I also want to mention that I loved the Oprah book club selection from the past-I think I read over 80% of them. My book club is even called the "Oprah type book club"! But the past few years-basically since 2007 have been very disappointing!!
To be specific: (my comments in GREEN)
2010
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - pretentious
2009
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan - still on hold at the library so no comment YET
2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - terrible!!!
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle -terrible-I know this book was meaningful to a lot of people but I just could not see why!
2007
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - okay this was fantastic
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez - terrible-the movie was awful too
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - also fantastic
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I totally did NOT get this book!!
The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier - I read it but it was not memorable
Oprah-what happened??
I can only comment on Freedom , Pillars of the Earth and A New Earth. On Freedom: I am currently reading it and it has taken me awhile to try and understand what the heck is going on!! I am going to stick it out cause I think I'm far enought into it so that it makes a little more sense. Oprah, Oprah, Oprah what makes this book be good enough for you?? On Pillars of the Earth, this was a huge book to read and I mean quantity of pages huge, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe it to be a Classic. On a New Earth: I loved this book, but its ideas are very abstract to begin with, but the more you read it the more it makes sense, and I have read this book twice , the only book in my life that I have read twice. It helped me change the way I look at others and myself, and I will probably read it again!
ReplyDeleteI think I am not going to buy the latest books that Oprah chooses right away anymore, I will wait until they either become available at the Library or in cheap paperback form!
I am commenting again on "Freedom"by Jonathan Franzen. I am on page 225 and am totally bored by this book and feel bad because I paid for it!!I feel a little bit better today as I read in Sat. Nov. 6 The Globe and Mail in the Book Section Leah McLeans'comments on Freedom. She hits the nail on the head!!! It is total Banality and with that being said I still don't understand how Oprah can push a book like this! It is just plain awfull. Don't buy It!!!
ReplyDeletethat was better than me-I made it to page 82 when I finally gave up!!
ReplyDeleteI borrowed "Freedom" from the library and I don't think I completed more than 20 pages. It was dreadful.
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