Retro Book Pick for October:

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (Harper Perennial, $12.95)

While reading Portland Monthly magazine recently, I stumbled on a list of the best books about Oregon. I've lived here for almost decade and I hadn't read a single title on the list, so I decided it was time to get cracking.

I've been aware for some time now that sci-fi guru Ursula K. Le Guin lives in the Portland area. I tried reading her hugely influential novel The Left Hand of Darkness at some point but I had trouble getting into it. I found 1971's The Lathe of Heaven to be much more accessible, partly because she makes constant references to Portland and partly because the story is so trippy and addicting.

Le Guin tells the story of George Orr, an average Joe who just happens to have the power to alter the course of human history with his dreams. Frightened by the fact that his dreams come true, George visits a psychiatrist named Dr. Haber, who manipulates George's dreams for his own benefit and, in the process, kills off billions of people (to diminish a food shortage problem), eradicates racial strife by making everyone gray, and introduces alien life forms to Earth.

This slim novel is engrossing, visionary and extremely thought provoking, leaving the reader to reassess the overlap between dreams and reality.

Next up in my Oregon book adventures is Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion. Though it's considerably less famous than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, many critics consider it to be his best work.