Oprah Winfrey - Eat Me

The BBQ Pit
101

I hadn’t seen the references to other’s talking about “The Bridges of Madison Conty” for that I erred but I felt that Grean Bean was a little over the top with the bolding and in caps like it was some serious problem that needed direct attention and the world would have stopped had she not yelled.

I do recall her talking about “The Bridges of Madison County” it could have been when the movie came out. I don’t remember as it’s been so long.

Oh and jar I do think a lot of people rely upon Oprah, The Book of the Month Club, their friends or nieghbors and other sources when deciding upon a book. So you browse, some people choose not to. Some need direction. Not an issue that should make you so passionate about.

102

Jarbaby, you are being a tad bit melodramatic. Please don’t take this post as an attack, because it really isn’t.

Now, I’ve probably read a few thousand books. My beloved grandma made me read a book a day for one summer, and I continued to do it for about five years. (Yes, she got the idea from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, one of our most favorite books ever. We also had the tin bank.) You name a classic, I’ve read it. I bet I can even quote from it. Every classic you’ve mentioned in this thread I’ve read at least once (but probably more than that, because I agree that classics are excellent.)

I spend most of my extra money in bookstores. I will be broke and unable to buy food all week if I can buy a book I really want. I own about 1,000 books total (just starting buying them three years ago, before that I used the library.) The librarians in three local libraries know me by name. I don’t know what other qualifications I need to be a real, true, deep reader, but there you have it.

However, most of the books on her list are amazing. I read quite a few of them long before Oprah told me to, but I regularly read books with her name on them. Why? I like them. There are the ones I’ve read; the ones I loved are bolded:

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes
Paradise by Toni Morrison
The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika
Oufkir
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Now, some of them are sentimental. Some of them are flawed. Some of them aren’t ones I’d have picked myself. Most of the ones I bolded I’d read before Oprah told me to. A Lesson Before Dying, Song of Solomon, The Poisonwood Bible, and I Know This Much is True are some of my most favorite books ever.

I’m so eager to read a good book that if someone tells me a book might be good, or that they loved it, I will read it. I read FOUR Ursula LeGuin novels at Fenris’s suggestion - hated them, but it was worth it. I buy the books that B&N employees suggest (they have their own section of racking). I read books Oprah suggests, books my mom and my aunt suggest, books that professors suggest. Hell, if my favorite homeless crackhead Esther told me to read a book, I would do it. I love to read. I want to be an educated reader - someone who knows what they are talking about when they discuss books. I want people to know why I love a book and what is great about it. The more I read, the better my ability to do so is. I’m able to compare Whitman to Wordsworth, which I did in class today, and I really impressed my professor. I’m able to tell people why Walden is my personal bible. I have a broad base of knowledge that allows me to better appreciate new things I read. So I read everything. Even is Oprah tells me to.

YMMV, of course, but that’s MHO. Reading is always worthwhile, even if you do it because Oprah said so, even if you read a lousy book. You learned something, and that’s what matters.

103

Jarbaby, your name suggests you don’t always act like an adult. Maybe Jaradult would not be so offended by another person just trying to bring some good into the world.

But this is just my opinion.

I give the rant a 6.9 - It would be a 10 if it weren’t so petty.

No offense meant, either. If some is taken, I offer my apology to you and will move along.

upovertheretotheleft

104

okay I’ll admit I haven’t taken the time to read through all the rants in here because they seem to focus (as always :)) on nitpicking jarbaby’s point on Oprah’s Book Club. Here’s another one that makes me hate her and I’m sorry if someone else pointed it out(besides her ersatz book club) THE FACT THAT SHE IS MEAN. I swear-occasionally her true colours come out. I’ve only watched this show once-she took some commentary from the groveling audience before she started her show (don’t even remember the theme) and so she’s here, basking in the presence of these zombiefied captives that are all praising her…and the guy that she picks to Purvey OprahLove-well she MAKES FUN OF HIM. He was coming off as a little stereotypically homosexual “Oh, I just LOVE you” and whatnot but it sounds like he was a nice guy that kind of turned to her LoveNPeaceGoddess meets Martha Stewart attitude to get himself through tough times of being harassed and whatnot and what does she do? Raises her eyebrows and questions his sanity in this really snarky manner. HELLO OPRAH! I mean, what do you think? That your audience consists of Nobel prize winners sitting around discussing your five minute make the guest cry via cheap therapy shenanigans? THIS IS YOUR FAN BASE AND YOU’RE BEING MEAN TO THEM.

Also Rosie is just out of control. I’m sorry but someone had to say it. So is Dr. Laura. As far as I’m concerned these three women can stuff it.

105

No apologies allowed, jarbaby. You stated your feelings, and you were absolutely, 100% right, because those are your feelings. Does it say something about her cult leader status that you feel you weren’t even allowed to express your dislike for her here, in this purportedly open-minded, free-thinking venue?
Now, as for my feelings about Oprah; I disagree with you about the reading, because I feel like others in the thread; at least they’re reading. That said, I am very, very uncomfortable with just about everything else about Oprah. She has so much power and influence; can you imagine what would happen if she told people not to read? She has millions of viewers wrapped around her pinkie, where her every whim is their divine edict. The word “cult” has been bandied about, and I’m not going to say it doesn’t apply here.
As for Oprah personally, she must be a giant, sucking vortex crying for attention. She seems to need to be the centre of everything, and can’t even let the expert guests finish a sentence on her show.

