Author |
Message |
Happyfeet
| Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 2:02 pm
Marysfan, Sia and Seamonkey: Hello, ladies! Many thanks for the warm welcome! It means a lot! It's a bit scary to jump in the middle of an ongoing discussion, so muchas gracias! I've been enjoying everyone's thoughts and opinions. Love the book choices or not, Oprah has stirred the pot, bless her heart, getting even non-readers to visit the library. (Can you imagine being a non-reader? No way!) Oooh, a sharing thread, Seamonkey? Fabulous! Sharing will be fun and I can't wait to see what you all love to read, too. Here's to books and great conversation!
|
Rissa
| Saturday, April 12, 2003 - 10:43 am
Hey, long time. LOL Haven't seen anyone post that Oprah is bringing back her book club!!! Oprah's Website "Oprah announced that she will soon be "back in the business of recommending books...but with a difference." Speaking to members of the Association of American Publishers, Oprah said that the new book club will focus on classic literary works. The new club, tentatively titled "Traveling with the Classics," will likely feature selections three to five times a year, to allow readers to take their time and steep themselves in a particular work or author." I am actually quite excited about this. Am hoping she starts with Jane Austin who I am just obsessed with right now, am in the middle of Mansfield Park. Doing a show that incorporated a biography on this amazing woman would be awesome! Hippy, I don't know Franzen and haven't read Corrections but I feel like I need to defend the guy. Maybe he will go on to write dozens of wonderfull books and because of this, they won't get read. So...... It really was an issue of that sticker, not his being too good for Oprah. He asked if the sticker not be on the books, Oprah said no. He asked if the sticker could go on just the first so-many thousand copies, Oprah said no. He asked if the sticker could go on just books sold in the United States, Oprah said no. She would just not bend that the sticker had to go on 100% of the books sold anywhere on the planet forever.
|
Seamonkey
| Saturday, April 12, 2003 - 12:31 pm
I think Oprah is an amazing amazing woman and she's done much good in her life, but no matter how good someone is, power does tend to corrupt. There is a fine line running from assertiveness through aggressiveness and sometimes into thuggishness (don't even know if that's a word!) I wonder sometimes about her need to have her name everywhere.. HARPO is her baby, she has her magazine, that's fine, but having to have the sticker (and often it isn't just a sticker, but embossed right on the cover) on other people's work.. good and bad. I also cannot imagine not reading, or needing someone to get me going, but anytime I have access to reviews and recommendations that is a good thing. I find that http://www.bn.com site is a treasure for me (and of course Amazon is there too) because they do a good job of listing books from new authors and recommendations beyond the best sellers and then you find a book and see what other books were bought at the same time.. or you search for one book and then that search word brings up treasure.. some book you never would have found. OK.. <Seamonkey backs away before she goes on a search rampage at bn.com.. must finish the paper, must do taxes.. then The Sculptress is waiting and the rest of the Stephen King stories and then.. that delicious stack of "to-be-read books".>
|
Mak1
| Saturday, April 12, 2003 - 4:15 pm
LOL, Seamonkey, I can spend as much time at bn.com as I do in a bookstore....and that's a considerable amount of time!
|
Weenerlobo
| Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - 11:25 am
Rissa, I was really happy to see your post. Jane Austen is my favorite author (if I was forced to choose a favorite). Her characters are timeless. I've only read 2 Oprah book club books; Jewel and House of Sand and Fog. I did not like either book all that much, even though both of them were very well written. Sorry to butt in here, hope nobody minds.
|
Marysafan
| Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - 11:37 am
Weenerlobo....you are welcome anytime...but in as often as you want. I do it all the time...and nobody has thrown me out yet...or even told me to be quiet...(which is odd considering this is a "library"). Please stop by the What are you reading thread...and tell us about what you are reading. We get the best book ideas from that thread!
|
Marysafan
| Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - 2:59 pm
Oprah has started up the book club again. The book she selected is "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. I have seen the movie but not read the book...perhaps I will join them.
