
The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century and has sold over 2 million copies. 'Possibly the best scientific primer ever published.' Economist ...
Bittersweet how sorrow and longing make us whole
Cain, Susan
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * The author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet explores the power of the bittersweet personality, revealing a misunderstood side of mental health and creativity while offering a roadmap to facing heartbreak in order to...
Quiet : the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking
Cain, Susan.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Experience the book that started the Quiet Movement and revolutionized how the world sees introverts--and how introverts see themselves--by offering validation, inclusion, and inspiration "Superbly researched, deeply insightful, and a...
Trust
Díaz, Hernán
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE "Buzzy and...
This is how you lose the time war
El-Mohtar, Amal
Paper Book
WINNER OF Hugo Award for Best Novella Nebula Award for Best Novella Reddit Stabby Award for Best Novella British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novella SHORTLISTED FOR 2020 Theodore Sturgeon...
Shades of grey. 1, The road to High Saffron
Fforde, Jasper
Paper Book
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia.
Paper Book
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been one of the literary giants of the past century; his body of work is an undisputed cultural landmark and a touchstone for countless readers and writers alike. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a true classic, a timelessly fascinating and intricately...
The wicked + the divine. Vol. 1, The Faust act
Gillen, Kieron
Paper Book
"solid storytelling and clean, gorgeousartwork will keep readers engrossed and eager for more." - PublishersWeekly (Starred) "Gillen's penchantfor fast, sharp dialogue and McKelvie and Wilson's razor-lined,...
The lathe of heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
The Locus Award-winning science fiction novel by legendary author Ursula K. Le Guin, set in a world where one man's dreams rewrite the future. During a time racked by war and environmental catastrophe, George Orr discovers his dreams alter reality. George is compelled to receive...
Sapiens: The Masters of History: A Graphic History, Vol 3
Harari, Yuval Noah.
Paper Book
Sometimes history seems like a laundry list of malevolent monarchs, pompous presidents and dastardly dictators. But are they really the ones in the driving seat? Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 3 - The Masters of History takes us on a hilarious ride through the...
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
Honeyman, Gail
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick "Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric...
Klara and the sun
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is "an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a...
You
Kepnes, Caroline
Paper Book
NOW A HIT NETFLIX SERIES A NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER "Hypnotic and scary." --Stephen King "I am riveted, aghast, aroused, you name it. The rare instance when prose and plot are equally delicious." --Lena...
The poisonwood bible
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller * Pulitzer Prize Finalist * An Oprah's Book Club Selection "Powerful . . . [Kingsolver] has with infinitely steady hands worked the prickly threads of religion, politics, race, sin and redemption into a thing of terrible beauty." --Los Angeles Times Book Review<...
Displacement
Knisley, Lucy
Paper Book
In a book that is part memoir, part travelogue and part family history, Knisley not only tries to connect with her grandparents, but to reconcile their past and present selves. She is aided in her quest by her grandfather's World War Two memoir, which is excerpted. Readers will identify with Knisley...
We are the Brennans
Lange, Tracey
Paper Book
**INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** In the vein of Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest, Tracey Lange's We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame--and the redemptive power of love--in an...
The devil in the White City : murder, magic and madness at the fair that changed America
Larson, Erik.
Paper Book
'An irresistible page-turner that reads like the most compelling, sleep defying fiction' TIME OUT One was an architect. The other a serial killer. This is the incredible story of these two men and their realization of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and its amazing...
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse : the Animated Story
Mackesy, Charlie.
Paper Book
A book for all ages, a book for all times, treasured by millions. Charlie Mackesy's The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse was adapted into the BAFTA and Academy Award® winning animated short film. #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER · #1 NEW YORK...
The science of can and can't : a physicist's journey through the land of counterfactuals
Marletto, Chiara
Paper Book
A luminous guide to how the radical new science of counterfactuals can reveal the full scope of our universe There is a vast class of properties, which science has so far neglected, that relate not only to what is true - the actual - but to what could be...
Lonesome dove
McMurtry, Larry.
Paper Book
A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning classicLonesome Dove, the third book in theLonesome Dovetetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last, defiant wilderness of America. Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome...
Becoming
Obama, Michelle
CD
An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States   #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER * ONE OF...
What happened to you? : conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing
Perry, Bruce D.
Paper Book
Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain development and trauma expert, Dr Bruce Perry, discuss the impact of trauma and adverse experiences - and how healing must begin with a shift to asking 'What happened to you?' rather than 'What's wrong with you?'. Through wide-ranging and often...
Bewilderment
Powers, Richard
Paper Book
THE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY 'It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it. . . . It changed how I see things and that's always, for me, a mark of a book worth reading....
The overstory
Powers, Richard
Paper Book
THE MILLION-COPY GLOBAL BESTSELLER and WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION **AS SEEN ON BBC 2'S BETWEEN THE COVERS** 'It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it' Barack Obama 'Really, just one of the best novels,...
The order of time
Rovelli, Carlo
Paper Book
Why do we remember the past and not the future? Do we inhabit time or does time inhabit us? What does it mean that time "flies by?" Where does it go when it flies? This transformative, enchanting book will completely change the way we think about time. 
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore
Sloan, Robin
Ebook
Beyond that, the sea
Spence-Ash, Laura
Paper Book
"Spence-Ash has written the novel in eight points of view, but each character is utterly three-dimensional and distinct. This debut novel captivated me from start to finish." --Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series A sweeping, tenderhearted love story,...
A gentleman in moscow
Towles, Amor.
Paper Book
OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD A Showtime/Paramount+ series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov From the number one New York Times-bestselling author, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life...
Honor : a novel
Umrigar, Thrity N.
Paper Book
In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.
Cat's cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt.
Paper Book
"A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!"--The New York Times Cat's Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a...
Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade : a duty-dance with death
Vonnegut, Kurt
Paper Book
Read Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. 'An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist' New York Times Book Review Billy Pilgrim - hapless barber's assistant,...
On Earth we're briefly gorgeous a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction * Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century ...

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