106

Good lord… your problem seems to be with the fact that she * has * the power, which is something she actually has no control over. All the power she has is because it is given to her, not because she seized it. Doesn’t that tell you anything? And what is wrong with power if it is used towards a positive end? I’d rather have an Oprah than a Hitler!

stoid

107

OK, so, Oprah can’t say ‘I like this book, I think you, my viewers, who are extremely likely to share my tastes, since you watch my show, probably will, too.’

And, hey, as I just said, if you watch Oprah’s show, the chances of you liking a book she suggests are pretty good.

Does that mean that all the people on this site, or others, who say I have to read <x book> (let’s say, for example, Lord of the Rings, since I’m about to attempt it again) to be considered truly literate are in the wrong?

I’ve tried to read LotR, found it to be the most dreadfully boring piece of over-written dreck I’ve ever attempted to plow through (got about 1/2 way through Fellowship before giving up.), I know what I enjoy, and this ain’t it. So, why are all these people saying I MUST read it, or looking at me like I’m a mutant when I say I didn’t like it?

108

so then, it’s better to not have oprah recommend books at all?

wow. that’s pretty petty.

smacks of “if Oprah doesnt like MY book choices, then NO book should be chosen”
hell, if I had her power,
I’d recommend books too.
and art.
and movies.

because the point of it is to get people to think.

A lot of these “drone housewives” perhaps don’t have the education you do.
or maybe they were brought ‘down’ by the system.
or they have kids to watch and zero free time to ‘browse’.
or maybe they just want to feel like they are a part of something.

no crime in any of those.

Because here you are all ragging on oprahs selections and openly admitting you read archie books.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE DIFFERENCE?

so if tomorrow oprah said “hey archie mags are swell!”, you’ll stop reading them??

so what if these women are rushing out to buy these books?
who gives a shit?

maybe the author will then get a chance to write a second book because of this.

christ, I think it’s right: this is more of an issue because mom doesn’t want to read your books, and choses oprah’s instead.

109

I almost never watch her show - I’ll admit that I don’t really like her. She’s made a number of remarks that irritate the hell out of me.

On a show about couples with financial problems, she said, “Some of you have money problems. Not me! Woo hoo!” That was almost too much.

When she was introducing Wally Lamb for the I Know This Much Is True discussion, she mentioned that it was the second book of his that she had chosen. She said something along the lines of, “He doesn’t need the money. He knows that if I chose his book, it would make millions.” That sort of pompous attitude irks me.

However, it’s just wrong to assume that people are lesser readers simply because they take her recommendations.

110

Seems to me she pisses you off for telling the truth. I’d venture a guess a huge number of people who share your opinion would excoriate her if she’d claimed that she * does * have money problems, because then she’d be lying. And as for the remark about Lamb, again, the truth. What would you have her do, pretend that her recommendation isn’t that important?

I watch Oprah alot, usually two or three days a week. While the content of the quotes you offer may be true, there is no way on earth she said either of them with an arrogant or egotistical attitude. That just isn’t the way she behaves.

In fact, what makes her so appealing to so many people is the fact that she is so very real. She doesn’t bullshit about the fact that she’s filthy rich, and she also doesn’t bullshit about the fact that it’s a blast. What the hell is wrong with that? A lot more refreshing than filthy rich folk pretending they aren’t - at least she doesn’t insult my intelligence.

She doesn’t act like it’s *normal * to be that wealthy either, and she always gives the impression that she’s as blown away and grateful as YOU would be if it happened to you. She doesn’t take it as her due.

I cannot imagine what sort of wildly successful, filthy rich, beloved and fantastically famous person would be acceptable to you all. More and more it seems that these facts alone are what you find so irritating about her.

stoid

111

Stoid - you “read 60 self-help books since 1975” without any of them being “100% correct, true, and most importantly: useful”, but you carried on reading them anyway? What are you - Bridgit Jones?

Anyway, as a white, middle-class, professional Englishman (no doubt precisely her target audience), I’ve only seen Oprah a few times. I have found her exceeeeedingly irritating. It’s just something about the way she stands there whilst two people who should clearly run very fast away from eachother attempt to have some touchy feely arse-shit rammed up their nostrils in an attempt to keep them together, and she then makes comments that almost makes my head explode from pure cringiness. I normally last about 45 seconds before I have to change the channel, vomiting violently into the corner. And then she mentions “faith”.

The only people worse than Oprah are Oprah’s audience. And that self-help freak she wheels on to justify her worldview.

Fuck.

pan

112

Sorry. I don’t buy this. She ranted about Oprah’s Book Club and several posters disagreed. She kept arguing, basing her view on the few people who have asked her husband for help finding Oprah books as if that’s anything approaching a statistically valid population. She then gave a passive-aggressive concession (“I concede, but it’s still stupid for the mindless zombies to pick books because Oprah told them to.”)

