I dunno, jarbaby. Sounds like your gripe is with the book club readers. It may annoy you that some people only read books on her say-so, but I still don’t see how that’s Oprah’s fault.
You have also not yet explained why it is a bad thing that people who didn’t read before are now reading.
Well, I guess it’s the season for straw men.
WOW a buttload of messages since I wrote the first response, THEN came mine, that should have been a post or two after my first post.
Anyhow:
First off, I have to say I don’t know any of the books that Oprah has recommended. I think the only one that I know of was “The Bridges of Madison County.” Which I have – from a friend – but have never read.
jar you are living in a dream world. Not everyone wants to read classics. Some people like simple stories – which is what I am assuming is recommended for the most part. You want a club that focuses on classics, that’s great. Maybe your aunt has a hard time reading those books and finds that a much more simplistic view is enough to take her away for a few hours.
Oh and you mentioned that you read a book a week. I want to let you know that there are many people out there with all kinds of time considerations and many that have some type of reading disability. I have somewhat of a reading disablility in that, no matter how interesting a book I fall asleep. In concert with my ADD I distract easily, I must be involved in it or it doesn’t make sense and I have to read a paragraph or two over. This is very taxing on the brain. I read about seven books a year. I read every night before I go to sleep but I only am able to read 3-10 pages. I particularly like books like “Into Thin Air” featuring true human drama, to horror like “Swan Song” by Robert R McCammon and thrillers – of which I need to find some good authors.
If I read at any other time of the day and it’s quiet, I will fall asleep. I love books but unfortunately I can’t get past that sleep thing. I have been that way since I was a little kid. Mom would find me asleep after reading a small book. I need a lot going on around me but can’t read well because it distracts me from the book.
Me, I need a book that is easier to read. Many of the classics would tax my brain beyond belief. Not because I am stupid as I am far from that but because of how my brain works. I didn’t learn computers from intense books, I learned about them from a “Dummies” book and taking apart and replacing and building. I learned from problems and using my problem solving skills. Reading for me is taxing because it requires focused attention in a quiet environment.
So, yes I do find your views snobbish on this particular subject. What is good for you is not the way it is for others. I am not defending Oprah and her book club per se but I think I am questioning how you feel that your way is the only way…so it seems to appear.
I watch her show occasionally, depending on the topic. I do subscribe to her magazine and when I get the chance I read it, which is far from every month.
If you watched Oprah from the beginning then you can relate more to where she is today. She came from the bottom and she remembers that. I don’t take her as one of those people who ‘gets above their raising.’ Sure she makes a lot of money, but what she does with her money is her business. Sure she has lots of houses, one about 20 minutes from me. But rarely do you hear her brag about what she has and doesn’t have. Heck there are enough people in the world already who know more about what she has than she does herself. I’d say unless you are her accountant and you know where her money goes, I wouldn’t be driving her down too hard. People can always turn the channel if they don’t like what they see and blaming her for dictating to people sure doesn’t say much for the people that do chose to watch her. Too bad we can’t all be smart and witty and always pick the right choices. But Oprah is pretty harmless, it could be a lot worse.
There are book clubs that focus on classics. There is room for different kinds of book clubs. It’s fine if you don’t like the focus of Oprah’s Book Club, but that doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad. And, as pepperlandgirl pointed out, Oprah wants to interview the authors. Herman Melville’s stench would likely clear the studios.
I don’t read Science Fiction but I have no problem with the existence of a Science Fiction Book Club. They serve a niche just as Oprah does.
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY WAS NOT AN OPRAH SELECTION!
Now that we have that cleared up, here is the full list of her selections, from http://www.oprah.com
I am thinking this is what’s eating ms. jarbaby. Mom will listen to Oprah and not her.
Ah, mom/daughter relationships - that odd admixture of love, respect, and the intense desire to strangle each other.
[QUOTE]
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY WAS NOT AN OPRAH SELECTION!
[QUOTE]
Pardon ME Green Bean, I didn’t know I said “I think” big difference. What’s the problem with me stating I think?
Geez, lighten up. God forbid I make a mistake!
Now that’s cleared up for sure.
Jar: I’m no fan of Oprah, and she’s never once recommended a book I’ve wanted to read. As a matter of fact, she’s never even once gotten me to look at a back-cover description.
That said, regardless of anything else, she’s getting people to read! Those people who, zombie-like (and I’m not being sarcastic) pick up the books she recommends may be going into bookstores for perhaps the first time in years. Once inside, once they start exercising their “reading muscles” again, who knows? Maybe they’ll start picking up books on their own. Who cares if her Oprah-Status is priming the engine, as long as it starts running again.
And regarding recommendatations: I used to write book reviews and my philosophy was that my job as a book-reviewer was to let my reader know what I enjoyed and the reader could judge how closely their tastes would match mine. Nacho4Sarah for example, would have found my reviews very useful because she’d know what to avoid (N4S is great, but if we ever entered the same room the clash of our respective tastes in books could cause an explosion). There are reviewers (David Pringle, Satan’s Own Book Reviewer) who are a perfect guide as to books to avoid. There are so many books out there there and my book-buying dollars are limited, so a good reviewer is worth his/her weight in gold.