|
Mak1
| Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - 6:01 pm
I think I will join them too. This time, you can join, free, on Oprah.com and receive emails (related to the reading) from the club.
|
Rissa
| Thursday, June 19, 2003 - 8:27 am
I have not read the book OR seen the movie. LOL A little background to my rambling (You are being warned!!) LOL. I am the oldest of four and the only one to be an avid reader. The other three never enjoyed reading and therefore were not all that strong in that area. So dad started this *project* for them. Every Saturday they had to read into a tape recorder for 20 minutes then listen to themselves and then record the same reading again... hopefully correcting errors. This seemed like HUGE fun to me, being out of the loop. So I begged and begged and was finally allowed into the *club* just as dad cut out the recording and started monthly book reports. {sigh}. Thanks to my big stubborn mouth, I had to do a monthly book report for the next five years. LOL Dad would pick books that were above our school level, so we would be challenged (dang him) and I was no more than 12 when I had to read Grapes of Wrath (ahhh, she is back on topic). That book (to a preteen) was looooonnnngggg and looooonnnnggg and it was also looooonnngggg. RFLOL!! It's the last Steinbeck book I have ever read, just typing his name is bringing on traumatic flashbacks. Having said all that, I probably will pick up a copy. Don't know that I will stick with the book club for every book... I usually have a stack going of my own choices. LOL But I did enjoy her round-table discussions so will at least try the first one.
|
Crazydog
| Thursday, June 19, 2003 - 8:29 am
I think it is great that she is choosing classics. It takes away from the commercial aspect of her book club, before authors and publishers would do anything to be chosen by her because it meant so many more additional sales. She has a lot of influence and I think it is great that she is encouraging reading. The only problem I foresee is that I find many classics to be dense. It takes me so much more time to read a classic than a mass market book. What happens if she picked a book like George Eliot's Middlemarch? It would probably take many people close to a year to read it!!!
|
Marysafan
| Thursday, June 19, 2003 - 8:35 am
Rissa, I find it amazingly coincidental that I also am the oldest of four and the only one who enjoys reading. My siblings seem to have an aversion to books and I can't imagine my life without them.
|
Missy2
| Monday, July 07, 2003 - 11:50 am
I read she's come undone (which I liked), then I picked up a few other selected books but I always got annoyed with them. Her book selections are generally depressing. Life is hard and sad enough I don't like reading sad fiction. If I want to read about something depressing I usually read non-fiction, but when I pick up fiction I expect to smile and laugh.
|
Ric_Munoz
| Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 4:11 pm
If Jonathan Franzen had not trashed Oprah and her BC, I likely would never have read "The Corrections" -- but because he DID trash her, I felt he was worthy of a try. I'm glad I did: "The Corrections" was a joy to read, cover to cover.
|
Sia
| Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 9:19 pm
Ric, I read the entire book, but didn't like it. I thought he probably was mad because she put HER name and book club label on HIS book--and likely without asking first. Do you know if he was consulted first?
|
Ric_Munoz
| Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 11:52 pm
Sia, I'm pretty sure he personally was NOT consulted. His publisher, on the other hand, is probably a differnt story. The way I remember the whole thing going down was that Franzen wrote the book and unbeknownst to him, the publisher submitted it to OW's people for consideration as a BC selection. For the publisher this would, of course, generate millions of sales. Franzen objected to the commercialization that resulted from the selection and proceeded to more or less bad-mouth the OBC program. One of the "honors" resulting from the selection included an expected (by OW and her posse) author appearance on OW's show. Once OW got wind of the JF's bad attitude, the invitation extended to him to appear on the show was instantly rescinded. Franzen next got clobbered in the media for being "ungrateful" for all the free publicity. His explanation is that he felt the whole thing was an invasion of his privacy and he strenuously objected to the extensive promotion OW's people expected him to do for the BC. He quickly squawked at that idea, primarily because he felt it was too phony. To most observers, it was considered stuck-up, prima donna behavior on JF's part. One of his subsequent books, "How To Be Alone," contains a chapter that describes how OW's people persisted in staging and filming camera shots (never aired, of course) of him that underscored how phony the whole process was.