Who wasn’t being open-minded?

113

You rule. If I grow up, I wanna be just like you.

b.

114

Now that’s just silly. As the poster before me said, we’re just offering a different point of view. Did I call in my Oprahfied minions to go burn down jarbaby’s house for daring to say a negative word against The Great Master?

A few people were a little harsh in their replies, but then jarbaby was delightfully over the top in her OP, so it isn’t entirely inconsistent for others to jump down hard in the other camp. But most of the replies were just normally expressing an alternative viewpoint.

115

Also, techchick: If you loathed Bridges to the extent that I did, you’d understand why someone would feel compelled to shout about it, especially to explain that it doesn’t belong in the midst of other books’ company.

However, I’m most chagrined to know that for all intents and purposes it may as well have been an Oprha book club pick. Urgh, ugh, and eh.

116

I have nothing to add to the Oprah Book Club discussion, unless I want to repeat a bunch of stuff that’s already been said. Short end of it: I hate Oprah, but there’s nothing wrong with her having a book club.

However, Stoid nearly made me jump out of my skin. Stoid, I’ve read many of your posts at SDMB, and you strike me as an intelligent person. However, seeing you sing the praises of Dr. Phil is definitely making me shake my head in disbelief. I’ll readily admit that I haven’t read his books, but I’m wondering how on earth his books might be so different from the vomit-inducing, extremely touchy-feely, cliche (side note: damn, I can’t wait to get back to Canada, where my keyboard allows me to type accents on letters) rhetoric he spews out on national television. Does he suffer from multiple-personality disorder? Mad genius by night, when he writes his books, and bumbling idiot by day when he appears on Oprah? And how did he get the title “Dr” anyway? I’ve heard him say such idiotic things that I shudder to think that an Australopithecine like him could ever complete a doctorate degree. Are they awarding PhDs in microwave cooking these days?

I’m still shaking my head.

117

Magdalene, if Franzen didn’t want to be associated with Oprah and her viewers, he could have simply respectfully declined her endorsement.

Instead, he accepted it, and all the benefits that came with it (translation: $$$$). Then he turned around and SLAMMED Oprah and all the “velour-sweatsuited housewives” who had just so richly lined his pompous pocket. That not only smacks of elitism and hypocrisy but it is grossly ill-mannered.

Gosh, as a mindless HOUSEWIFE, even I can see that.

118

Just wanted to chime in and say I agree with Stoid about Dr. Phil. I’m not an expert by any means, but when I do see him on the show I’m amazed at the simple, basic common sense he puts out. And he doesn’t pull any punches, either. If he thinks you’re an idiot, he’ll tell you.

My favorite Dr. Phil moment: This girl in the audience stands up and tells her sad story about how she is always late for everything. She just can’t figure out how to change her habits so that she arrives for things on schedule.

Dr. Phil’s response? Basically, he said. “It’s because you’re arrogant. You think you’re more important than everybody else, so things don’t really happen until you get there, anyway. You need to start thinking about the needs of others instead of yourself.”

It was so funny to see the look on her face. It was obvious she was expecting some gentle advice about time-management. Instead, she got slammed. And I know you shouldn’t judge people on how they look, but she sure looked like a “princess” to me.

119

OK, here it is morning. I’m still confused about something, and a little shocked.

I don’t know if anyone here has ever read anything I’ve ever written on this site, including the two rants I referenced in the OP.

Let me let you in on a secret: I have a penchant for drama

Is there no one in the world of entertainment that you don’t care for? No actor/actress/author/POLITICIAN?

Oprah is a thorn in my side…simply because she is. She rubs me the wrong way. She strikes me as phony and self involved. THESE ARE MY OPINIONS.

You will never convince me to like Oprah.

Conversely, I will never convince YOU to like 'N Sync, and yet if someone came in here and wrote a rant about how all boybands should be spitted on pikes and set aflame…no one would say “boy that’s mean, boy that’s a little over the top”

It’s the Pit. I felt like being dramatic…and over the top…and I felt like swearing and trying to be funny, because a lot of people like to read that in the pit.

Christ, three weeks ago when I threatened to cut off an old woman’s clit, everyone thought it was a hoot.

When I call Oprah a twat…I’m being dramatic.

So, that is all. I guess my effort at venting backfired, and now I’m the big board snob.

jar

120

Nope you aren’t the board snob, jar. Most posters realize by now that you are a drama queen and that the more shocking and off the wall threads you can start the happier you are. And most posters enjoy reading you. I do myself. You are usually good for a laugh.
But it’s obvious that when you don’t get your way and get to be Miss Sunshine with everyone beaming in your sunlight and falling all over your words of wisdom, well, you get whiny and start with the ‘poor me’ everyone’s jumping on me and they are actually disagreeing with me. Not so. They are just posting a difference of opinion. It’s not personal.
On another note, send Oprah on down, we could use the tourism she draws and heck, we’d put up with her just to say we had a major star in our state. We’d probably even give her some tax breaks just for the draw she’d make.