Oprah's Book Club
Encyclopedia
Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American
talk show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey
. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with the Oprah Winfrey Show, on May 25, 2011. Winfrey did not abandon books, however, saying "I'm going to try to develop a show for books and authors," at her new network OWN. In total the club recommended 70 books during its 15 years.
Because of the book club's wide popularity, many obscure titles have become very popular bestseller
s, increasing sales in some cases by as many as several million copies; this occurrence is widely known as the Oprah effect. Al Greco, a Fordham University marketing professor, estimated the total sales of the 69 "Oprah editions" at over 55 million copies.
The Club has seen several literary controversies, such as Jonathan Franzen
's public dissatisfaction with his novel The Corrections
having been chosen by Winfrey, and the now infamous incident of James Frey
's memoir, A Million Little Pieces
, a 2005 selection, being outed as partly fabricated. The latter controversy resulted in Frey and publisher Nan Talese
being confronted and publicly shamed by Winfrey in a highly praised live televised episode of Winfrey’s show.
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
. Winfrey discontinued the book club for one year in 2002, stating that she could not keep up with the required reading while still searching for contemporary novels that she enjoyed. After its revival in 2003, books were selected on a more limited basis (three or four a year)
Winfrey returned to fiction with her 2007 selections of The Road by Cormac McCarthy
in March and Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides
in June. Shortly after its being chosen, The Road was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
. Winfrey conducted the first ever television interview with McCarthy, a famously reclusive author, on June 5, 2007.
On October 5, 2007 the latest selection was announced as Love in the Time of Cholera
, a 1985 novel by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez
, greatly furthering not only the influence of the author in North America, but that of his translator Edith Grossman
. Another work by Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
, was a previous selection for the book club in 2004.
The last club selection was a special edition of Charles Dickens
' A Tale of Two Cities
and Great Expectations
. It had disappointingly low sales figures.
describes Winfrey as "a serious American intellectual
who pioneered the use of electronic media, specifically television
and the Internet
, to take reading—a decidedly non-technological and highly individual act—and highlight its social elements and uses in such a way to motivate millions of erstwhile non-readers to pick up books."
Business Week stated:
In 2009 it was reported that the influence of Winfrey's book club had even spread to Brazil
with picks like A New Earth
dominating Brazil's best-seller list.
The club generated so much success for some books that they went on to be adapted into films. This subset includes The Deep End of the Ocean
and The Reader
.
At the shows conclusion in May 2011, Nielsen
created a list of the top-10 bestsellers from the Clubs final 10 years (prior data was unavailable). The top four with sales figures as of May 2011:
Scott Stossel
, an editor at The Atlantic, wrote:
felt conflicted about his book The Corrections
being chosen as a book club selection. After the announcement was made, he expressed distaste with being in the company of other Oprah's Book Club authors, saying in an interview that Winfrey had "picked some good books, but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one-dimensional ones that I cringe, myself, even though I think she's really smart and she's really fighting the good fight." Franzen added that his novel was a "hard book for that audience." Franzen also felt conflicted about being selected by Winfrey because he was hoping to attract a male audience.
Following the criticism Franzen was uninvited from the televised book club dinner, and he apologized profusely. When Franzen was not invited back, he suggested that perhaps he and Winfrey could still have dinner but not on TV, but Winfrey was all booked up, and her spokesperson said she was moving on.
New York Times Verlyn Klinkenborg
said "lurking behind Mr. Franzen's rejection of Ms. Winfrey is an elemental distrust of readers, except for the ones he designates."
Andre Dubus III
added, "It is so elitist it offends me deeply. The assumption that high art is not for the masses, that they won't understand it and they don't deserve it – I find that reprehensible. Is that a judgment on the audience? Or on the books in whose company he would be?"
Others accused Franzen of sexism asking "Is it misogyny, do you think, or class prejudice, or worse?"
In 2010, Oprah chose another of Franzen's books, Freedom, for her book club. She says that after she read a copy of the book Franzen had sent her with a note, she called the author and gained his permission. Oprah said "we have a little history this author and I", but called the book "a masterpiece", and according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, she "seems to have forgiven the bestselling author after their 2001 kerfuffle".