|
Spunky
Member
10-08-2001
| Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 7:51 am
I read the One Hundred Years of Solitude because I was flipping through the channels and saw Oprah raving about it. I read better books than that one, and all the hype about the "magic realism" is just that "hype"... I did have a few chuckles though and some events were truly dramatic.. Since I read anything that makes me curious enough to read (another one was Cold Mountain, loved the movie more) I made an effort to finish the book and after a while I just couldn't put it down and read the last half of the book in one night!! I average one book every 3 weeks (the library deadline) and mostly at bedtime... Can't wait for that Da Vince Code book to arrive.. I'm happy to see there is a thread about that one...
|
Spunky
Member
10-08-2001
| Tuesday, June 01, 2004 - 12:34 pm
Who's going to read Anna Karenina with Oprah all summer long? Strange, she chose a classic she never read before. Although we all know the story, it would be great to read the book following her schedule.
|
Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 01, 2004 - 7:12 pm
I think I'll be reading this one. I've never "followed" Oprah's book club, but I feel like I need to if I want to reread this novel. The only time I read it was when I was in HS during summer vacation....And I don't remember whether I enjoyed it or not. But Spunky, how could you NOT love One Hundred Years of Solitude? Marquez is such an amazing writer! Maybe you'd like Love in the Time of Cholera, which I frankly prefer to One Hundred Years. [I've read parts of Marquez's autobiography, too, and it's just as great as his fiction. But it takes too much time; it's only been published in Spanish--or at least it had been--and it took me too long to work through his amazingly dense prose in Spanish.]
|
Spunky
Member
10-08-2001
| Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 12:26 pm
I did not join Oprah's board yet... I will have to take a look, but then I like it here. The One Hundred Years of Solitude was an interesting read, very different from other books I read. It was just that "magic realism" that did not work for me, I don't believe in adding any "magic" to events that were tragic enough and don't need to be made into a myth. The only character that I liked was Ursula. I will have to take a look at Love in the Time of Cholera to know more of the author's writing talent. Another book which is going to be a 'nonsense' book is The Da Vinci Code, already I regret ordering it at my library. I'm just too curious to see just how dumb it is. I'm astonished that it is a best-seller.... we'll see.
|
Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 12:51 pm
DaVinci Code held my interest to the end.. I didn't take it as a revelation of truth in any way, which seems to be a common reaction..
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 8:26 pm
Tishala, Quality Paperback Book Club has Marquez's autobiography translated. Item number is 180677 and the title is "Living to Tell the Tale." Not sure if that's the same book you were referring to, but it looked wonderful.
|
Hippyt
Member
06-15-2001
| Monday, March 07, 2005 - 9:58 pm
I think I am done with ANY book from Oprah's list. I have read quite a few,but Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True" did it. 900 pages of sadness,sickness,abuse,and insanity.Oh the last three pages were redemption. I have never read a bigger waste of time. A big ass depressing waste of time,hoping against hope something good would happen to these people. Aids,schizophrenia,murder,sexual abuse,physical,suicide,SIDS,war deaths,and racism.
|
Beachcomber
Member
08-26-2003
| Tuesday, March 08, 2005 - 1:35 pm
Hippy, I read Wally's book a few years ago and feel exactly the same way. I want books to uplift and inform me, transform me to another place and time. None of the Oprah selections that I have read have done that.
|
Hippyt
Member
06-15-2001
| Tuesday, March 08, 2005 - 3:42 pm
You know,I agree. I was beginning to wonder when Dracula was gonna show up,that was about the ONLY bad thing that didn't happen to the people in that book!
|
|