Are you as excited about the return of the Oprah Book Club as I am? I know that among the literary, it's cool to hate on Oprah (I'm looking at you,Jonathan Franzen) but I think it's one of the very best things (if not THE best) that's happened to book publishing in the last twenty years.


When snooty people scoff at Oprah books as being lightweight or fluffy, I usually start off my asking, "Well, have you read The Reader by Berndard Schlink? Well, it's translated from the German..." and I wouldn't even usually have to finish my sentence as that clause alone will make most snob's jaw drop in shock. Although that completely undeserved reputation continued for years, even as she assigned Dickens and Faukner (in my opinion, it was Faulkner, not Franzen, who killed the first iteration of the book club. Faulkner is barely understood by academics - and not because of his brilliance in my opinion but his opaqueness - and really shouldn't be foisted on anyone at all, including unwilling college students.)
Later, when I worked at Ingram Book Group, every month when we found out which publisher had the new Oprah book, my coworker Jason would try to figure out what the book was. When it was my month, it was pretty easy since Avon Books didn't publish many books that were of the right type (most of them WERE fluffy), but he had a remarkable track record for at least two years. (All we knew was the price, if it was hardcover or paperback, and the publisher.) We all appreciated the Oprah book club for the phenomenon that it was. At St. Martin's, when my department had a book that came very, very close to being picked but wasn't, it was heartbreaking (that's when I found out that with each selection, Oprah would actually pick 2-3 books as possibilities and her people would notify the publishers so they'd have enough time to get everything in place, but then we got the call that went "Sorry..." instead of "Start the presses!" Sad day.)

I am thrilled she's starting the book club back! I already has Wild on my to read list after a childhood friend had given it a raving review on Facebook a few weeks ago, and now I'll be sure to read it to help show the success of the 2.0 book club, so she'll keep doing it. I might even finally figure out if I get the OWN channel on my cable lineup!
Thank you Oprah. I'm glad you're back.


I am thrilled she's starting the book club back! I already has Wild on my to read list after a childhood friend had given it a raving review on Facebook a few weeks ago, and now I'll be sure to read it to help show the success of the 2.0 book club, so she'll keep doing it. I might even finally figure out if I get the OWN channel on my cable lineup!
Thank you Oprah. I'm glad you're back.
1 comment:
She is the reigning king-maker. I'm also glad she promotes hardcover books because if she said: "Go out and get an e-reader", we'd be toast.
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