's A Million Little Pieces
for the September 2005 selection. Pieces is a book billed as a memoir
—a true account of Frey's life as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal. It became the Book Club's greatest selling book up to that point, and many readers spoke of how the account helped free them from drugs as well. But the additional attention focused on Frey's memoir soon led to critics questioning the validity of Frey's supposedly true account, especially regarding his treatment while in a rehabilitation
facility and his stories of time spent in jail
. Initially, Frey convinced Larry King
that the embellishments in his book were of a sort that could be found in any literary memoir; Winfrey encouraged debate about how creative non-fiction should be classified, and cited the inspirational impact Frey's work had had on so many of her viewers. But as more accusations against the book surfaced, Winfrey invited Frey on the show to find out directly from him whether he had lied to her and her viewers. During a heated live televised debate, Winfrey forced Frey to admit that he had indeed lied about spending time in jail, and that he had no idea whether he had two root canal
s without painkillers or not, despite devoting several pages to describing them in excruciating detail. Winfrey then brought out Frey's publisher Nan Talese
to defend her decision to classify the book as a memoir, and forced Talese to admit that she had done nothing to check the book's veracity, despite the fact that her representatives had assured Winfrey's staff that the book was indeed non-fiction and described it as "brutally honest" in a press release.
The media feasted over the televised showdown. David Carr
of the New York Times wrote, "Both Mr. Frey and Ms. Talese were snapped in two like dry winter twigs." "Oprah annihilates Frey," proclaimed Larry King. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd
wrote, "It was a huge relief, after our long national slide into untruth and no consequences, into Swift boating and swift bucks, into W
.'s delusion and denial, to see the Empress of Empathy icily hold someone accountable for lying," and the Washington Posts Richard Cohen was so impressed by the confrontation that he crowned Winfrey "Mensch of the Year."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with the Oprah Winfrey Show, on May 25, 2011. Winfrey did not abandon books, however, saying "I'm going to try to develop a show for books and authors," at her new network OWN. In total the club recommended 70 books during its 15 years.
Because of the book club's wide popularity, many obscure titles have become very popular bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
s, increasing sales in some cases by as many as several million copies; this occurrence is widely known as the Oprah effect. Al Greco, a Fordham University marketing professor, estimated the total sales of the 69 "Oprah editions" at over 55 million copies.
The Club has seen several literary controversies, such as Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...
's public dissatisfaction with his novel The Corrections
The Corrections
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium...
having been chosen by Winfrey, and the now infamous incident of James Frey
James Frey
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
's memoir, A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve steps-oriented treatment center...
, a 2005 selection, being outed as partly fabricated. The latter controversy resulted in Frey and publisher Nan Talese
Nan Talese
Nan Talese is an American editor and a veteran of the New York publishing industry.-Career:Talese is Senior Vice President of Doubleday and the Publisher and Editorial Director of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday...
being confronted and publicly shamed by Winfrey in a highly praised live televised episode of Winfrey’s show.
History
The book club's first selection on September 17, 1996 was the recently published novel The Deep End of the OceanThe Deep End of the Ocean
The Deep End of the Ocean is a best-selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard, released in 1996. It is about an American middle class, suburban family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, until he appears at the frontdoor step of his real mother and...
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996...
. Winfrey discontinued the book club for one year in 2002, stating that she could not keep up with the required reading while still searching for contemporary novels that she enjoyed. After its revival in 2003, books were selected on a more limited basis (three or four a year)
Winfrey returned to fiction with her 2007 selections of The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
in March and Middlesex
Middlesex (novel)
Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. The book is a bestseller, with more than three million copies sold as of May 2011. Its characters and events are loosely based on aspects of Eugenides' life and observations of his Greek heritage. It is...
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,...
in June. Shortly after its being chosen, The Road was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
. Winfrey conducted the first ever television interview with McCarthy, a famously reclusive author, on June 5, 2007.
On October 5, 2007 the latest selection was announced as Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez first published in the Spanish language during 1985. Alfred A. Knopf published the English translation during 1988...
, a 1985 novel by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, greatly furthering not only the influence of the author in North America, but that of his translator Edith Grossman
Edith Grossman
Edith Grossman is an award-winning American translator specializing in English versions of Spanish language books. She is one of the most important translators of Latin American fiction in the past century, translating the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel laureate Gabriel García...
. Another work by Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel García Márquez, is a novel which tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia...
, was a previous selection for the book club in 2004.
The last club selection was a special edition of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
and Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
. It had disappointingly low sales figures.
Influence
In Reading with Oprah: The Book Club That Changed America, Kathleen RooneyKathleen Rooney
Kathleen Rooney is an American writer and editor. She was born in Beckley, West Virginia and raised in the Midwest. She earned a B.A. from the George Washington University and an M.F.A. in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College...
describes Winfrey as "a serious American intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
who pioneered the use of electronic media, specifically television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, to take reading—a decidedly non-technological and highly individual act—and highlight its social elements and uses in such a way to motivate millions of erstwhile non-readers to pick up books."
Business Week stated:
Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the Oprah phenomenon is how outsized her power is compared with that of other market movers. Some observers suggest that Jon StewartJon StewartJon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
of Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's The Daily ShowThe Daily ShowThe Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
could be No. 2. Other proven arm-twisters include Fox News's Sean HannitySean HannitySean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
, National Public Radio's Terry GrossTerry GrossTerry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio....
, radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personality Don ImusDon ImusJohn Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
, and CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
. But no one comes close to Oprah's clout: Publishers estimate that her power to sell a book is anywhere from 20 to 100 times that of any other media personality.
In 2009 it was reported that the influence of Winfrey's book club had even spread to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
with picks like A New Earth
A New Earth
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is a book by Eckhart Tolle, a follow-up to his first book and bestseller, The Power of Now. Tolle says "this book's main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in...
dominating Brazil's best-seller list.
The club generated so much success for some books that they went on to be adapted into films. This subset includes The Deep End of the Ocean
The Deep End of the Ocean
The Deep End of the Ocean is a best-selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard, released in 1996. It is about an American middle class, suburban family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, until he appears at the frontdoor step of his real mother and...
and The Reader
The Reader
The Reader is a novel by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, published in Germany in 1995 and in the United States in 1997...
.
At the shows conclusion in May 2011, Nielsen
Nielsen
Nielsen , is a Danish patronymic surname, literally meaning son of Niels, Niels being the Danish version of the Greek male given name Νικόλαος, Nikolaos . It is the second most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 5% of the population. It is also used in Norway, although the form Nelsen and...
created a list of the top-10 bestsellers from the Clubs final 10 years (prior data was unavailable). The top four with sales figures as of May 2011:
- Eckhart TolleEckhart TolleEckhart Tolle is a German-born Canadian resident, best known as the author of the The Power of Now and A New Earth, which were written in English. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world...
, A New EarthA New EarthA New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is a book by Eckhart Tolle, a follow-up to his first book and bestseller, The Power of Now. Tolle says "this book's main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in...
(2005), 3,370,000 copies - James FreyJames FreyJames Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
, A Million Little PiecesA Million Little PiecesA Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve steps-oriented treatment center...
, 2,695,500 copies - Elie WieselElie WieselSir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
, NightNight (book)Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father, Shlomo, in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, at the height of the Holocaust and toward the end of the Second World War...
, 2,021,000 copies - Cormac McCarthyCormac McCarthyCormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
, The RoadThe RoadThe Road is a 2006 novel by the American author Cormac McCarthy.The Road may also refer to:* The Road , a 2001 Kazakhstani film* The Road , a 2009 film adaptation of the McCarthy novel...
, 1,385,000 copies
Critical reception
The Club has had critical commentaries from the literary community.Scott Stossel
Scott Stossel
Scott Stossel is an American journalist and editor. He is deputy editor of The Atlantic magazine, and previously served as executive editor of The American Prospect magazine...
, an editor at The Atlantic, wrote:
- "There is something so relentlessly therapeutic, so consciously self-improving about the book club that it seems antithetical to discussions of serious literature. Literature should disturb the mind and derange the senses; it can be palliative, but it is not meant to be the easy, soothing one that Oprah would make it."
Jonathan Franzen controversy
Jonathan FranzenJonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...
felt conflicted about his book The Corrections
The Corrections
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium...
being chosen as a book club selection. After the announcement was made, he expressed distaste with being in the company of other Oprah's Book Club authors, saying in an interview that Winfrey had "picked some good books, but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one-dimensional ones that I cringe, myself, even though I think she's really smart and she's really fighting the good fight." Franzen added that his novel was a "hard book for that audience." Franzen also felt conflicted about being selected by Winfrey because he was hoping to attract a male audience.
Following the criticism Franzen was uninvited from the televised book club dinner, and he apologized profusely. When Franzen was not invited back, he suggested that perhaps he and Winfrey could still have dinner but not on TV, but Winfrey was all booked up, and her spokesperson said she was moving on.
New York Times Verlyn Klinkenborg
Verlyn Klinkenborg
Verlyn Klinkenborg is an American non-fiction author. Since 1997, he has been a member of the editorial board of The New York Times. His books include The Rural Life, Making Hay, The Last Fine Time, and Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile...
said "lurking behind Mr. Franzen's rejection of Ms. Winfrey is an elemental distrust of readers, except for the ones he designates."
Andre Dubus III
Andre Dubus III
Andre Dubus III is an American novelist and writer of short stories. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.-Early life and career:...
added, "It is so elitist it offends me deeply. The assumption that high art is not for the masses, that they won't understand it and they don't deserve it – I find that reprehensible. Is that a judgment on the audience? Or on the books in whose company he would be?"
Others accused Franzen of sexism asking "Is it misogyny, do you think, or class prejudice, or worse?"
In 2010, Oprah chose another of Franzen's books, Freedom, for her book club. She says that after she read a copy of the book Franzen had sent her with a note, she called the author and gained his permission. Oprah said "we have a little history this author and I", but called the book "a masterpiece", and according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, she "seems to have forgiven the bestselling author after their 2001 kerfuffle".
