Welcome back, Oprah!

Oprah's book club 2.0 has debuted with Wild, a beautifully written memoir about a woman's solo hike down the Pacific Crest Trail.   I enjoyed the book, and I'm really digging the 2.0, which includes webisodes and author Q and A's.

 Oprah's name is all too often a dirty word in book circles.  I have known people to refuse to buy a book with an Oprah cover, and Jonathan Franzen made headlines in 2001 for implying that his book was not for "that sort of people" after it was chosen (the offer was rescinded).  This attitude, typical for any niche group who sees their culture become mainstream, makes me ashamed of MY sort of people.  This article makes people like me, who enjoy literature and have read many of the classics, look downright intolerable.  Since when were we supposed to "show people how to read"?  I'm sorry, I didn't know we were all English teachers, with John Grisham and James Patterson fans as our unwilling students.  Puh-leaze.

I like Oprah for the same reason I love Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and, begrudgingly, Twilight.  They bring books into the mainstream.  Now we can talk about reading without worried about being pelted with spitballs. That was not the world I grew up in.  As I lead another group of elementary schoolers to a selection of books and watched them eagerly pick through them, I thank my lucky stars that things have changed.

We book people like to tell ourselves that we are smarter than the masses because we read literature (and keep Mr. Grisham hidden in the bathroom).  When Oprah pushes Tolstoy to #1 on the bestseller list, our self image is challenged.  This causes us to deride one of the most powerful women in the book world for dumbing down literature.  For shame.  It is never a bad thing to read.  Even if it's (gulp) Anne Coulter.  Which, in Oprah's case, it's not.  She leads people towards more insightful works, and brings under appreciated authors into the limelight.  I would argue that Mr. Franzen is a bit over appreciated, but that's beside the point.

I believe that everyone can enjoy reading, and should.  Reading stimulates the imagination, and we could all do with a little more of that.  I think that no matter what people read, they learn something with every book.  So welcome back, Oprah.  Keep 'em coming!