Talk of books in other threads has brought this to mind....

Oprah has started her book club again!

The current book of the month (and the "reason" she started her book club again after a long hiatus) is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I love this book. I adore this book. Steinbeck ranks as one of my favorite authors of all time and I have read nearly everything he has written, including this particular book several times.

However, the fact that this book is on her lists saddens, angers, and distresses me. Why you ask? Well, quite frankly because I would venture to say many of her viewers have little to no idea who Steinbeck is, and why he was so important. Just today, (I work at a library by the way) a lady was looking for this book, but our copies were checked out. She asked if he had the movie, which we did, and she said that would work "just as well". That is extremely infuriating. This book is a masterpiece, yet the movie will work just as well

I don't know what this has to do with anyone else, but I wanted to vent.
Thank you.

I see your point, but I think that exposure to it in some form is better than none at all. So true, everyone may not be fully exposed to the scope of the author, but they are at least exposed. Take it as a good thing.

I always liked the teme of Tortilla Flat:
"Well, we could use this money to pay our Rent, or we could go get drunk."
Drunkeness always prevailed.

i agree. and i think that there have probably been other authors on this list that you have not been exposed to or appreciate as some others might. she picks good books. since she picked one of your favorites, maybe you will be inspired to read something else off of her list that you have never heard of, just like other people might do with steinbeck. no need being a steinbeck elitist.
more people are trying to get acquainted with good authors because of her. she is inspiring people to read. we should all be praising her for her efforts. there are millions of people in this country that cannot read or write above a fourth grade level. and hell, maybe the movie is good that the woman will come back to look for the book. ive done that a few times.

oprah for president.

I wouldn't go quite that far...

I agree with both Ceeze and stopforme. Whenever I see anything about Oprah, Dr. Phil, that dumb "O" magazine, or her damned book club, I want to puke. However, I think that anything that draws lazy, tv-addicted Americans to the written word is a good thing. I applaud Oprah for that.

<RADIO EDIT>

(Edited by damon at 10:15 am on Jun. 19, 2003)

I'm sorry but I gotta side with all the folks in favor of this thing... look at the fact that your library was out of East of Eden... when was the last time that happened? People are reading this book and just because an ignorant woman thought the movie would work just as well doesn't taint the program. Oprah didn't tell her the movie would work just as well, its simply her own way of trying to cheat Oprah's system.

What else is on the list?

Will

for the record, i meant to suggest that she would look for more steinbeck book movies, which would lead her to grapes of wrath, which would lead her to look for more henry fonda movies, which would lead her to "sometimes a great notion", which would lead her to look for more paul newman films, which would lead her to see "cool hand luke", but eventually, through some failure to communicate, she would decide that robert redford is the sexiest man alive and she would see "the horse whisperer", which i can do without...

My mother went to junior high with Oprah at Nashville's very own East Junior High.

Oh, and I agree with you, Damon, about Cool Hand Luke.

Wow. I just looked up that answer, and the list is quite long. This club has apparently been in existence 6 years. Anyway, if you're really curious, you can find the list here

I noticed just how many of these have become movies in the past few years. Man, authors must love making it on this list!

(Edited by Token at 11:25 am on Jun. 19, 2003)

paul newman is pretty damn cool.

I can't think of a single book that was on Oprah's book club in the past that I would actually like to read. Blatant feminist progaganda (which 90% of these books are) written in a piss poor prose style is not my kind of thing. Toni Morrison? Sucks. Barbara Kingsolver? Sucks. Joyce Carol Oates? Sucks. Maya Angelou? Sucks.

Quite frankly, the one one main female character in East of Eden is a horrible shrew. I'm not sure Oprah's public will enjoy that, but oh well. I need to go get ready to smile politely while hundreds of people check out atrocious books.

Oh, and Damon, you deserve a night in the box.

It's true, but I was talking about Christ and his disciples.

am i the only one bothered by damon's encyclopedic knowledge of "1700 ways to Cool Hand Luke through book and film references"?

the book was better.

and no one is making you read any of them. just dont get mad when someone that you dont like wants to read your favorite author. be mad about how many people cant read, or how on average, people spend 99 hours a year reading as opposed to 1,460 watching tv [credit statistic: michael moore]. or do something about the failing library/school systems and pay teachers more to encourage them to read steinbeck. im sure theyd appreciate it more than anyone appreciates your complaining over an il-informed library-goer oprah-watcher.

(Edited by stopforme at 1:17 pm on Jun. 19, 2003)

i appreciate any complaint of oprah with great magnitude.

so true. it's always fun to drink some beers and discuss the correlation between luke and jesus.

If reading this book inspired them to read more Steinbeck, his contemperaries, or authors inspired by him, I wouldn't be terribly bothered by it. However, for the vast majority of the Oprah viewers, I sincerely doubt this will happen. These people don't want to read my favorite author. They want to do whatever they are told to do since I am very sure most are mindless drones. When Oprah tells the women of that nation to either A) rise up against their male oppressors in an apocalyptic gender war, or B) drink the cyanide Kool-Aid, don't say you weren't warned.

(Edited by Ceeze at 4:20 pm on Jun. 19, 2003)

But this list doesn't have East of Eden, or anything else really old. I was surprised to hear about Oprah recommending anything old. I knew about this list... and by the way, most authors clearly do appreciate it, but not all. Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, thanked Oprah for the award but said that he didn't need her approval to sell books. She tried to take away the award. I'm glad to see she didn't.

Will

you know, ceeze, your thread subtitle is german for "the satan, the."

doesn't that clear a lot up?
(if not, it means that ceeze speaks german...and that oprah is actually bart simpson)

did everyone here know that oprah's name was really supposed to be "orpah"? the hospital got it wrong on the birth certificate and her family just left it that way.

most. irrelevant. post. ever.

I think her next thrust will be toward the classics, starting with the aforementioned Steinbeck novel. I'm curious to know what else she'll pick.

This is really of the subject but I need a chance to vent as well, when I heat people talk of Oprah I tend to think about a rambling Aunt I have, who claims that Oprah's cousin does her hair who is from Nashville...
For the record my aunt still has a jerry curl and I have never seen her hair after it has been done "professionally" *I just wanna yell at her stop lying!* Yet I have seen AT HOME Jerry curl kits at her home lol... sorry continue with the conversation.. I just needed to get that out of my system it's been in there for a while.. this has also been a joke amongst my family. We'll ask my Aunt if she can hook us up with an hair appointment with Oprah's cuz? We get no rpley just chuckles...