James Frey controversy
In late 2005 and early 2006, Oprah's Book Club was again embroiled in controversy. Winfrey selected James FreyJames Frey
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
's A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces
A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve steps-oriented treatment center...
for the September 2005 selection. Pieces is a book billed as a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
—a true account of Frey's life as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal. It became the Book Club's greatest selling book up to that point, and many readers spoke of how the account helped free them from drugs as well. But the additional attention focused on Frey's memoir soon led to critics questioning the validity of Frey's supposedly true account, especially regarding his treatment while in a rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
facility and his stories of time spent in jail
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Initially, Frey convinced Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
that the embellishments in his book were of a sort that could be found in any literary memoir; Winfrey encouraged debate about how creative non-fiction should be classified, and cited the inspirational impact Frey's work had had on so many of her viewers. But as more accusations against the book surfaced, Winfrey invited Frey on the show to find out directly from him whether he had lied to her and her viewers. During a heated live televised debate, Winfrey forced Frey to admit that he had indeed lied about spending time in jail, and that he had no idea whether he had two root canal
Root canal
A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. It is part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber , the main canal, and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root.-Root canal anatomy:...
s without painkillers or not, despite devoting several pages to describing them in excruciating detail. Winfrey then brought out Frey's publisher Nan Talese
Nan Talese
Nan Talese is an American editor and a veteran of the New York publishing industry.-Career:Talese is Senior Vice President of Doubleday and the Publisher and Editorial Director of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday...
to defend her decision to classify the book as a memoir, and forced Talese to admit that she had done nothing to check the book's veracity, despite the fact that her representatives had assured Winfrey's staff that the book was indeed non-fiction and described it as "brutally honest" in a press release.
The media feasted over the televised showdown. David Carr
David Carr (journalist)
David Carr is an American journalist and author. He is a media and culture columnist for The New York Times. In his 2008 memoir, The Night of the Gun, he detailed his past experiences with cocaine addiction and includes interviews with people from his past, tackling his memoir as if he were...
of the New York Times wrote, "Both Mr. Frey and Ms. Talese were snapped in two like dry winter twigs." "Oprah annihilates Frey," proclaimed Larry King. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd
Maureen Bridgid Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times and best-selling author. During the 1970s and the early 1980s, she worked for Time magazine and the Washington Star, where she covered news as well as sports and wrote feature articles...
wrote, "It was a huge relief, after our long national slide into untruth and no consequences, into Swift boating and swift bucks, into W
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.'s delusion and denial, to see the Empress of Empathy icily hold someone accountable for lying," and the Washington Posts Richard Cohen was so impressed by the confrontation that he crowned Winfrey "Mensch of the Year."
Oprah's Book Club selections
| Date | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | ||
| September | The Deep End of the Ocean The Deep End of the Ocean The Deep End of the Ocean is a best-selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard, released in 1996. It is about an American middle class, suburban family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, until he appears at the frontdoor step of his real mother and... |
Jacquelyn Mitchard Jacquelyn Mitchard Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996... |
| October | Song of Solomon Song of Solomon (novel) Song of Solomon is a 1977 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It follows the life of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, an African-American male living in Michigan, from birth to adulthood.... |
Toni Morrison Toni Morrison Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved... |
| November | The Book of Ruth The Book of Ruth (novel) The Book of Ruth is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a best first novel in 1988 and was the Oprah's Book Club selection for November 1996.-Plot summary:... |
Jane Hamilton Jane Hamilton Jane Hamilton is an American novelist.Hamilton lives in Rochester, Wisconsin. She grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, the youngest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College in 1979 as an English major. Her first published works were short stories, "My Own Earth" and "Aunt Marj's Happy... |
| December | She's Come Undone She's Come Undone She's Come Undone is a 1992 novel by Wally Lamb which was widely read after being chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in December 1996. Lamb's breakthrough novel was named a finalist for the 1992 Los Angeles Book Awards' Art Seidenbaum Prize for first fiction. Lamb's other novels include I... |
Wally Lamb Wally Lamb Wally Lamb is an American author known as the writer of the novels She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, both of which were selected for Oprah's Book Club.Lamb was born in Norwich, Connecticut... |
| 1997 | ||
| February | Stones from the River Stones from the River Stones from the River is the 1994 novel by Ursula Hegi, and was chosen as an Eagles selection in February 1997. It is about a woman named Trudi Montag who has dwarfism... |
