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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Bad friends
Angkko
Paper Book
Included on Publishers Weekly's Best of 2018 list! A story of the enduring quality of female friendship amid a gritty landscape of abuse. "Against gorgeous, starkly sketched city scenes of South Korean alleyways and hostess bars, the rebellions and secret longings of...
The elegance of the hedgehog
Barbery, Muriel
Paper Book
The phenomenal New York Times bestseller that "explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building" (Publishers Weekly). In an elegant hôtel particulier in Paris, Renée, the concierge, is all but invisible--short, plump, middle...
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
THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MUSICAL COMING SOON TO BROADWAY * An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: "Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast...
Anais Nin: A Sea of Lies
Bischoff, Leonie.
Paper Book
Anais Nin, the author of works such as Delta of Venus and House of Incest, is the patron saint of taboo-breaking pop culture sexual iconoclasts. Not only is she an inspiration for contemporary figures such as Madonna, but her oeuvre, which encompasses erotica, autobiography, essays, short fiction,...
A short history of nearly everything
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
THE #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * One of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body takes his ultimate journey--into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. "Brims with...
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.
Ebook
Flow my tears, the policeman saidPhilip K. Dick.
Dick, Philip K., author.
Paper Book
Winner of the John W. Campbell Award and a Hugo and Nebula award nominee, Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a rollicking chase story that combines altered reality, genetic enhancement, and drug use into a dystopian setting to create one of the most popular and enduring science...
The plover : a novel
Doyle, Brian.
Paper Book
Declan O Donnell has sailed out of Oregon and deep into the vast, wild ocean, having had just finallyenough 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.No man is an island, my butt, he thinks.I...
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
HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters--and fall in love...
One hundred years of solitude
García Márquez, Gabriel
Paper Book
Now a Netflix original series! "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . García Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound,...
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
Audiobook
The lathe of heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
A placid and compassionate man discovers that he has extraordinary powers which could destroy the world.
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
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 : a novel
Kingsolver, Barbara.
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller * An Oprah Book Club Pick "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 Taking its place alongside...
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...
An exaltation of larks : the ultimate edition
Lipton, James.
Paper Book
A delightfully unexpected, lovingly curated ode to the unique collective nouns that adorn our language, from "a leap of leopards" to "a murder of crows" and beyond, from the inimitable voice behind Inside the Actors Studio "I am madly in...
Dear Emmie Blue
Louis, Lia
Paper Book
"A delightful story about how the things we imagine to be best for us usually aren't. The reason you will love Dear Emmie Blue is because you've probably *lived* Dear Emmie Blue, in some small part of your own journey to adulthood." --Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times...
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, the book itself is an object of art."- Elizabeth Egan,...
Active hope : how to face the mess we're in without going crazy
Macy, Joanna
Ebook
The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about. Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond...
The Blackhouse : a novel
May, Peter
Paper Book
From acclaimed author and television dramatist Peter May comes the first book in the Lewis Trilogy--a riveting mystery series set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a formidable and forbidding world where tradition rules and people adhere to ancient ways of life.  <...
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. ...
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
Audiobook
[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 Magazine This...
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 : a novel
Powers, Richard
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut...
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.
CD
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.
Ebook
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...
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Betty
Paper Book
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick A special 75th anniversary edition of 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 ...
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 elements of style
Strunk, William
Paper Book
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...
Fab4 mania : a Beatles obsession and the concert of a lifetime
Tyler, Carol
Paper Book
Critically acclaimed cartoonist Carol Tyler recreates the exhilaration and excitement of Beatlemania at its height in 1965, her personal obsession with the Beatles, and her odyssey that leads her to the famous Beatles Chicago concert later that year. Told in the voice of its 13-year-old author, Fab...
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...
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
Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five is "a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century" (Time). Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time * One of The Atlantic's...
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
“It’s 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, author of Spartacus and The Immigrants “[It] should be...
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