For her 100th book club pick, Oprah Winfrey relied on the same instincts she has drawn upon from the start: Does the story move her? Does she think about it for days after? In a work of fiction, do the characters seem real to her?
B次元官网网址淲hen I donB次元官网网址檛 move on, thatB次元官网网址檚 always a sign to me thereB次元官网网址檚 something powerful and moving,B次元官网网址� Winfrey told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview.
On Tuesday, she announced that she had chosen Ann NapolitanoB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淗ello Beautiful,B次元官网网址� a modern-day homage to B次元官网网址淟ittle WomenB次元官网网址� from the author of the bestselling B次元官网网址淒ear Edward.B次元官网网址� The novel was published Tuesday by Dial Press, a Penguin Random House imprint, and Winfrey believes its themes of family, resilience and perspective give B次元官网网址淗ello BeautifulB次元官网网址� a B次元官网网址渦niversal appealB次元官网网址� that makes it a proper milestone.
A Winfrey pick no longer ensures blockbuster sales, but it retains a special status within the industry for authors, a call from Winfrey still feels like being told theyB次元官网网址檝e won an Oscar. Winfrey told AP that she is in B次元官网网址渁weB次元官网网址� of the club and its history, B次元官网网址渢he very notionB次元官网网址� that someone might go and buy a copy of B次元官网网址淎nna KareninaB次元官网网址� or a little known book simply because she suggested it.
B次元官网网址淪he is the queen,B次元官网网址� says Jenna Bush Hager, who hosts the popular B次元官网网址淩ead With JennaB次元官网网址� club on NBCB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭odayB次元官网网址� show. B次元官网网址淚 remember being a high school senior, in AP English, and reading (David GutersonB次元官网网址檚) `Snow Falling on CedarsB次元官网网址� because I had walked into the local bookstore and seen that Oprah had recommended it.B次元官网网址�
Kristen McLean, an analyst for NPD Books, which tracks industry sales, says that Winfrey is especially effective these days when promoting a known author such as Barbara Kingsolver and her novel B次元官网网址淒emon Copperhead,B次元官网网址� a bestseller since Winfrey picked it last fall that has far outsold her two previous works of fiction.
Since 1996, WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 book choices have set her on a journey of extraordinary influence and success, frequent reinvention and the occasional controversy. It has endured through changes for both Winfrey and the publishing industry, through the rise of the internet and the end of WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 syndicated talk show, through immersions in the classics and unexpected lessons in the reliability of memoirs and the lack of diversity of book publishing.
Thanks to Winfrey, contemporary authors such as Jacquelyn Mitchard and Jane Hamilton found audiences they never imagined, while picks published decades or even centuries earlier, from B次元官网网址淎nna KareninaB次元官网网址� to B次元官网网址淎s I Lay Dying,B次元官网网址� placed high on bestseller lists. Winfrey didnB次元官网网址檛 invent the mass market book club, but she demonstrated that spontaneous passion can inspire people in ways that elude the most sophisticated marketing campaigns.
Her most troubled choices B次元官网网址� James FreyB次元官网网址檚 fabricated memoir B次元官网网址淎 Million Little Pieces,B次元官网网址� Jeanine CumminsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淎merican Dirt,B次元官网网址� a novel criticized for stereotypical depictions of Mexicans B次元官网网址� made so much news in part because of the spotlight of a Winfrey endorsement.
The club began as the extension of conversations between herself and her producer at the time, Alice McGee. They would talk about the books they liked until McGee finally suggested, in 1996, that Winfrey share the experience with her viewers. The first pick, MitchardB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Deep End of the Ocean,B次元官网网址� has sold more than 2 million copies. Other books also became major bestsellers, whether by established authors like Joyce Carol Oates (B次元官网网址淲e Were the MulvaneysB次元官网网址�) and Toni Morrison (B次元官网网址淭he Bluest EyeB次元官网网址�) or then-emerging writers like Janet Fitch and Tawni OB次元官网网址橠ell.
The club was so successful that some suspected a catch. Winfrey remembers Quincy Jones asking her: B次元官网网址淗ow much money are they paying you for that book club, baby?B次元官网网址� The process was so informal that Winfrey at first didnB次元官网网址檛 even bother going through intermediaries.
