Oprah's Book Club

17 Stories

Oprah Winfrey Makes Book Club's 100th Pick

Club has endured through many changes

(Newser) - 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? "When I don’t...

Death Row Inmate Is Author of Oprah's New Book Pick

Winfrey selects 'That Bird Has My Wings' by Jarvis Jay Masters

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has selected a prison memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters, currently on death row in San Quentin State Prison in California, for her latest book club pick. Masters' That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row was first published in 2009. Activists for...

Oprah Gives Teen Author 'Surprise of a Lifetime'

Leila Mottley, 19, is youngest-ever Book Club pick

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has chosen 19-year-old Leila Mottley's Nightcrawling, a debut novel about a young Black woman from East Oakland and her battles with poverty, racism, and the police, for her next book club pick. A spokesperson for Winfrey said Mottley is the youngest author ever selected for Oprah’s...

Oprah's Book Club Pick Links Racist South, Nazis

'Caste' by Isabel Wilkerson 'could change the way we see each other'

(Newser) - If not for the coronavirus, Oprah Winfrey tells the AP , she'd be out in the streets and marching with the Black Lives Matter protesters. She has instead found other ways to add her voice. She's working with Lionsgate on a multimedia adaptation of the New York Times' "...

Oprah's New Book Club Pick Proves Controversial
Oprah's New
Book Club Pick
Proves Controversial
in case you missed it
Jan 26, 2020 6:33 AM CST

Oprah's New Book Club Pick Proves Controversial

'American Dirt' criticized for inauthentic portrayal of Mexican migrants

(Newser) - One of the most highly anticipated books of 2020 is out. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, a selection of Oprah Winfrey's book club, follows a middle-class Mexican bookseller as she journeys to the US with her son after her journalist husband is killed by a drug cartel. "From...

He Didn't Commit Crime He Was Jailed For. Now, the Oprah Nod

Winfrey picks memoir by Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for 30 years, for book club

(Newser) - Anthony Ray Hinton, wrongly imprisoned for nearly 30 years, can hardly believe how his luck has changed. Hinton's memoir, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, is Oprah Winfrey's latest book club pick, a dream for virtually any writer and beyond the...

Oprah 2.0? Zuckerberg's First Book Club Pick Sells Out

The paperback version of his first pick has already sold out on Amazon

(Newser) - Two years after vowing to meet a new person a day, and a year after resolving to pen a thank-you note every day, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now committing to reading a book every other week in 2015. The first one he chose, The End of Power, is already...

Oprah Launches New Book Club Next Week

This time, it will have a digital component

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey is back in the book club business, updated for the digital age. "Oprah's Book Club 2.0," a joint project of Winfrey's OWN network and her O magazine, begins Monday with the popular memoir Wild, Cheryl Strayed's story of her 1,100-mile hike...

Oprah Mends Fences With Novelist Who Dissed Her
 Oprah Mends Fences With 
 Novelist Who Dissed Her 
book club pick
Sep 16, 2010 10:52 AM CDT

Oprah Mends Fences With Novelist Who Dissed Her

Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom' lands coveted book club slot

(Newser) - Nine years after Oprah Winfrey chose Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections for her book club, and the "uncomfortable" novelist talked his way out of appearing on her show, he's getting another chance, reports the New York Post . The media magnate's people won't confirm the Oprah's Book Club selection—likely the...

Oprah Picks Short Story Collection for Book Club

Nigerian author writes about African children

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has blessed the book world's eternal underdog: the short story. Publishing's surest hitmaker yesterday picked Uwem Akpan's debut collection, Say You're One Of Them, guaranteeing sales generally unthinkable for short stories beyond works by Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever and other giants of the art form. Akpan, 38, is...

More Americans Reading Fiction: NEA

Study indicates literary decline might be reversing

(Newser) - The percentage of Americans reading fiction has increased for the first time in years, a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates. The reported 50.2% of the population who picked up a book for pleasure marks a turnaround from a statistical decline in literary culture over...

Obama Owes Her Big Time
Obama Owes Her Big Time
Nov 6, 2008 2:07 PM CST

Obama Owes Her Big Time

Winfrey's endorsement gave candidate huge boost, especially during primaries

(Newser) - As an early backer of Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey may have made the difference in the close primary contest against Hillary Clinton, Jake Tapper writes for ABC’s Nightline. One statistician estimates Winfrey—whose choices for her book club, for example, have an astronomical impact on book sales—delivered between...

10 Writers Who Turn Books Into Bucks
 10 Writers Who Turn 
 Books Into Bucks 
GLOSSIES
Oct 4, 2008 2:43 AM CDT

10 Writers Who Turn Books Into Bucks

Top earner JK Rowling made $300 million off Potter franchise in past year

(Newser) - So you think people don't read books anymore? Tell that to JK Rowling, No. 1 on Forbes' list of top-earning authors. The woman behind the Harry Potter juggernaut raked in $300 million in the past year, thanks in part to the movies based on her books—which have sold 375...

Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle
 Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle 
Sep 19, 2008 1:55 PM CDT

Oprah's Book Pick: Sawtelle

Publisher pressing 750,000 more copies

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey made The Story of Edgar Sawtelle her latest book club pick today, Publishers Weekly reports. The debut novel by David Wroblewski is about a mute boy who communicates best with his dogs. It's been a best-seller since its June release, and publisher Ecco is set to produce another...

James Frey Returns, Like It or Not

Nonfiction fantasist's new novel will be on sale soon

(Newser) - James Frey regrets nothing. In an interview with Vanity Fair to promote his new novel, Bright Shiny Morning, the author discusses the 2006 controversy regarding his "memoir," A Million Little Pieces, and how he was vilified by the media and humiliated by Oprah Winfrey. "I've said all...

I Like Ike, Says Spector, But I Hate His Enemies

Eulogy takes aim at Tina, Oprah, others

(Newser) - Phil Spector gave an impromptu and rambling—but highly entertaining—eulogy at pal Ike Turner's funeral in which he took potshots at Tina, Oprah, Whoopi, and even Eric Clapton, Fox News reports. Spector glorified Turner—“Ike could play circles around Eric Clapton and Eric knew it”—and vilified...

How Much Will Oprah's Support Help Obama?

Unlike her book club, if she likes him, fans might just not buy in

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey's formidable power of endorsement is well known: Long-neglected books become instant bestsellers when she announces she likes them, reports the New York Times. But as she hits the campaign trail, the daytime diva will see whether voters will scoop up Barack Obama as quickly; or as skeptics say,...

17 Stories