Elevated Readers Book Club

Elevated Readers Book Club Meeting (Hybrid)

The Elevated Readers Book Club, hosted by the Oregon City Public Library, turned 10 in July of 2021! As always, the Club - named after Oregon City's unique "vertical street" - is open for new members, and we welcome drop-ins. See what we've read (PDF) since 2011. Questions? Email Jen.

Registration is required if attending remotely; in-person registration is optional; Register for club meeting.

The 2023 Lineup

The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place by David Sheff

The Buddhist on Death RowMarch 2, 2023 (register)

The Number 1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy explores the transformation of Jarvis Jay Masters who became one of America's most respected Buddhist practitioners during his two decades in solitary confinement in San Quentin.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan

Beneath a Scarlet SkyMay 11 (register)

Based on a true story, this novel tells the story of Pino Lella, a normal Italian teenager wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier. After Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler's left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich's most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior, and for the life he dreams they will one day share.

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, & the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

The Code BreakerJuly 6 (register)

Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, Doudna and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. Isaacson explores the development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black CakeSeptember 7 (register)

In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death and her hidden past-a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.

Daughters of The Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War by Zhuqing Li

Daughter of the Flower Fragrant GardenNovember 2 (register)

Sisters separated by war forge new identities as they are forced to choose between family, nation, and their own independence. Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, June and Hong were each other's best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated by chance at the end of the Chinese Civil War. For the next thirty years, while one became a model Communist, the other a model capitalist, they could not even communicate. On Taiwan, June married a Nationalist general, established an important trading company, and ultimately emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of "re-education" before she was acclaimed for her achievements.

Demon Copperhead: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon CopperheadJanuary 4, 2024 (register)

The teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he is eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.

Documents

  1. Discussion Questions General Fiction (PDF)
  2. What We've Read So Far (2011 to Current) (PDF)