Ursula Hegi Ursula Hegi Ursula Hegi is a German-born American writer.She was born Ursula Koch in 1946 in Düsseldorf, Germany, a city that was heavily bombed during World War II. Her perception growing up was that the war was avoided as a topic of discussion despite its evidence everywhere, and The Holocaust was a... |
| April | The Rapture of Canaan The Rapture of Canaan The Rapture of Canaan is a novel by Sheri Reynolds. The book was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in April 1997.Adolescent Ninah lives in a strict fundamentalist Christian community led by her grandfather Herman... |
Sheri Reynolds Sheri Reynolds Sheri Reynolds is an author of contemporary Southern fiction.She was born and raised in rural South Carolina and lives on Virginia's eastern shore... |
| May | The Heart of a Woman The Heart of a Woman The Heart of a Woman is an autobiography by African-American writer Maya Angelou, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in 1997... |
Maya Angelou Maya Angelou Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly... |
| June | Songs In Ordinary Time Songs in Ordinary Time Songs in Ordinary Time is the 1995 novel by Mary McGarry Morris, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in June 1997.-Plot introduction:... |
Mary McGarry Morris Mary McGarry Morris Mary McGarry Morris is an American novelist, short story author and playwright. In 1991, Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times described Mary McGarry Morris as "one of the most skillful new writers at work in America today" ; The Washington Post has described her as a "superb storyteller" ; and... |
| September | The Meanest Thing To Say | Bill Cosby Bill Cosby William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the... |
| September | A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying is Ernest J. Gaines' eighth novel, published in 1993.-Point of view:The reader is given a unique outlook on the status of African Americans in the South, after World War II and before the Civil Rights Movement... |
Ernest J. Gaines |
| October | A Virtuous Woman A Virtuous Woman A Virtuous Woman is a novel by Kaye Gibbons, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in October 1997.... |
Kaye Gibbons Kaye Gibbons Kaye Gibbons is an American novelist. Her 1987 debut, Ellen Foster, received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and the The Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Prize in Creative Writing from... |
| October | Ellen Foster Ellen Foster Ellen Foster is a 1987 novel by American novelist Kaye Gibbons. It was a selection of Oprah's Book Club in October 1997.-Plot introduction:The novel follows the story of Ellen, the first person narrator, a young white American girl living under unfavorable conditions somewhere in the rural... |
Kaye Gibbons Kaye Gibbons Kaye Gibbons is an American novelist. Her 1987 debut, Ellen Foster, received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and the The Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Prize in Creative Writing from... |
| December | The Treasure Hunt | Bill Cosby Bill Cosby William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the... |
| December | The Best Way to Play | Bill Cosby Bill Cosby William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the... |
| 1998 | ||
| January | Paradise | Toni Morrison Toni Morrison Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved... |
| March | Here on Earth | Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1996 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name... |
| April | Black and Blue Black and Blue (Anna Quindlen novel) Black and Blue is a 1998 novel by Anna Quindlen, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in April 1998. In this novel the main character, Fran Benedetto, suffers through the domestic abuse of her husband and local police officer, Bobby Benedetto. She runs off to Florida with her son,... |
Anna Quindlen Anna Quindlen Anna Marie Quindlen is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist whose New York Times column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for the New York Post... |
| May | Breath, Eyes, Memory Breath, Eyes, Memory Breath, Eyes, Memory is Edwidge Danticat's acclaimed 1994 novel, and was chosen as an Oprah Book Club Selection in May 1998.-Plot introduction:... |
Edwidge Danticat |
| June | I Know This Much Is True I Know This Much Is True I Know This Much Is True is a novel by Wally Lamb, published in 1998. It was featured in Oprah's Book Club in June 1998.-Plot summary:... |
Wally Lamb Wally Lamb Wally Lamb is an American author known as the writer of the novels She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, both of which were selected for Oprah's Book Club.Lamb was born in Norwich, Connecticut... |
| September | What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day is a novel by Pearl Cleage, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in September 1998. The book focuses on a black woman who has moved back to her Michigan hometown following a positive diagnosis for HIV. The novel was Cleage's first.- Characters :*... |
Pearl Cleage Pearl Cleage Pearl Cleage is an African-American author whose work, both fiction and non-fiction, has been widely recognized. Her novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was a 1998 Oprah’s Book Club selection. Cleage is known for her feminist views, particularly regarding her identity as an... |
| October | Midwives Midwives (novel) Midwives: A Novel is a novel by Chris Bohjalian, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in October 1998.-Plot summary:On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an... |
Chris Bohjalian Chris Bohjalian Christopher Aram Bohjalian, who goes by the pen name Chris Bohjalian, is an American novelist. Bohjalian is the author of 14 novels, including New York Times bestsellers Midwives, "Secrets of Eden," The Law of Similars, Before You Know Kindness, The Double Bind and Skeletons at the Feast... |
| December | Where the Heart Is Where the Heart Is (novel) Where the Heart Is is a 1995 novel by Billie Letts. It was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in December 1998. A 2000 film of the same name was directed by Matt Williams, starring Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing.... |
Billie Letts Billie Letts Billie Letts is an American novelist and educator. She was a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.-Family:She was married to professor-turned-actor Dennis Letts until his death in 2008, and is the mother of playwright/actor Tracy Letts, jazz musician/composer Shawn Letts, and Dana... |
| 1999 | ||
| January | Jewel Jewel (novel) Jewel is a novel by Bret Lott, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection.-Plot introduction:The year is 1943 and life is good for Jewel Hilburn, her husband, Leston, and their five children. Although there's a war on, the Mississippi economy is booming, providing plenty of business for the... |
Bret Lott Bret Lott Bret Lott is an American author of novels and short stories. Lott was born in Los Angeles, California, and went to school in the Northeastern United States. He taught creative writing at the College of Charleston for eighteen years, where he was also writer-in-residence.He was editor of the... |
| February | The Reader The Reader The Reader is a novel by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, published in Germany in 1995 and in the United States in 1997... |
Bernhard Schlink Bernhard Schlink Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He was born in Bethel, Germany, to a German father and a Swiss mother, the youngest of four children. Both his parents were theology students, although his father lost his job as a Professor of Theology due to the Nazis, and had to settle on being a... |
| March | The Pilot's Wife The Pilot's Wife The Pilot's Wife : A Novel is a 1998 novel by Anita Shreve. It is chronologically the third novel in Shreve's informal trilogy to be set in a large beach house on the New Hampshire coast that used to be a convent... |
Anita Shreve Anita Shreve Anita Shreve is an American writer. The daughter of an airline pilot and a homemaker, she graduated from Dedham High School, attended Tufts University and began writing while working as a high school teacher in Reading MA. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting, was awarded... |
| May | White Oleander White Oleander White Oleander is a 1999 novel by American author Janet Fitch. It is a coming-of-age story about a child who is separated from her mother and placed in a series of foster homes. The book was a selection by Oprah's Book Club in May 1999 and became a 2002 film.-Plot summary:Astrid Magnussen is a... |
Janet Fitch Janet Fitch Janet Fitch is most famously known as the author of the Oprah's Book Club novel White Oleander, which became a film in 2002. She is a graduate of Reed College, located in Portland, Oregon.... |
| June | Mother of Pearl Mother of Pearl (novel) See Nacre for material produced by mollusks.Mother of Pearl is a novel by Melinda Haynes, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection, June 1999... |
Melinda Haynes Melinda Haynes Melinda Haynes is an American novelist. She grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. For much of her adult life she was a painter. In 1999, she wrote her first published novel, Mother of Pearl, while living in a mobile home in Grand Bay, Alabama. Melinda Haynes currently resides in Mobile, Alabama... |
| September | Tara Road Tara Road Tara Road is a novel by Maeve Binchy. It was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in September 1999.-Plot introduction:It is the story of two women, one from Ireland and one from America, who trade houses without ever having met... |
Maeve Binchy Maeve Binchy Maeve Binchy is an Irish novelist, newspaper columnist and speaker. Educated at University College Dublin, she worked as a teacher then a journalist at The Irish Times and later became a writer of novels and short stories.Many of her novels are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between... |
| October | River, Cross My Heart River, Cross My Heart River, Cross My Heart is a novel by Breena Clarke, and was chosen as an Oprah Book Club Selection October 1999.-Plot introduction:The Potomac River claims the death of the daughter by drowning, and the family leaves their rural North Carolina world in search of a better life among friends and... |
Breena Clarke |
| November | Vinegar Hill Vinegar Hill (novel) Vinegar Hill is a 1994 novel by A. Manette Ansay. It was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in November 1999. It was adapted as a TV movie in 2005, starring Mary-Louise Parker and Tom Skerritt.-Plot introduction:... |
A. Manette Ansay A. Manette Ansay A. Manette Ansay is an American author, born in Lapeer, Michigan.-Fiction:*Vinegar Hill *Read This and Tell Me What It Says *Sister *River Angel *Midnight Champagne *Blue Water... |
| December | A Map of the World A Map of the World A Map of the World is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It was the Oprah's Book Club selection for December 1999. It was made into a movie released in 1999 starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Chloë Sevigny, Louise Fletcher and Marc Donato with a soundtrack by Pat Metheny.- Plot... |
Jane Hamilton Jane Hamilton Jane Hamilton is an American novelist.Hamilton lives in Rochester, Wisconsin. She grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, the youngest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College in 1979 as an English major. Her first published works were short stories, "My Own Earth" and "Aunt Marj's Happy... |
| 2000 | ||
| January | Gap Creek Gap Creek Gap Creek is a novel by Robert R. Morgan, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in January 2000. Gap Creek is a story about a strong young woman trying to make sense of the events in her life; death, marriage and parenthood don't dampen her spirits.WorldCat shows over 2900 copies in US... |
Robert Morgan |
| February | Daughter of Fortune Daughter of Fortune Daughter of Fortune is a novel by Isabel Allende, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in February 2000... |
Isabel Allende Isabel Allende Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful... |
| March | Back Roads | Tawni O'Dell Tawni O'Dell Tawni O'Dell is an American novelist.Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, U.S., she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism... |
| April | The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye is a 1970 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It is Morrison's first novel, written while Morrison was teaching at Howard University and was raising her two sons on her own. The story is about a year in the life of a young black girl in Lorain, Ohio, named Pecola... |
Toni Morrison Toni Morrison Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved... |
| May | While I Was Gone While I Was Gone While I Was Gone is the 1999 novel by Sue Miller, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in May 2000.While I Was Gone was a TV movie for CBS in 2004 based on the novel.... |
Sue Miller |
| June | The Poisonwood Bible The Poisonwood Bible The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver isa bestselling novel about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River... |
Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the former Republic of Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before... |
| August | Open House Open House (novel) Open House was a 2000 novel by U.S. author Elizabeth Berg. It was also an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000.-Plot summary:Throughout the 20 years of her marriage, Samantha Morrow has been content with her life, though she knows it isn't perfect. She has a nice home, a great son, and a husband... |
Elizabeth Berg Elizabeth Berg (author) Elizabeth Berg is an American nurse turned writer, born on December 2, 1948 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, now living in Chicago, earlier in Boston. She studied English at the University of Minnesota, but later ended up with a nursing degree. Her writing career started when she won an essay contest... |
| September | Drowning Ruth Drowning Ruth Drowning Ruth is a 2000 bestselling novel by Christina Schwarz. It was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club in September 2000.It is also being made into a movie. - Plot summary :... |
Christina Schwarz |
| November | House of Sand and Fog House of Sand and Fog (novel) House of Sand and Fog is a 1999 novel by Andre Dubus III. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2000 and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.-Plot:... |
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III is an American novelist and writer of short stories. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.-Early life and career:... |
| 2001 | ||
| January | We Were the Mulvaneys We Were the Mulvaneys We Were the Mulvaneys is a novel written by Joyce Carol Oates and was published in 1996. We Were the Mulvaneys was featured in Oprah's Book Club in 2001.The Mulvaneys, a family living in the small, rural town of Mt... |
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction... |
| March | Icy Sparks Icy Sparks Icy Sparks is a novel by Gwyn Hyman Rubio, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club Selection.-Plot introduction:A young girl struggling with accusations of Tourette's Syndrome lives in Eastern Kentucky in 1956.-Plot summary:... |
Gwyn Hyman Rubio Gwyn Hyman Rubio Gwyn Hyman Rubio is an American author, best known for her novel Icy Sparks.Rubio was born in Macon, Georgia, and graduated from Florida State University in 1971 with a degree in English. She then joined the Peace Corps and spent several years working as a teacher in Costa Rica. After returning to... |
| May | Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail Stolen Lives: Twenty Years In A Desert Jail is an autobiographical book by Malika Oufkir, about a woman who was essentially a prisoner all her life.-Summary:... |
Malika Oufkir Malika Oufkir Malika Oufkir is a Moroccan writer and former "disappeared". She is the daughter of General Mohamed Oufkir and a cousin of fellow Moroccan writer and actress Leila Shenna.... |
| June | Cane River Cane River (novel) Cane River is a 2001 historical novel by Lalita Tademy that was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection. In a blend of fact and fiction, Tademy tells the story of four generations of her slave-born female ancestors — Elisabeth, Suzette, Philomene, and Emily — following their trajectories from the... |
Lalita Tademy |
| September | The Corrections The Corrections The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium... |
Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction... |
| November | A Fine Balance A Fine Balance A Fine Balance is the second book by Rohinton Mistry. Set in Mumbai, India between 1975 and 1984 during the turmoil of The Emergency, a period of expanded government power and crackdowns on civil liberties, this book is about four characters from varied backgrounds—Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji,... |
Rohinton Mistry Rohinton Mistry Rohinton Mistry is an Indian-born Canadian writer in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, originally from Mumbai, Zoroastrian and belongs to the Parsi community. Mistry is a Neustadt International Prize for Literature laureate .-Biography:Rohinton Mistry was... |
| 2002 | ||
| January | Fall on Your Knees Fall on Your Knees Fall on Your Knees is a novel by Canadian playwright, actor and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald. The novel takes place in late 19th and early 20th centuries and chronicles four generations of the complex Piper Family. It is a story of "inescapable family bonds, terrible secrets, and of miracles"... |
Ann-Marie MacDonald Ann-Marie MacDonald Ann-Marie MacDonald is a Canadian playwright, novelist, actor and broadcast journalist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. The daughter of a member of Canada's military, she was born at an air force base near Baden-Baden, West Germany.... |
| April | Sula Sula (novel) Sula is a 1973 novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.-Plot summary:The Bottom is a mostly black community in Ohio, situated in the hills above the mostly white, wealthier community of Medallion. The Bottom first became a community when a master gave it to his former slave... |
Toni Morrison Toni Morrison Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved... |
| 2003 | ||
| June | East of Eden | John Steinbeck John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men... |
| September | Cry, The Beloved Country Cry, The Beloved Country Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by South African author Alan Paton. It was first published in New York City in 1948 by Charles Scribner's Sons and in London by Jonathan Cape; noted American publisher Bennett Cerf remarked at that year's meeting of the American Booksellers Association that there... |
Alan Paton Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed... |
| 2004 | ||
| January | One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel García Márquez, is a novel which tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia... |
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in... |
| April | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is the debut 1940 novel by American author Carson McCullers. Written in Charlotte, North Carolina, in houses on Central Avenue and East Boulevard, it is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia... |
Carson McCullers Carson McCullers Carson McCullers was an American writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South... |
| May | Anna Karenina Anna Karenina Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger... |
Leo Tolstoy Leo Tolstoy Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist... |
| September | The Good Earth The Good Earth The Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. The best selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, it was an influential factor in Buck winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938... |
Pearl S. Buck Pearl S. Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu , was an American writer who spent most of her time until 1934 in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932... |
| 2005 | ||
| June | The Sound and the Fury The Sound and the Fury The Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Published in 1929, The Sound and... , As I Lay Dying, Light in August Light in August Light in August is a 1932 novel by the American author William Faulkner.Light in August is an exploration of racial conflict in the society of the Southern United States. Originally Faulkner planned to call the novel Dark House, which also became the working title for Absalom, Absalom!... |
William Faulkner William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career... |
| September | A Million Little Pieces A Million Little Pieces A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a Twelve steps-oriented treatment center... |
James Frey James Frey James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers... |
| 2006 | ||
| January | Night Night (book) Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father, Shlomo, in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, at the height of the Holocaust and toward the end of the Second World War... |
Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and... |
| 2007 | ||
| January | The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography is an autobiographical work by Sidney Poitier. On January 26, 2007, Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club.-Summary:... |
Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field... |
| March | The Road | Cormac McCarthy Cormac McCarthy Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road... |
| June | Middlesex Middlesex (novel) Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. The book is a bestseller, with more than three million copies sold as of May 2011. Its characters and events are loosely based on aspects of Eugenides' life and observations of his Greek heritage. It is... |
Jeffrey Eugenides Jeffrey Eugenides Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,... |
| October | Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez first published in the Spanish language during 1985. Alfred A. Knopf published the English translation during 1988... |
Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in... |
| November | The Pillars of the Earth The Pillars of the Earth The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. It is set in the middle of the 12th century, primarily during the Anarchy, between the time of the sinking of the White Ship and the... |
Ken Follett Ken Follett Ken Follett is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels. He has sold more than 100 million copies of his works. Four of his books have reached the number 1 ranking on the New York Times best-seller list: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, and World Without End.-Early... |
| 2008 | ||
| January | A New Earth A New Earth A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is a book by Eckhart Tolle, a follow-up to his first book and bestseller, The Power of Now. Tolle says "this book's main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in... |
Eckhart Tolle Eckhart Tolle Eckhart Tolle is a German-born Canadian resident, best known as the author of the The Power of Now and A New Earth, which were written in English. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world... |
| September | The Story of Edgar Sawtelle The Story of Edgar Sawtelle The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel is the first book by American author David Wroblewski. It became a New York Times Best Seller on June 29, 2008, and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club on September 19, 2008... |
David Wroblewski David Wroblewski David Wroblewski is an American novelist whose first novel was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.-Early life:David Wroblewski was born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. He earned his master's degree from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers.-Career:David Wroblewski started his... |
| 2009 | ||
| September | Say You're One of Them | Uwem Akpan Uwem Akpan Uwem Akpan, born May 19, 1971, is a Nigerian Jesuit priest and writer. He is the author of Say You’re One of Them , a collection of five stories published by Little, Brown & Company... |
| 2010 | ||
| September | Freedom | Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction... |
| December | Great Expectations Great Expectations Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times.... , A Tale of Two Cities A Tale of Two Cities A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.... |
Charles Dickens Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic... |