Fenris
Because techchick, you were like the 3rd person who “thought” Bridges of Madison County was an Oprah book.
Maybe everyone missed the part where I conceded defeat on the issue.
I’m sorry that because I don’t like Oprah’s books, I’m a book snob. Maybe you also missed the part where I said I read ARCHIE COMICS for the most part.
And as for reading a book a week, no, I said I read a book maybe once a week. That means I pick up the same book I’ve been reading since June (Pillars of the Earth, I hate it) and read ten pages.
It is great that people read. I’ll never deny any of it. Everyone should read. In my view, however, Everyone should read because they want to read, not because a talk show host told them to.
And my point about my mother is…I know my mother, I was born and lived with her for 22 years. When I was 13 my mother said “here’s The Collector. I read it as a kid and knowing you like I do, I think you’ll like it”
It is now my favorite book.
My point is, why should I read the Poisonwood Bible? WHAT about ME that YOU know indicates I should read it? Maybe I should, but not just because there’s a sticker on it.
Anyway, I’m sorry that I made enemies with an Oprah rant. She’s just one public figure I really don’t like.
jar
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by techchick68 *
[QUOTE]
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY WAS NOT AN OPRAH SELECTION!
I thought he was trying to correct a perception made on page 1 by stofsky and others, not to condemn you, techie.
No, it was not an “Oprah Book Club” selection, because it was the primogenitor of the “Oprah Book Club.” When she spent an entire hour gushing over it, sending hundreds of hausfraus flocking to bookstores that were understocked with schlock, there was not an existent “Oprah Book Club,” let alone a stockpile of “Oprah Book Club” stickers in every publisher’s warehouse.
A quick Google search, however, will let you know how much that book owes to Oprah. It will also let you know that it was the start of the “Oprah Book Club.”
Trust me, I was there.
One thing I definitely gotta back jarbabyj up on: If you live in Chicago, Oprah is EVERYWHERE. She’s like Jesus, The Daley Family, and the Great Holy Earth Mother all rolled into one. Not a day goes by when someone doesn’t start a conversation with “Oprah said…” or “Did you see the latest issue of Oprah Magazine?” Or “Jen, you read a lot…do you like that new Oprah book?” It’s a bit irritating when there seems to be a cult of touchy-feely womanhood surrounding you 24-7.
I am all for her campaign to get people to read. Many of the books she chooses are excellent. Oprah is no dummy, and she has definitely worked her way up through the trenches to be where she is. I can see where many people admire her and take pleasure in the fact that a born-poor black woman has emerged as one of the most powerful media figures of the day. And truthfully, if Oprah chose one of my future novels to be on her show I’d fall down thanking Allah, Jehovah, and the Invisible Pink Unicorn that maybe I’d be able to pay off my student loans someday.
However, MANY OF HER FANS and HER SHEER UBIQUITY and SELF-RIGHTEOUS SELF-PROMOTION happen to ANNOY THE HOLY LIVING FUCK OUT OF ME. She annoys me the way Rosie O’Donnell, Joan Lunden, Katie Couric, Martha Stewart, Barbara WahWah, and any number of treacly, chirpy, pretend down-home television personalities annoy me. Jaysus, people, it’s not like jarbabyj ripped up a picture of Pope JP II on national television.
That’s what I just don’t understand. What difference does it make?
it doesn’t.
Thank you, magdalene.
FTR, I live in Chicago (well 'burbs technically) and I think Oprah is pretentious and judgmental.
Well, I can understand. It must hurt to have Oprah Winfrey beamed directly into your cerebral cortex, thereby rendering your free will and decision making capabilities inoperative.
Are there Big O Police in Chicago monitoring your email and communications? Will they sentence you to a public stoning on the shores of Lake Michigan for skipping over a OBC book for something else? Does Oprah come to your house every month and force you to read a book at gunpoint?
No, Oprah doesn’t know you, nor care that you don’t read the the stuff she does. I’ve never heard her say, SterlingNorth read Paradise now; I know what’s good for you.
She is not doing anything different than most other book or movie reviewers do at most newspapers.
And I think it’s best to kill this whole Bridges controversy. It seems to be used as a straw man to show that all Oprah books are pap. Bridges wasn’t part of the official book club ut Oprah did gush about it a bit.
If it doesn’t make a difference, why do you feel strongly enough to rant about it?
pepper, can you please go and read my last three or four posts?
I’ve GIVEN UP, although I never planned on convincing anyone of anything anyway.
Some people don’t like boy bands
Some people don’t like George Bush
I do not like Oprah. I never have. I heard some sound clips from her today that put me over the edge…SO I RANTED. I was venting my frustration.
And I see I was so WRONG in my opinion that’s it bled over into OTHER THREADS that I participate in.
I’m sorry that it backfired so delightfully for everyone. I guess I could have just said “I don’t like oprah” and signed my name, but it just didn’t seem as cathartic.
OK? I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.
jar