The Oprah's Book Club Thread

Cafe Society
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In this thread jarbabyj ranted about Oprah and her book club.
In that thread, I said, quote: “Maybe I’ll mosey on over to the Cafe Society and start a thread about Oprah’s Book Club. Think it’ll sink like a stone?”, end of quote.

In this thread, Jodi said, quote: “So here I am again to snaffle suggestions from the DoperReaders, who we all know have far more discerning tastes than Oprah” end of quote.

Okay, here it is.

Do you like the books in her club? Have you read any of them?
Why is there a disdain for her books on this MB and in the literary world in general?
Why do people think it is beneath them to read a book that Oprah featured on her show?
How is it fair to be so dissmissive of the Oprah books, without having read any of them?
Why do people think they are lightweight fluff, no better than trashy Harlequin romances?
Why do people like to think the Oprah books are beneath them? That they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on? That they’re a waste of ink?

I, for one, (and I’m not alone here) like them. I haven’t read all of them, but I have read many of them. When I find one I really like, I tend to read all the other books by that author. How is that a bad thing?
I don’t just blindly run into Barnes & Noble and, zombie-like, ask for the newest Oprah (“You know, the blue one!”) I read the blurb about it. I read the first few pages. I skip to the middle and read a page. I do that with any book I am considering buying. If it sound good, I’ll get it. If I’m not sure, I’ll find it at the library.

One of the first ones I read was Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay. I have since read Midnight Champagne, River Angel, and Sister. They were all great books. She has a new one coming out soon, called Limbo.

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve was another good one. I have also read The Weight of Water and The Last Time They Met. I have Fortune’s Rocks, but haven’t read it yet.

I loved I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. He also wrote She’s Come Undone, which was another Oprah book. I hope he has another one coming soon.

I also really liked White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Another good one was Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts. She also wrote Honk And Holler Opening Soon. That one was great also.

Just for the record, I like a wide variety of books, but I don’t care for Sci-Fi or fantasy or erotica, which I know puts me in a minority on this Board.

Your thoughts?

Oh, yeah: Oprah’s Book Club Library

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Loved: The Deep End of the Ocean, She’s Come Undone, Black and Blue, I Know This Much is True, Midwives, Where The Heart Is, The Reader, White Oleander, While I Was Gone

Liked: We Were the Mulvaneys

Disliked: Song of Solomon

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From Jarbaby’s thread, here is my list of Oprah books I’ve read. The bolded ones are my favorites:

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

One of my favorite books of all time is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. I absolutely adore it, and have read it maybe 5 times. I can relate to many of the themes: dealing with such unreasonable anger, carrying your brother’s load all the time, reconciling anger with your parents. And there are moments in this book where I read the lines and everything is right with the world. Lamb has a great command of language, and every once in a while he’ll write something so perfect and so true that I cry. I actually cry a lot whenever I read this book. (I just got a used copy at the library for $0.25, so I’ll be reading it as much as possible). It is an emotional roller coaster; at certain points, I cannot comprehend what more Lamb can throw at us, but he keeps adding more and more situations that are devestating. But of couse, the end makes it all worthwhile.

A Lesson Before Dying was taught in my junior high school English class, and I think it is absolutely wonderful. Gaines takes all the stereotypical ideas about Black people in the South in the 50’s and turns them on their head. Just when I thought I understood the characters, they did something so unexpected that I was thrown. In other words, they are absurdly human and real. And Jefferson’s diary, toward the end, is reason enough to read this book. It is the most honest, heartbreakingly sad portrayal that I’ve ever read of an uneducated, barely literate man who is trying to be a hero but simply doesn’t have the capacity.

Song of Solomon is a classic to be read and reread for ages. It is simply perfect. The storytelling aspect (like gossip passed down; Morrison is great at this) is so real, so authentic that it puts the reader in the scene. There’s one passage where Guitar tells Hagar to stop loving Milkman. It is one of the best, most honest things I’ve ever read:

Now, I know people have different tastes, but Morrison is right up there with Dickens and Austen in my book. You can put down the Oprah Book Club, but to denigrate Morrison because Oprah chose her is your loss, truly. She has a complete mastery of her language and the dialects she portrays. Her plots are intricate and completely absorbing. Her characters are startlingly real. She is pure genius, and most of her books (particularly Jazz) are as wonderful and moving as this one.

