Oregon City Adult Staff Picks List

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

Updated October 25, 2025
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Oregon City Public Library
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Oregon City Adult Staff Picks List

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

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The casebook of Victor Frankenstein : a novel
Ackroyd, Peter
Paper Book
When two nineteenth-century Oxford students-Victor Frankenstein, a serious researcher, and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley-form an unlikely friendship, the result is a tour de force that could only come from one of the world's most accomplished and prolific authors.   This haunting and atmospheric...
Go tell it on the mountain
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
A Modern Library edition of the renowned black author's classic first novel captures a vivid and provocative portrait of the African-American experience.
The elegance of the hedgehog
Barbery, Muriel
Paper Book
"""An exquisite book in the form of a philosophical fable that has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers.""-Elle (Italy)"
The particular sadness of lemon cake : a novel
Bender, Aimee.
Paper Book
The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse. On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents' attention, bites into her...
Midnight in the garden of good and evil : a Savannah story
Berendt, John
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city--now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author The basis for the upcoming Broadway musical, coming in 2025! "Elegant and wicked . . . might be...
A short history of nearly everything
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
THE #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER, UPDATED FOR 2025 * A wonder-filled quest to understand everything that has happened in the history of the Earth, from the Big Bang theory to the rise of civilization and beyond--revised to reflect the last two decades of scientific advancement ...
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...
The Tao of physics : an exploration of the parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism
Capra, Fritjof.
Paper Book
08
When things fall apart : heart advice for difficult times
Chd̲rn̲, Pema.
Paper Book
The beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema Ch#65533;dr#65533;n one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. A collection of talks she gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we...
Hercule Poirot : the complete short stories
Christie, Agatha
Paper Book
At last, a single volume that gathers together all of the short stories featuring Agatha Christie's most famous creation, Hercule Poirot. The dapper, mustache-twirling little Belgian with the egg-shaped head and curious mannerisms has solved some of the most puzzling crimes of the century--and,...
Batavia's graveyard
Dash, Mike.
Paper Book
"It was the autumn of 1628, and the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company's flagship, was loaded with a king's ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java. The Batavia was the pride of the Company's fleet, a tangible symbol of the world's richest and most powerful commercial...
The Plover
Doyle, Brian
Paper Book
Declan O Donnell has sailed deep into the vast, wild ocean, having had just finally enough of other people and their problems. He will go it alone, he will be his own country, he will be beholden to and beloved of no one. But the galaxy soon presents him with a string of odd,...
Trust
Diaz, Hernan
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
* HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * "[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause...
Shades of grey : the road to High Saffron
Fforde, Jasper.
Paper Book
An astonishing, hotly anticipated new novel from the great literary fantasist and creator of Thursday Next, Jasper Fforde. As long as anyone can remember, society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. From the underground feedpipes that keep the municipal park green to the healing...
One hundred years of solitude
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel
Paper Book
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history...
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,...
Team of rivals : the political genius of Abraham Lincoln
Goodwin, Doris Kearns.
Paper Book
Winner of the Lincoln Prize Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Abraham Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become...
Claudius the god and his wife Messalina
Graves, Robert
Paper Book
A modern classic of historical fiction written in the form of Claudius's autobiography. Claudius the God is the second part of Robert Graves's two-part account of the life of Tiberius Claudius, "the cripple, the stammerer, the fool of the family" who became Emperor of Rome...
I, Claudius : from the autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, born B.C. X, murdered and deified A.D. LIV
Graves, Robert
Paper Book
The lathe of heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
The great divide : a novel
Henríquez, Cristina
Paper Book
A TODAY Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick! A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built...
Steppenwolf
Hesse, Hermann
Paper Book
"These pocket-sized titles are stunning....They make the perfect stocking stuffers!" - Metro "Bought together or separately, these fiction titles are ideal stocking stuffers for the literature lover." - USA Today For more than twenty years,...
Nature girl
Hiaasen, Carl.
Paper Book
From "the funniest important writer in America" (Miami Herald) comes a tale that is gleefully zany and incisively sharp.
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...
A little hope : a novel
Joella, Ethan
Paper Book
A Read with Jenna Bonus Selection An "immersive...illuminating" (Booklist) and life-affirming novel following the residents of an idyllic Connecticut town over the course of a year, A Little Hope explores the intertwining lives of a dozen neighbors...
You : a novel
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
In 1959, Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist, takes his four young daughters, his wife, and his mission to the Belgian Congo -- a place, he is sure, where he can save needy souls. But the seeds they plant bloom in tragic ways within this complex culture. Set against one of the most dramatic...
My struggle, Book 1
Knausgård, Karl Ove
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller, My Struggle: Book 1 introduces American readers to the audacious, addictive, and profoundly surprising international literary sensation that is the provocative and brilliant six-volume autobiographical novel by Karl Ove Knausgaard. It...
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
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile comes the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to...
The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse
Mackesy, Charlie