B次元官网网址淚 would just call Wally Lamb,B次元官网网址� she says of the author of B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 Come Undone,B次元官网网址� her fourth pick. B次元官网网址淚n the early stages, I would finish the book and then find the author. When youB次元官网网址檇 go to the back of the book, it gives you the bio of the author and it would tell you what city the author lives. And, this is when we had phone books, in every instance I was able to get the authorB次元官网网址檚 phone number because the author was listed.B次元官网网址�
WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 system is now only slightly more structured. Leigh Newman, books director of the online/print publication Oprah Daily, will call the publisher first and arrange a B次元官网网址渟urprise callB次元官网网址� with the author and Oprah. WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 staff will research the authorB次元官网网址檚 background to make sure nothing problematic turns up B次元官网网址� whether criminal charges or allegations of plagiarism. The vetting began, Winfrey says, after B次元官网网址淎 Million Little PiecesB次元官网网址� turned out to have substantial falsehoods, leading to an extraordinary public scolding by Winfrey when she brought Frey back on her show to explain himself. (They have since reconciled).
B次元官网网址淚 took it so personally,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淚 probably should havenB次元官网网址檛 taken it so personally but I felt like he had let me down and I let the audience down. B次元官网网址� I was the one saying, `Can you believe this is a true story?B次元官网网址� and shouting that from the rooftops. I felt foolish for doing that, embarrassed for doing that.B次元官网网址�
WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 book choices are still in-house and intimate B次元官网网址� mostly just determined by herself and Newman B次元官网网址� although Winfrey says she made a rare exception for B次元官网网址淗ello Beautiful,B次元官网网址� recommended to her by the president of Creative Arts Agency, Richard Lovett. Otherwise, Newman will seek out books she thinks Winfrey might respond to B次元官网网址� fiction or nonfiction, as long as the story is B次元官网网址渃ompelling,B次元官网网址� Newman explains. Winfrey will also come upon books on her own.
The club follows no real formula. For the first few years, Winfrey averaged a selection nearly every month, a pace she came to find exhausting. She paused the club for much of 2002-2003, focused on older works in 2004-2005, and in other years only selected one or two titles. After her talk show ended in 2011, she launched OprahB次元官网网址檚 Book Club 2.0 the following year, with the emphasis on digital media.
She is currently aiming for a new book every eight weeks, with author interviews and interactive reader discussions showcased on OprahDaily.com. Winfrey has no plans to stop, and no specific goals for selections. In the aftermath of B次元官网网址淎merican Dirt,B次元官网网址� selected early in 2020, she had vowed to open herself up B次元官网网址渢o more Latinx books.B次元官网网址� But she has not since picked any for her club and is not committing herself for the future.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 never choose a book because the author is Hispanic, or Black, or Indian. IB次元官网网址檓 not going to be put in that box,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淭he book has to live on many different levels to me. It doesnB次元官网网址檛 mean there are not fantastic books by authors of every race and creed. It means I havenB次元官网网址檛 seen one yet (for the club). But weB次元官网网址檙e mindful of it and IB次元官网网址檝e come close a couple of times.B次元官网网址�
WinfreyB次元官网网址檚 choices are influenced at times by a relatively recent trend B次元官网网址� competition.
Over the past few years, Hager and Reese Witherspoon have demonstrated that they too, can win the trust of large numbers of readers, whether WitherspoonB次元官网网址檚 early promotion of Delia OwensB次元官网网址� blockbuster B次元官网网址淲here the Crawdads SingB次元官网网址� or Hager championing such debut works as Katy HaysB次元官网网址� novel B次元官网网址淭he Cloisters.B次元官网网址� The exuberance of young people on TikTok helped make Colleen Hoover the countryB次元官网网址檚 most popular fiction writer.
Winfrey is respectful: If she hears a book she might choose is also being pursued by Witherspoon or Hager, she will step back and pick another. But she also claims her place. Yes, Witherspoon, Hager and the BookTok kids are all great, but no one should forget who came first.
B次元官网网址淲e started this conversation,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淎nd IB次元官网网址檓 very, very proud of that.B次元官网网址�
By Hillel Italie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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