Chris L Book tastes & Oprah

[bruce]

I'll actually want to see this program when it airs. All those Housewives reading THE ROAD. Maybe next she can pick some Charles Willeford

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2988494&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Emily]

"Critic Harold Bloom, famous for his discerning taste, has called McCarthy one of the greatest living American writers, along with Don DeLillo, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon."

harold bloom blows. ever since he bashed Potter i realized i dont give a hoot about him or his stinking deep understanding of the written word.

anyone who's too good for Potter is not good enough for me.

boo bloom.

[Laurie]

I'll have to tell my mom to record it for me. She loves Oprah.

[Chris L]

Oh man, I might have to take the day off work if McCarthy actually shows up for an interview. 

Give Oprah credit; Last year she was declaring a "summer of Faulkner."  I'm sure it was more like a summer of one-star Amazon reviews.  At least she's trying to challenge her audience. 

[bruce]

Oh man, I might have to take the day off work if McCarthy actually shows up for an interview. 

Give Oprah credit; Last year she was declaring a "summer of Faulkner."  I'm sure it was more like a summer of one-star Amazon reviews.  At least she's trying to challenge her audience. 

I'm right with you Chris I totally give credit to Oprah for this pick. Just can't see the soccer moms really getting into this.

[Laurie]

As annoying as Oprah can be, she has pretty good taste in books. I say this because she once selected one of the best books ever, Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, for her book club. I learned this not too long ago when I went to purchase this excellent compendium, and I saw Oprah's seal of approval on a new printing of Lonely Hunter.

So, yeah. Oprah has good taste in books and cakes.

[Jason]

Oprah's book club is about selling books not reading them.

[Chris L]

C'mon Jason, think of the garbage she could be peddling (although what's with that book The Secret?  Does she have some sort of tie with that?).  At least she respects her audience and uses her influence to encourage others to broaden their literary horizons, rather than just conform to their most minimal expectations.
 

[Jason]

Ok, I mulled that one over and I now rephrase my comment as -

Oprah's book club is more about selling books than reading them.

Yeah that Secret baloney is strange, not that I've seen it just read about it.
Also for $28 million you could have built 40 schools in South Africa.

[Fido]

Oprah's book club is more about selling books than reading them.

You may be right about that, Jason, and yet it could still be the case that Oprah's beloved book club features some fine literature.  And it is the case, in my humble opinion, whether or not it's a gimmick to sell books.  I still the still gets a few points for trying to introduce good literature to a lot of people who might not otherwise bother to wander into their library or local bookstore. 

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (and several other Toni Morrison novels)
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Anna Karenina
Night, Elie Wiesel
Several William Faulkner novels

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is definitely one of the better novels I've read recently, for what that's worth.

Not too shabby.  Feel free to take me to task on any one of these, but I still say it's pretty damn respectable.

[Sarah]

At least the woman isn't recommending Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts.  And it is even possible that, by suggesting these books, she has caused some people who might otherwise never hear of them or might feel too intimidated to consider them to check them out.  Her motives may be lady-of-the-manorish, a little redolent of noblesse oblige, but, what the hell, she's done way better than she might've.  Sure, she could do much more with her billion plus.  She could also do much less.  This means that I will forbear from spitting on her if I ever meet her. 

At least not literally. 

[buffcoat]

"Goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them."

[Grimlock]

"Selling Book and Oprah"

A Response to Jason, Chris L, et al.

The problem as I see it is that by conflating Faulker + Cormac + (other good shit) with horrible brainwashing pseudo-religious crapola like The Secret, either a) diminishes F + C +(OGS) or ... Nuthin'.

Another way to look at it: if you add chocolate ice cream to a pile of shit, how long 'til the mixture is "not-shitty" enough to eat?

Sorry to be gross no I'm not!

OR worse than all:

Oprah is RIGHT in combining beloved Faulker with Secret, and I am wrong, and HAVE BEEN WRONG the whole time, and it turns out that Faulkner is shit as well!

Last option (which is impossible) is that I'm doubly wrong, and that pseudo-religious positive thinking bullshit is actually the best way to be, and that the fragmented narratives in F and C are reflections of the deep structure of the universe, which is inherently probabilistic anyway, and so perception actually creates reality (sometimes as a consensus, sure) and so Faulker (and Joyce and all) actually are simply predicting the coming of the Secret, and that I need to get in line.

All three options blow.

[Chris L]

I should add that my question about The Secret was based entirely on an SNL sketch I saw a few weeks ago.  I don't know how much she's actually promoted it, if at all. "The SEE-CRET!"

All I knows is if Oprah ever has Chuck Klosterman on I'll lose all respect for her. 

[Sarah]

There is a fourth option, Grimlock:  That Oprah is wrong, but it doesn't matter, because most people don't read everything she recommends anyway, and at least some of what she includes in her club is worthwhile.  And even if some do read every single book she touts, one or two of them may be able to figure out that some of them rot, others rock, and a few rule.