According to Oprah, there are no longer any books worthy of her recommendation.
I suppose it was only a matter of time until Oprah’s eponymous book club folded. As much as librarians and bookstore employees would like to think otherwise, people who have never before cracked open anything more involved than Ladies Home Journal who suddenly sprout a wholesome desire to read novels are only buying into a fad.
And, like all good fads, the buying of Cabbage Patch Kids, er, Oprah-endorsed books, must come to an end.
I’m not going to be pretentious and take the easy argument – that Oprah’s picks were cheesy, melodramatic pieces of crap that have no redeeming literary value … and those that do have inherent literary merit are reduced to the level of drivel when they are slapped with an Oprah sticker.
I don’t think this, for the most part. I’ve actually read and enjoyed several Oprah novels, including “The Bluest Eye,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “I Know This Much Is True.”
Rather, I object to her choices. A majority of her picks are female-penned books that were written in the past decade or so. Surely she doesn’t believe that this is the only genre worth reading.
I also object to the whole thought process that went into dreaming up and carrying this scheme through. First, Oprah reads a bunch of books and picks a few that warm her heart, then she calls up the author and makes their career by offering to make it an Oprah book.
Much rejoicing follows, as publishers print up new, special Oprah editions and jack up the price a few bucks. Bookstores set up special Oprah sections in the front of the store so Oprah-seekers won’t have to venture far into the confusing maze of book stacks.
Oprah disciples come in with scribbled lists, and unapologetically ask the bookseller if they’ve ever heard of any of these books. They’re directed to the Oprah shelf, at which point they are overwhelmed, temporarily lose their sanity, and shell out $45 for copies of “Deep End of the Ocean,” “White Oleander” and “Gap Creek.”
All is fine and well, until suddenly, Oprah decides to shut the whole operation down, because guess what – she hasn’t been able to find any books that measure up to her standards. What?
Maybe I’m being too condescending. Anything that gets people to read can’t be all that bad, right? I’ll admit, I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter. What I take issue with is Oprah’s adoption of a holier-than-thou role of fairy godmother to up-and-coming novelists, who has the audacity to say that there is nothing left with enough literary merit to be endorsed, leaving her cult to believe that “Cane River” is as good as it gets.
If her original goal and purpose had been to promote reading, I wouldn’t be writing this. But if that was her goal, then why did she insist that her followers only read certain, approved books? If she truly wanted to inspire the general public to start reading again, then why would she suddenly stop feeding titles to her readers?
I think that Oprah used the book club as one more method of self-congratulation. She had the power to wield out someone’s career. I truly believe that the major reason behind the club’s demise is not “lack of good books,” but is at least in part due to Jonathan Franzen snubbing her recommendation earlier this year.
Franzen, whose novel “The Corrections” topped the list of the National Book Critics Circle, didn’t want his novel to be associated with the book club. Once Oprah realized she didn’t actually have the literary world at her fingertips, she gave up.
But, as a newsflash to Oprah, you’re not really going to have too much of an effect in the long run. The people who frequented bookstores before Oprahmania will continue to do so, and the reader-converts will just start buying “O, the Oprah Magazine” at $4 a pop.
And, hopefully, at least some good will have come out of this whole debacle, and a few of those Oprah loyalists who found their way past the Oprah shelf may have discovered a whole new world of enjoyment – the world of literature.
Shelley Davis is a junior in journalism, Lantern arts editor and a former Barnes & Noble employee. In the manner of typical beginning-of-the-quarter cheesiness, she’d like to share that her favorite novel is Lolita. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
