Oprah's Book Club
Jan. 18th, 2006 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pen_gruntThere are very few things in life that piss me off to the point of continually (and uncontrollably) ranting about them. Generally I don't feel strongly enough about most issues in life to blather on about them to near-complete strangers and such--but there are exceptions. Most of the rant-inducing things are logical (i.e. politics, religion, the usual suspects...) but some of these things just aren't.
Oprah's Book Club.
Ahh, Oprah's Book Club--the antithesis of reading for the right reasons. I suppose it makes sense that I should feel strongly about it since I'm fairly passionate about books, reading and literature in general. Oprah's friggin book club. To me, Oprah's book club is like having a favorite little coffee shop that you share with your friends, enjoy, spread by word of mouth, etc. It's comfortable, always there, and there's a little bit of guilty pleasure in the fact that you "discovered" it and it's your little place in the world. Then some huge celebrity visits your quiet little town and your coffee shop. This celebrity has vast, inexplicable power over the masses--particularly 40-50 year old stay-at-home something-or-anothers. This celebrity advertises how quaint, comfortable and enjoyable your coffee shop is. All of a sudden, the coffee shop that you savored alone has become over-run with people that hang out all day and sing in adulation. Oh come all ye faithful indeed. It's a selfish kind of hate to go up against Oprah's book club, after all, who am I to deny the pleasure of reading "my" particular book to the masses?
This month's book club "selection" is Elie Wiesel's "Night." This book is a classic, and most of us were assigned this book at some point during high school or college. Those that hadn't had the sense or the assignment to read it were blissfully in the dark. I might slither up to them and whisper in their ears "Night" while they were pondering what to read next. Now millions of housewives worldwide are reading "Night". . . together.
Since when did reading need a support group--except mayhaps for those of us who do nothing but, or abuse our eyes with over-reading? When Oprah picked Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (after which one of my cats--Karenin--is named, by the way) for her book club it was taking away my favorite book. It was no longer okay for me to like "Anna Karenina" because every time I would mention it, someone else would pipe up with their opinion--straight from Oprah's quasi-intellectual book discussion episode. Honestly, if only Oprah started spouting more useful messages, we could really make the world DO things. . . . but I digress. I do advocate for general literacy, by the way, and I think it's an overwhelmingly GOOD thing that otherwise non-reading adults are starting to pick up BOOKS again. But how many of those people STOPPED picking up books when Oprah went on a book club hiatus and said that there "just weren't any books out there that captured her attention."? Reading is more than a journey--a story is a journey, and picking out a book is a journey. Half the fun of picking out a new book is discovering something in yourself that is reflected in what type of book you chose. Having a book recommended to you is not a bad thing, but reading soley based on the personal tastes of one other person is both limiting and condescending to one's own ability to read and DISCOVER literature.
I won't buy books with the Oprah's book club seal on them--even if they're cheaper, even if they're hardcover, even if they have gold-gilded edges and a ribbon book marker that I enjoy oh-so (too) much. What would my children say when I pass the books onto them--"wow, my mommy was one of the masses....but she wasn't old enough to be an Oprah-tic in 2006. . . I'm confused." I currently own a tattered, much-read copy of "Night" (and "Anna Karenina" of course) and I do have people ask me about it in the context of Oprah's book club, as if the book never existed before Oprah muttered its name on National TV. Authors are plucked from obscurity (or classic fame) and thrust out into the paperback digesting masses. Lucky for them I suppose (they probably appreciate the paycheck) that is, if they can stomach it.
On an unrelated note, I'm currently reading George R.R. Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" Series (or is it Ice and Fire? I forget) It's fabulous--any fantasy fans should read it. *winks*
--Missy
Oprah's Book Club.
Ahh, Oprah's Book Club--the antithesis of reading for the right reasons. I suppose it makes sense that I should feel strongly about it since I'm fairly passionate about books, reading and literature in general. Oprah's friggin book club. To me, Oprah's book club is like having a favorite little coffee shop that you share with your friends, enjoy, spread by word of mouth, etc. It's comfortable, always there, and there's a little bit of guilty pleasure in the fact that you "discovered" it and it's your little place in the world. Then some huge celebrity visits your quiet little town and your coffee shop. This celebrity has vast, inexplicable power over the masses--particularly 40-50 year old stay-at-home something-or-anothers. This celebrity advertises how quaint, comfortable and enjoyable your coffee shop is. All of a sudden, the coffee shop that you savored alone has become over-run with people that hang out all day and sing in adulation. Oh come all ye faithful indeed. It's a selfish kind of hate to go up against Oprah's book club, after all, who am I to deny the pleasure of reading "my" particular book to the masses?
This month's book club "selection" is Elie Wiesel's "Night." This book is a classic, and most of us were assigned this book at some point during high school or college. Those that hadn't had the sense or the assignment to read it were blissfully in the dark. I might slither up to them and whisper in their ears "Night" while they were pondering what to read next. Now millions of housewives worldwide are reading "Night". . . together.
Since when did reading need a support group--except mayhaps for those of us who do nothing but, or abuse our eyes with over-reading? When Oprah picked Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (after which one of my cats--Karenin--is named, by the way) for her book club it was taking away my favorite book. It was no longer okay for me to like "Anna Karenina" because every time I would mention it, someone else would pipe up with their opinion--straight from Oprah's quasi-intellectual book discussion episode. Honestly, if only Oprah started spouting more useful messages, we could really make the world DO things. . . . but I digress. I do advocate for general literacy, by the way, and I think it's an overwhelmingly GOOD thing that otherwise non-reading adults are starting to pick up BOOKS again. But how many of those people STOPPED picking up books when Oprah went on a book club hiatus and said that there "just weren't any books out there that captured her attention."? Reading is more than a journey--a story is a journey, and picking out a book is a journey. Half the fun of picking out a new book is discovering something in yourself that is reflected in what type of book you chose. Having a book recommended to you is not a bad thing, but reading soley based on the personal tastes of one other person is both limiting and condescending to one's own ability to read and DISCOVER literature.
I won't buy books with the Oprah's book club seal on them--even if they're cheaper, even if they're hardcover, even if they have gold-gilded edges and a ribbon book marker that I enjoy oh-so (too) much. What would my children say when I pass the books onto them--"wow, my mommy was one of the masses....but she wasn't old enough to be an Oprah-tic in 2006. . . I'm confused." I currently own a tattered, much-read copy of "Night" (and "Anna Karenina" of course) and I do have people ask me about it in the context of Oprah's book club, as if the book never existed before Oprah muttered its name on National TV. Authors are plucked from obscurity (or classic fame) and thrust out into the paperback digesting masses. Lucky for them I suppose (they probably appreciate the paycheck) that is, if they can stomach it.
On an unrelated note, I'm currently reading George R.R. Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" Series (or is it Ice and Fire? I forget) It's fabulous--any fantasy fans should read it. *winks*
--Missy
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Date: 2006-01-25 07:54 am (UTC)The "A Song of Ice and Fire" series is outstanding. I picked up the most recent, A Feast for Crows, and burned through it in 2 days. I cannot wait for the next. Amazing series, amazing depth of both the world he imagines and the characters that fill it.