The Poisonwood Bible is another of my most favorite books. It is absolutely gripping from beginning to end. It is an epic masterpiece. As a writer, I can’t comprehend the effort and struggle Kingsolver put in to developing the five different narratives she uses, of the four sisters and the mother, Orleanna. I read this way before Oprah picked it, when it first came out. I read is straight through and then reread it twice in maybe five days. I’ve always loved reading because I feel as though I get to live so many different sorts of lives in just a few hundred pages, and this book embodies that. Imagine one moment of your life, like seeing someone die, and then living it from five different viewpoints. The Poisenwood Bible is like that. Orleanna’s chapters are particularly moving, but the entire ending (after the death) third of the book is flawless. It is a gift to understand how these women come of age, shaped by the experiances that defined them.

So, that’s my take. I love these books, and am glad that Oprah chose them. I wish everyone would read them, and that she got so many people to do so is wonderful.

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On an Oprah show featuring writers, Kingsolver said she wrote the whole story five times, from the complete POV of each character, and then put it (the finished version) together from what she had written. Made me like her a whole lot more! :slight_smile:

I also liked her other books, The Bean Trees, Pigs In Heaven, and Animal Dreams. I haven’t read Prodigal Summer yet.

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I agree 100% with your take on Barbara Kingsolver.

I haven’t read any other “Oprah” books, I have no particular feelings about her book club one way or the other, but if Kingsolver’s on the list, then I’m willing to give her the benifit of the doubt.

Kingsolver is absolutely wonderful. Kinsey–get Prodigal Summer. It’s got a different feel than The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams, which is one of the things I love about Kingsolver: she doesn’t write the same thing over and over. But all of her books share the same flawless prose.

Hmmm… I guess this qualifies as a hijack. Sorry!

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What I’ve read off the list, and my reactions:

Deep End of the Ocean: Good but wrenching. I read it when a new mom and was a bundle of raw mommy nerves. It was like getting punched in the gut, repeatedly.

Drowning Ruth: Well written but I loathed the sense of doom throughout. A downer.

Gap Creek: Also a downer. Didn’t really like it. Was sort of more like poetry in its spare language, and I wasn’t into that.

House of Sand and Fog: Very well-written, but horribly depressing. Reminded me of “A Simple Plan:” Take a few bad decisions, and watch them go from bad to worse to the complete crumbling of lives. Yipes.

I Know This Much Is True: In the end, I just didn’t like it. Can’t recall why.

Map of the World: Argh! Also depressing! Well-written, but jesus Oprah, cheer up already!

Open House: I’m a big Elizabeth Berg fan. Loved it. Really related to the main character (I was such an idiot about some of my exes). I think I also liked it because it sparked such a good discussion in our book club, talking about marriage and divorce and personal stuff.

Tara Road: I love Maeve Binchy; she’s my ultimate feel-good author. I had no idea this was an Oprah pick until I just saw the listing. I guess she’s sort of a fluffy writer but I just eat her books up. She’s now on my sh*t list, for retiring without asking my permission.

Where The Heart Is: Surprisingly enjoyable. You’d think the topic and setting would be too cheesy to be a good read, but I liked it. I even liked the movie [ducks her head sheepishly]

I haven’t read Black & Blue, but I’d like to because I love Anna Quindlen.

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I consider Where The Heart Is my ultimate guilty pleasure. When my mom told me to read it (again, before Oprah laid claim), I thought the plot sounded ridiculous, but it was actually quite poignant and enjoyable. I love the part when Novalee wins the photo contest for the picture of Benny Goodluck. And the ending is just so lovely. Forney Hull joins the great ranks of fictional men I am madly in love with (along with Pip from Great Expectations and Jack from the Talisman, to name a few).

I liked Black and Blue, but my family went through a lot of the same stuff with my father. It’s hard for me to read (only read it once so far) because it’s so truthful. What really kills me is the last page, where the main character says that she still wonders if she did the right thing. She says that sometimes when she’s in her little car, driving to her nice home, she forgets, but there’s still a huge hole inside of her, bigger than anything. That is the truest thing I have ever read about being abused. Then she says that her children make it impossible to regret the past, which reminds me of my mother. All in all, it’s a very honest, well-written book, just difficult for me to read.

I’m too lazy to run upstairs and grab The Pilot’s Wife, but I distinctly recall not understanding the ending at all. And I was really annoyed for some reason at the daughter having sex when she was like 14. I think Shreve’s writing style just doesn’t appeal to me.

I’ve never read any other Barbara Kingsolver (right now I have to read As I Lay Dying, Steppenwolf, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Distant Land of my Father sometime in the next two weeks!) but I will as soon as Winter Break rolls around and I’m only taking one class, I’ll check her out from the library.

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I couldn’t finish the book for that reason.

In case you’re interested, Animal Dreams is my favorite book: “Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.” God. Read that one first :slight_smile:

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The House of Sand and Fog was probably the most impossible book I have ever read. Impossible in the sense that I wanted it to end, but I couldn’t stand to see how it ended. I wanted to scream at the characters in frustration, but I wanted to see them come out OK in the end. I hated them, I loved them, and as the story reach it’ climax I couldn’t put it down, but I really, really didn’t want it to be over.

Back Roads Jesus Christ this was a depressing book. I mean seriously. Woo. Some fucked up shit. But it was well written fucked up shit. I liked it.

Gap Creek This book did nothing for me.

She’s Come Undone A book I’m happy I read, but probably won’t be reading again. Though I do find myself thinking of it every now and again at odd moments. One of the few books that has actually stuck with me.

Drowning Ruth Honestly, I know I read the book, and it wasn’t too long ago, but I can’t remember a damn thing about it. I really can’t. And I don’t know where my copy is, I don’t think it moved with me. Therefore I can’t read it again to refresh my memory.

The Poisonwood Bible A powerful novel, but it didn’t affect me the way other books have. Another one that I was happy I read it, but I probably won’t be re-reading it any time soon.

Songs in Ordinary Times Honestly, I read this book too long ago, and I was really too young to identify with any of its characters. I did like it though, it was a good piece of story telling.

Song of Soloman This was a book that I could sense I wasn’t appreciating. I knew it was supposed to be something great, but I was only 13 when I read it, so again, it didn’t do much for me. I’d like to re-read it now that I have a bit more experience (both literary and emotionally) under my belt.

A Lesson Before Dying I read it for my AP English class. It was one of the firt three books we read (the other two were Yellow Raft in Blue Water and Bless Me, Ultima) Anyway, A Lesson Before Dying really, really touched me. I re-read it numerous times, and wrote a few essays on it, and each time I walked away with something different from the book. It made me cry each time.

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I agree with Limerick. Read Animal Dreams first. It was great.
Then read The Bean Trees, followed by Pigs In Heaven.
Bean Trees and Pigs In Heaven are sort of a series, and BT comes first, but you don’t have to read them in order.

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I read The Pilot’s Wife and thought it barely qualified as trash (YMMV).

Loved The Poisonwood Bible (although I haven’t finished yet, I started it months ago, got involved in something else, and will get back to it - although now I’ll have to start over). (And I agree that most of Kingsolvers books - all the one’s I’ve read at least - are definately worth picking up.

Tried Midwives, didn’t finish it. It was one of those “How Stupid Can These People Be” books.

Thought The Reader was interesting, but haven’t recommended it to anyone.

Daughter of Fortune was one of the most disappointing books I’ve ever read. I LOVED House of Spirits, and Daughter of Fortune was just horrible.

Many of Oprah’s picks are too depressing for me to even pick up. I saw the bookclub show where they were talking about the book where a woman is watching her friend’s kid when the kid drowns. Oh, God. Don’t even want to think about that, much less read a whole book.

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Cane River by Lalita Tademy (SP? Too lazy to go find the book).
I didn’t think this was a good piece of storytelling. It was told kind of woodenly. I don’t like stories that consist of simply, “This is what happened.” To me “what happens” is the skeleton of the story. There was no feeling. I didn’t connect to any of the characters emotionally because we never were told what their emotions were. It was like the reader was nothing more than a distant observor of these people. I really don’t like novels like that. I want to be in the character. I want to know all their thoughts and feelings, vices, hopes, dreams, frustration, everything.
For example:
“Laurie ate the apples for dinner.” That’s fine, it lets you know what she did. But I think,
“Laurie ate each of the apples for dinner. They were sweet…the sweetest apples she had ever had. She immediately began to think of ways to find more apples for the next night.”
Unfortunately, Cane River was more like the first example than the second.

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I’m currently reading The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen, which is Oprah’s latest pick and the subject of some silliness involving his half-assed rejection of Her Royal O on the cover of his book. People are calling him elitist, he’s saying he’s just a nice midwestern guy, Oprah cancelled his appearance on the show, etc.

All the lesser drama aside, his book is nothing short of fabulous. If you crave dynamic, ecstatically-written prose, black comedy, absurdity, social commentary, the stinging truth of America, and the slick-tongued oratory of an animated turd:

*"Leave!" Alfred commanded sternly.
But the turd scurried up the side of the clean Nordic bed and relaxed like a Brie, or a leafy and manure-smelling Cabrales, on the covers. "Splat chance of that, fella." And dissolved, literally, in a gale of hilarious fart sounds.

To fear encountering the turd on his pillow was to summon the turd to the pillow, where it flopped in postures of glistening well-being.
“Get away, get away,” Alfred said, planting an elbow in the carpeting as he exited the bed headfirst.
“No way, Jose,” the turd said. “First I’m gonna get in your clothes.”
“No!”
“Sure am, fella. Gonna get in your clothes and touch the upholstery. Gonna smear and leave a trail. Gonna stink so bad.”
“Why? Why? Why would you do such a thing?”
“Because it’s right for me,” the turd croaked. “It’s who I am. Put somebody else’s comfort ahead of my own? Go hop in a toilet to spare somebody else’s feelings? That’s the kinda think you do, fella. You got everything bass ackwards. And look where it’s landed you.”*

then you just might like this book. I have yet to finish it, but even if Franzen totally drops the ball and delivers a turd of an ending, I will still walk away feeling like I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Non-Oprah folks might want to reconsider their fear of the yellow O in a suspension of disbelief for the sake of such a great book. And yes, I too loved The Poisonwood Bible.

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Okay, now to the other part of my OP. Why do people like to dislike her books?
I can’t for the life of me figure out why people are so dissmissive of all of her books, proudly proclaiming, “I’ve never read any of the Oprah books! I have more discerning tastes.”
Why the snobbery?

15

Well, I think many true book lovers and avid readers like to pat themselves on the back for being a cut above the unwashed masses (I know I do). A nice sideline to this is that finding another book lover out there is like finding a sister (or brother), you know, someone you can immediately connect with. I’m talking about when you go to someone’s house and they not only have crammed bookshelves, but they also have a lot of the same books you’ve read and loved. It’s like being in a special fraternity of people who know the joy of reading, and who take part in it sincerely and voluntarily. When I’m in a bookstore I sometimes just look around and think “The cool people are in here.” The thrill I get when I see someone buying a book I just read and loved! Or that I just heard about and am curiou about. Instant connection. Woo-hoo!

The thing about the Oprah book club, I think, is that suddenly tons of people are in on it. People who maybe don’t truly get it, who don’t truly love reading like I do. Lord don’t I know that’s elitist, and as a daughter of a reading teacher and someone who bemoans the lack of literacy in the world, I ought to rejoice. But there’s that part of me that incharitably thinks they’re imposters, that they are cheapening the whole book-choosing and book-discovering and book-loving rituals that mean so much to me.

I feel that way a wee little bit. Perhaps some people feel that much more strongly. And to them, perhaps to never read an Oprah pick means that they’re keeping themselves in the real book-worshipping club, not the one the imposters are wading around in. I can certainly understand feeling that way.

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I haven’t read nearly as many of the Oprah books as some people in this thread, but I have read a few. I am honestly very impressed with her choices so far (or perhaps to be more accurate, with the choices of her staff, because it’s my understanding that these books are selected with input from various people). When I first heard of the Oprah Book Club, I cringed because I assumed all the books would be along the lines of The Bridges of Madison Country dreck. In general, both from the books I have read, and from the reviews of those I have not personally read, the quality of the writing is much higher than what I expected.

That said, most of the books on Oprah’s list seem to be of a certain type. I know I’m painting this with a very broad brush, but my impression is that most of these books deal with issues of family, heritage, the examination of tradition leading to either embrace or rejection, and self-discovery, in particular, with women’s explorations of self. There is nothing wrong with these themes, of course, and they are very much in keeping with the agenda Oprah seems to have for her show in general. For me personally, I like to mix up my reading more than this.

Disclaimer: I’ve never seen any of the shows where Oprah chats about one of these books, so that might change the way I feel about her and her book club.

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I’ve read 3 of Oprah’s selections, 2 of which I read before she started the book club, The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and 1 of which I read after she started the book club, Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons. When I read Ellen Foster I had no idea it was an Oprah Book Club selection. A friend just suggested I read it. I liked all three books. I’m upset that Oprah didn’t put Sula by Toni Morrison on the list, though. That’s my all time favorite book by her. But I digress.

I remember watching the show when the club was discussing Paradise by Toni Morrison (btw I haven’t read Paradise yet), and I was fascinated by folks talking about how they couldn’t understand the book, or how they were struggling with the book, or how they liked such and such character because of X reason. I thought that was really neat because I thought that show demonstrated that it’s okay if you’ve read a book and you don’t understand it at first. It’s okay to struggle with texts, and it’s certainly okay to decide you don’t like them, after you’ve read them–I’ve learned just as much if not more from books I didn’t like as from ones I did like. I’d like to think that what folks took away from watching that particular episode was that they shouldn’t give up on reading something because they think it’s too easy or too difficult.

Kinsey, I have NO CLUE why folks diss Oprah’s book selections. I think it’s WONDERFUL that she’s providing a forum for folks to read and talk about books. :slight_smile: And I think those that dismiss an opportunity to check out a book that they may actually like and that can take them on a journey they might not ever have taken just because they think it’s tainted by being associated with Oprah and possibly with non-intellectuals, is just selling him/herself short, and I really feel sorry for them.

Why haven’t I read more of Oprah’s books? It’s not that I’m being snooty or thinking her selections are unsophisticated or not intellectual enough. Hell, I wish I did have time to play in Oprah’s club. I find nothing more exciting than talking to folks who’ve just discovered reading, or who’ve just discovered a good book, and they want to talk about it. That excitement I see in their eyes is just so refreshing. It reminds me of how I feel each time I finish a book, and I just can’t get over where it took me. I LOVE READING! :smiley:

The reason I haven’t read more of Oprah’s books is because I don’t have time to watch Oprah’s show or keep up with the latest book she’s suggested, read it in a timely manner, and then participate in the discussions going on. I have a house FULL of books that I don’t have time to read [giggle], but that I squeeze in when I can. I guess if I didn’t work and already have a Books-to-Read list that ranges in the hundreds, I would be more active in the Oprah Book Club or other reading clubs. That doesn’t mean that I won’t ever read an Oprah selection, but I might not get to it when everyone else is discussing it. [shrug]

In a way I don’t think it’s just about not liking Oprah. Though I can’t comprehend the reasons why, some folks just get off on dismissing or evaluating as or bad literature they haven’t read. For example, look at how some religious folks–possibly fundamental Christians, I can’t remember exactly–put down the Harry Potter books as being evil and teaching kids witchcraft, and they forbade their kids to read the texts. Mind you, they probably hadn’t read the Harry Potter books themselves and were just going on what they’d heard the general premise of the books were. Some folks decide that because a book’s a particular genre, or it’s written by a certain culture, or deals with a controversial topic, it’s going to be too boring, or too depressing, or inspire evil thoughts, or they can’t relate to it, or it’s going to tell the same old story again with different characters and settings. [sigh] Any of these may be true, but then again they may not be true. My thing is HOW DO YOU KNOW what’s in the book and whether or not you like it IF YOU DON’T READ IT?! So what if you can’t relate to X topic, or more likely you fear it? Have you ever tried to relate to the topic or to face your fears? If you haven’t, then why don’t you try? Books are for expanding one’s horizons and going places and experiencing things we may not get to do otherwise.

But if it really is about Oprah, then I think some folks are afraid of being controlled by her. They just run away from her and anything associated with her because it’s scary to have a woman who has so much power already invading your life to the extent that she’s influencing what you read. The thing is, I don’t think Oprah’s telling folks they’d better like the book she chose or else she’s going to have them arrested. I think she’s saying: I like this book. If you get a chance, read it and tell me and/or others what you think. That’s the difference. She’s not telling folks what to think; she’s asking them to think for themselves, and I think that’s great. Now if they decide NOT to think for themselves, I don’t think we can or should blame Oprah for that.

18

Pepperlandgirl, you may have mentioned it in the Oprah Pit thread, so forgive me if you already said it, but have you ever read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn? Mine and N4S’s favorite book? :wink:
The story-telling in that book is amazing. The beginning, just the first few pages, completely suck me in. When the storyteller is talking about the kids picking through the trash and going to the junk dealer’s and buying candy…It’s just incredible. You can just feel yourself walking down the streets of the slums, with a couple of pennies in your pocket…
If you haven’t read it, you must! :slight_smile:

19

No, Kinsey, unfortunately I haven’t had the oppurtunity to read that book. I guess next time in the, “Gonna go buy me a book,” phase, that’ll be the one I get. How can I not when it comes so strong recommended? :slight_smile: