Reading with Oprah

Adored by its fans, deplored by its critics, Oprah s Book Club has been at the center of arguments about cultural authority and literary taste since it began in 1996. Reading with Oprah explores the club s revolutionary fusion of books, television, and commerce and tells the engaging and in-depth story of the OBC phenomenon.Kathleen Rooney combines extensive research with a dynamic voice to reveal the club s far-reaching cultural impact and its role as crucible for the clash between high and low literary taste. Comprehensive and up-to-date, the book covers the club from its inception in 1996, through the Jonathan Franzen contretemps, the surprising suspension in 2002, and, after the club s return in 2003, the progression from great books to memoir. New material includes an extensive look at the James Frey scandal and Oprah s turn to contemporary fiction, including The Road and Middlesex.Through close examination of Winfrey s picks and personal interviews with book club authors and readers, Rooney demonstrates how the club that Barbara Kingsolver calls one of the best possible uses of a television set has, according to Wally Lamb, gotten people of all ages to read, to read more, and to read widely. First edition published in 2005.