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER  · USA TODAY BESTSELLER "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is not only a thought-provoking, discussion-worthy story,...
Active hope : how to face the mess we're in with unexpected resilience and creative power
Macy, Joanna
Paper Book
The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, war, political polarization, economic upheaval, and the dying back of nature together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. This revised, tenth anniversary edition of Active Hope shows us how to...
The blackhouse
May, Peter
Paper Book
Nominated for the Barry Award Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade The first book in an enthralling mystery series from award-winning author Peter May. "A WRITER I WOULD FOLLOW TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH." -...
Lonesome Dove : a novel
McMurtry, Larry.
Paper Book
The 40th anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic of the American West, with a new foreword by Yellowstone cocreator Taylor Sheridan. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness. "My...
Annals of the former world
McPhee, John A.
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, across the fortieth parallel and down through 4.6 billion years Twenty years ago, when John McPhee began his journeys back and forth across the United States, he planned to describe a cross section of North America at about the...
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 Duncan
CD
"[Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry] are both capable, likable narrators who are sincerely engaged with their subject matter...The performances of these two humanitarians make this a must-hear for anyone recovering from their traumatic past." --AudioFile This program...
Bewilderment : a novel
Powers, Richard
Paper Book
The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He's also about to be expelled from...
The overstory
Powers, Richard
Paper Book
The Overstory, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of--and paean to--the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers's twelfth novel unfolds in concentric...
Chasing me to my grave : an artist's memoir of the Jim Crow South
Rembert, Winfred
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2022 PULITZER PRIZE Booklist?#1 Nonfiction Book of the Year * African American Literary Book Club (AALBC) #1 Nonfiction Bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by: NPR,?Publishers Weekly,?BookPage,...
Packing for Mars : the curious science of life in the void
Roach, Mary.
Paper Book
Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can...
The order of time
Rovelli, Carlo
Paper Book
One of TIME's Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade "Meet the new Stephen Hawking . . . The Order of Time is a dazzling book." --The Sunday Times From the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It...
Blindness
Saramago, José.
Paper Book
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers...
The complete Persepolis
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed graphic memoir of growing up as a girl in Iran during the revolution has for twenty years been a classroom staple, a feminist manifesto, and one of the most popular and widely known graphic novels of all time. <...
I like you : hospitality under the influence
Sedaris, Amy.
Paper Book
Sedaris's blisteringly funny take on entertaining--plus color photos and enlightening sidebars on everything it takes to pull off a party with flair--make this volume the best hostess gift on the planet (Entertainment Weekly)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore
Sloan, Robin
Paper Book
A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life--mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of...
The werewolf at dusk : and other stories
Small, David
Paper Book
Long celebrated as a modern master of graphic literature, David Small has elicited in his work comparisons to Stan Lee and even Alfred Hitchcock. His internationally acclaimed graphic memoir, Stitches, told the story of a childhood in disarray. Werewolf at Dusk, appearing nearly fifteen years later,...
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Betty
Paper Book
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century. From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg,...
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,...
The secret lives of color
St. Clair, Kassia
Paper Book
A dazzling gift, the unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them in a beautiful multi-colored volume. "Beautifully written . . . Full of anecdotes and fascinating research, this elegant compendium has all the answers." --NPR, Best Books of 2017
The elements of style
Strunk, William
Paper Book
You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was...
Kiss the ground : how the food you eat can reverse climate change, heal your body & ultimately save our world
Tickell, Joshua
Paper Book
Discover the hidden power soil has to reverse climate change, and how a regenerative farming diet not only delivers us better health and wellness, but also rebuilds our most precious resource--the very ground that feeds us. Josh Tickell, one of America's most celebrated documentary...
A gentleman in Moscow
Towles, Amor
Paper Book
The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers * A New York Times "Readers' Choice: Best Books of the 21st Century" Pick From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Table for Two, a beautifully transporting novel about a...
Honor : a novel
Umrigar, Thrity N.
Paper Book
THE JANUARY 2022 REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "In the way A Thousand Splendid Suns told of Afghanistan's women, Thrity Umrigar tells a story of India with the intimacy of one who knows the many facets of a land both modern and ancient, awash in contradictions...
The golden spruce : a true story of myth, madness, and greed
Vaillant, John.
Paper Book
As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes us into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to eighteen feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground, and the chainsaws are always at work. When a shattered kayak and...
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
A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, "a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century" (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow Birds<...
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 ...
The big door prize : a novel
Walsh, M. O.
Paper Book
What would you do if you knew your life's potential? That's the question facing the town of Deerfield, Louisiana, when an unusual new contraption appears in their local grocery store. Its promise is amazing: with just a quick swab of your cheek and two dollars, the device will use the science of...
A people's history of the United States
Zinn, Howard
Paper Book
THE CLASSIC NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A wonderful, splendid book--a book that should be read by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future." -Howard Fast Historian Howard Zinn's A People's...
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