Oprah's Book Club at Goodreads discussion

Oprah has launched what she is calling "Oprah's Book Club 2.0" She picked a brand new book for her book club called Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

I don't think there is a set time that everyone will be reading the book. The only date I could find on her website is when the interview will be airing on TV with the author which will be on OWN's Super Soul Sunday on July 22, 2012 at 11am ET. To find OWN on TV, visit http://www.oprah.com/own.

This group will be reading this book for all of June, but if you can't join us in June, the thread will still be open in July or whenever you get a chance to read this book.

Part of what makes this book club different is the twitter interaction that you can participate in if you want to. You can follow the official book club twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/OprahsBookClub and tweet with the tag #oprahsbookclub to see what everyone is saying. (If anyone wants a brief intro to twitter I am happy to help :)

This one sounds really good and I'm going to try and squeeze it in my reading schedule this month. Who else is going to read it?

Oh and one more thing - you can get an interactive ebook of Wild that has Oprah's notes in it and a reading guide. If you don't get the ebook version, you can still see her notes and the reading guide at this link:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/E...

So I'm going to read this one this month. It looks like a less exotic Eat Pray Love :) Anyone else going to read it?

I am definitely going to read it!! I just downloaded it on my Kindle. I'm so glad she's back!! I've missed her show and the book club shows were my favorite, so I'm really excited!

Jessica wrote: "So I'm going to read this one this month. It looks like a less exotic Eat Pray Love :) Anyone else going to read it?"
I am reading it now and loving it. It
is not really like Eat Pray Love but cerainly raw at times. I think it will be on my 2012 favorites.

I currently reading Wild. I am finding it difficult to like Cheryl Strayed, but it is inspiring me to want to go backpacking at some point.

I read "Wild" awhile ago. It was a good story, but I had a hard time understanding Cheryl. The danger of an inexperienced hiker taking off alone on a trail that has been too demanding of experienced hikers seems irresponsible to me. I suppose if I was younger I would think it to be more "adventurous".

Dawn I completely agree. I halfway through think that she is irresponsible and isn't truly growing emotionally or spiritually. I feel like she survived much more on luck and the kindness of strangers than her own personal growth and maturity.

I am currently reading "Wild", I immediately downloaded the book as soon as Oprah announced her new book for the next book club. Although I am enjoying the read, I too am finding Cheryl's irresponsibility in her pursuit of such an awesome endeavor simply immature verses a spiritual quest, but then I still have much to read, I may change my mind by the end of the book. :).

PS. Thank you Jessica for posting the link. :)

You're welcome Lorraine! Tell me if it gets better at the end. I haven't started it yet. I'm waiting for it to come in at my library.

I am wondering about the comparison to Eat, Pray, Love. I am not a fan of the latter, but I guess I will have to read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail before I can comment.

Lesley - I haven't read Wild yet and the only reason I compared it to Eat Pray Love was because in both books they both travel and learn something on the journey. That's probably where the similarities begin and end if you're worried.

Yeh I think you're right, maybe they are the only similarities. I do intend to read it someday soon, but would prefer to borrow. I don't think it has made it to the state library system here yet.

I LOVED this book!! Not only was it inspiring, I found it educational as well. I've never been out west so the author's descriptions of the PCT and her surroundings made me feel I was there with her. I found her bravery and honesty commendable. I loved her stories of all the people she met, her struggles, her thoughts throughout the long journey. It was simply a FANTASTIC read!

I just finished this book and I can agree with Cheryl being irresponsible in the beginning. But as the book moves on she learns a lot. It's a great book and I loved it. Her honesty is great and she doesn't hide how little she knows. Makes me want to hike.

I finished reading "Wild" and I'm so glad I read it, although I questioned the first half of the book by the end I can Ttuely say I enjoyed it. Reading "Wild" made me reflect upon how we as individuals struggle with grief and to 'voice' to our higher selves.

Cool! I'm so glad so many of you liked it. It just came in at my library and I'm going to read it next :)

"I was not meant to be this way, to live this way, to fail so darkly."

Hard core and honest. So far, these words describe my thoughts on Cheryl Strayed's memoir, Wild. Many authors take their honesty to a level that is inappropriate in order to cultivate a shock effect in readers. After all, we know that sex sells and the more that an author can shock you by being grotesque or semi-pornographic the more likely you will get sucked in to purchase their product.
This book is not like that. Strayed's honesty is a deep pouring out of emotion in order to be completely truthful and confess even the most awful to begin healing. As Cheryl begins her hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, not only is her body being battered mercilessly by the heat, terrain, and wild animals, but her mind is being tested as only one who is alone in the wild and learning to survive can understand. However, for the first time since her mother dies, Cheryl feels at peace with something and the need to destroy everything has left her. Instead of fleeing to escape from herself and everything else too, Cheryl finds a home and a place of solitude each time she steps foot on the trail.
Cheryl's downward spiral began with the death of her mother and in her grief Cheryl sets into motion her path of self destruction. In an effort to find whatever is missing from her life she engages in random sex and at one point she even begins to dabble in heroine use. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband divorce, she recklessly sells everything she owns, and sets out on the trail with her pack fully loaded . It is at this point that Cheryl acknowledges to herself that the life she was living is not the life what she was meant to live. Like everybody else, she had had a normal life and a normal existence, yet she wound up in this very deep, dark and lonely place- an abyss- that left her reeling and disoriented from it's ferocity.
As she becomes saturated with the life of a hiker her hurts begin to heal, her confusion dissipates and along the way, she finds a version of herself that she didn't know was hidden within.

Awesome description Megan.

One thing I loved with her writing was how she wrote about keeping score with her lost toenails. And even though she could fix her boots and herself she kept up with the score. And just having lost one toenail myself to too small shoes I know how it hurts....