Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "oprah"

By Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Scribe of Lake Charles

I wasn't a regular viewer of Oprah's show since it ran while I was at work. But I liked her. She was phenomenal starring in the 1985 film The Color Purple. Now my mother was a hard-core fan who tuned in everyday.

I know authors who would give their left arm to have gone to Chicago and appeared on her show when she did the book club thing. That plum gig assured you of good fame and fortune. Did Harpo Productions ever invite on genre writers to be her show's book guests?

So, it looks as if the intelligent TV talk shows are going the way of the buffalo. That's a royal shame. Maybe Oprah will return in a different project.

But take heart, dear viewer. Yesterday while fixing couscous for dinner, I happened to catch her rerun on TV. Just think of how many taped shows she has in the vault for keeping up the reruns.

Remember when Oprah ran her book club? A well-known celebrity encouraged their audience to read books. Be still my heart. So, I decided to check out Oprah's Book Club reading list and see how many of her recommendations I'd read, or which of her books I might like to read for pleasure down the pike.

You can view her complete reading list here: http://tiny.cc/z0wpp

Well, I've read her two William Faulkner titles selected in 2005, Light in August and As I lay Dying. Both Faulkner titles were read in my school days. He isn't an author you read for fun.

From 2000, I see Robert Morgan's Gap Creek, a title on my to-read list. On the other hand, her pick Jewel by Brett Lott from 1999 was a DNF for me. (I've read other books by Mr. Lott and liked them.)

1997 was a banner year for Oprah and me. Reading Ernest J. Gaine's A Lesson Before Dying was a treat. Moreover, I've always had a desire to read Kate Gibbon's Ellen Foster, so I'll move her near the top of my list.

1996, it looks, was the first year Oprah began her book club readings, and I'm not going into the Jonathan Franzen fiasco. Who knows? Perhaps Oprah will do another book club on whatever new shows she decides to do.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey