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balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
A fairly balanced analysis of the Oprah's Book Club phenomenon. Rooney examines the high- vs. low-brow debate when evaluating the criticisms launched at the first incarnation of the book club (known as OBC I). She also brings the matter of "truthiness" to the table when looking at the James Frey debacle and how it was handled far differently than the dust-up with Jonathan Franzen. Rooney has a nice style, academic but not boringly so, and she did a great job taking the OBC through its various stages. I was struck by one fact Rooney points out in her criticism that the OBC I discussions tended toward the vapid and overly positive - the audience members at the bookclub taping Rooney attended were not allowed to bring anything into the studio with them, not even the book under discussion (Fall on Your Knees).
I've never been an OBC devotee which is why I wanted to read Rooney's book. I don't really "get" the massiveness of the OBC phenomenon and I was hoping Rooney could shed some light on that (she does). In truth, I have never seen an entire episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show (I watched most of an episode dealing with teen girls and bullies/abuse and the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes was a guest, I think). I am most definitely not Oprah's target audience (I'm not home during the day and don't record daytime TV for later viewing) and really am entirely unaffected by Oprah's magic recommendations. I do admire what Oprah did for reading, I really do - to get so many people to at least purchase a book when adult literacy wan't looking good is an admirable thing. I think on the whole most of the OBC title picks were made up of good books that were overtly readable.
Where Oprah has always driven me nuts is that somehow people turn into sheep when she makes a recommendation - they don't come to the store asking for Faulkner, Steinbeck, Morrison, or McCarthy, they come in asking for "Oprah's book." Come on, it has a title and an author, Oprah didn't write it, and the idea that people blindly start reading the same title en masse has always struck me as a little offputting. So I always made the conscious decision to NOT read a book because Oprah said it was good. I spent at least an hour with a hairdryer peeling the Oprah sticker off The Road (that thing had sticky glue) because I had been planning to buy it on release in paperback and didn't want to look like a sheep. I'm happy to say that my taste overlaps a bit with Oprah (I've read 12 picks and several others have been in my TBR longlist for a while), but she's not my book guru.
Pretty sure Kat is. :P
I've never been an OBC devotee which is why I wanted to read Rooney's book. I don't really "get" the massiveness of the OBC phenomenon and I was hoping Rooney could shed some light on that (she does). In truth, I have never seen an entire episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show (I watched most of an episode dealing with teen girls and bullies/abuse and the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes was a guest, I think). I am most definitely not Oprah's target audience (I'm not home during the day and don't record daytime TV for later viewing) and really am entirely unaffected by Oprah's magic recommendations. I do admire what Oprah did for reading, I really do - to get so many people to at least purchase a book when adult literacy wan't looking good is an admirable thing. I think on the whole most of the OBC title picks were made up of good books that were overtly readable.
Where Oprah has always driven me nuts is that somehow people turn into sheep when she makes a recommendation - they don't come to the store asking for Faulkner, Steinbeck, Morrison, or McCarthy, they come in asking for "Oprah's book." Come on, it has a title and an author, Oprah didn't write it, and the idea that people blindly start reading the same title en masse has always struck me as a little offputting. So I always made the conscious decision to NOT read a book because Oprah said it was good. I spent at least an hour with a hairdryer peeling the Oprah sticker off The Road (that thing had sticky glue) because I had been planning to buy it on release in paperback and didn't want to look like a sheep. I'm happy to say that my taste overlaps a bit with Oprah (I've read 12 picks and several others have been in my TBR longlist for a while), but she's not my book guru.
Pretty sure Kat is. :P
jobinsonlis's review against another edition
3.0
I'm torn when it comes to rating this book because I mostly agreed with the author and that makes me like her because I'm a compulsive narcissist. So I should give her at least a four. However I didn't think that the different pieces of the book fit together very well (especially the epilogue) and I was frankly bored by her tangents about television, politics, and blogs. She would start off with a good point and then beat it to death with her earnestness. Of course the biggest problem could be that I really don't have an opinion about Oprah's Book Club or Oprah herself. I suppose I like her but I don't really think about her at all. The most passion I've ever felt was towards A New Earth, her pseudo-Buddhist pick in 2008, and that passion was largely irritation directed at the publishers for not meeting the huge demand the selection generated. I got really tired of people asking about it.
lirael's review against another edition
4.0
I used to pooh-pooh Oprah's Reading Club like so many others, and now I think it's great that she promotes books and reading. Though after reading this balanced and critical examination of this TV book club, I still think it's positive since Oprah stirs up many dormant readers to read again, but the club has much room for improvement.
This book brings up the issue of highbrow vs. lowbrow culture, the problem of discussing literature through the medium of television, and the Oprah vs. Jonathan Franzen deal.
The author looks at the disturbing way that Oprah projects her own story onto every narrative presented--though she thinks Oprah's selections are generally worthwhile, she is concerned by how Oprah seems to publicly read each book as a self-help guide, and which serves as a poor and one-dimensional model for other readers.
This book brings up the issue of highbrow vs. lowbrow culture, the problem of discussing literature through the medium of television, and the Oprah vs. Jonathan Franzen deal.
The author looks at the disturbing way that Oprah projects her own story onto every narrative presented--though she thinks Oprah's selections are generally worthwhile, she is concerned by how Oprah seems to publicly read each book as a self-help guide, and which serves as a poor and one-dimensional model for other readers.
raehink's review
3.0
Many parts of this book were interesting. I especially liked the discussion about elitist reading...high brow versus low brow culture. I was also intrigued with Rooney's chapter on the impact of television on reading. All in all, pretty good stuff. Decent bibliography too.
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