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Reading Oprah: How Oprah's Book Club Changed the Way America Reads
An analysis of how Oprah's Book Club has changed America's reading habits.
Oprah's Book Club sparked a revolution among readers by bringing serious contemporary novels to the attention of a wider audience. The Oprah's Book Club seal on a book led to instant fame and bestseller status for authors—but, how did Oprah change the way America reads and values books? Reading Oprah suggests that Oprah initiated an all-important mantra—trust readers. Not only did the public start reading accessible novels, but they also would snatch up formidable titles and read them with a growing confidence and skill. Then, they would talk about them, giving them a life beyond the reader and text.
“Cecilia Konchar Farr offers the first serious, scholarly examination of the phenomenon of Oprah’s Book Club, which―like it or not―has had a profound influence on the reading habits of American women. Her book is an enjoyable, thought-provoking read … Clearly feminist in her approach, Farr is also widely read, and she scrupulously documents the many sources she draws on in her ultimately persuasive argument that―as the book’s subtitle indicates―Oprah and her Book Club have changed the way America reads.” — Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association
“Farr’s study is … personal, … she offers a[n] … effective demonstration of the huge role that the club has played in breaking down readers’ reliance on cultural authorities to tell them what is good.” — CHOICE
"…excellent study of an exceptional media phenomenon … In an engaging personal voice that draws on the theories of a range of cultural critics, Farr considers the meaning of middlebrow literature, the history of the novel, immigration and literacy, class, self-improvement and democracy in America and how Oprah mapped a new public space in which a 'conversation with books' became possible for millions of viewers normally excluded from the rarified world of scholarship." — Publishers Weekly
“…Farr doesn’t just present an airtight defense of Oprah’s Book Club as a positive cultural force; she also takes on the Western canon and the critics who create and sustain it … As … Farr sees it, Oprah’s greatest sin, in the eyes of these critics, is her commitment to getting books into the hands of the masses … and encouraging them not only to talk about books as if they matter, but as if their own lives matter, too … [The author] … presents her views in an eminently rational, plainspoken, and impeccably informed voice. If this is how a reading-group alumna … expresses herself, it’s impossible not to regard such groups … as a positive development in America’s intellectual life, and especially in the lives of women. And it’s difficult not to give Oprah some long-overdue props for her impressive achievement.” — Bitch
"This is the first account of Oprah's Book Club I have read to take seriously Oprah's role as a teacher. Farr shows, through detailed comparisons with her own work as a college teacher, that Oprah was teaching the skills, craft, and pleasures of reading."— from the Foreword by Elizabeth Long, author of Book Women and the Uses of Reading in Everyday Life
"Farr demonstrates compellingly that Oprah's Book Club is the 'reading revolution' Toni Morrison claimed it was. In her very engaging account of the Club, Farr enacts what she calls the 'joys of the talking life of books.' Reading Oprah promises to change the way literature is taught in the academy." — Elizabeth A. Flynn, author of Feminism Beyond Modernism
Oprah's Book Club sparked a revolution among readers by bringing serious contemporary novels to the attention of a wider audience. The Oprah's Book Club seal on a book led to instant fame and bestseller status for authors—but, how did Oprah change the way America reads and values books? Reading Oprah suggests that Oprah initiated an all-important mantra—trust readers. Not only did the public start reading accessible novels, but they also would snatch up formidable titles and read them with a growing confidence and skill. Then, they would talk about them, giving them a life beyond the reader and text.
“Cecilia Konchar Farr offers the first serious, scholarly examination of the phenomenon of Oprah’s Book Club, which―like it or not―has had a profound influence on the reading habits of American women. Her book is an enjoyable, thought-provoking read … Clearly feminist in her approach, Farr is also widely read, and she scrupulously documents the many sources she draws on in her ultimately persuasive argument that―as the book’s subtitle indicates―Oprah and her Book Club have changed the way America reads.” — Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association
“Farr’s study is … personal, … she offers a[n] … effective demonstration of the huge role that the club has played in breaking down readers’ reliance on cultural authorities to tell them what is good.” — CHOICE
"…excellent study of an exceptional media phenomenon … In an engaging personal voice that draws on the theories of a range of cultural critics, Farr considers the meaning of middlebrow literature, the history of the novel, immigration and literacy, class, self-improvement and democracy in America and how Oprah mapped a new public space in which a 'conversation with books' became possible for millions of viewers normally excluded from the rarified world of scholarship." — Publishers Weekly
“…Farr doesn’t just present an airtight defense of Oprah’s Book Club as a positive cultural force; she also takes on the Western canon and the critics who create and sustain it … As … Farr sees it, Oprah’s greatest sin, in the eyes of these critics, is her commitment to getting books into the hands of the masses … and encouraging them not only to talk about books as if they matter, but as if their own lives matter, too … [The author] … presents her views in an eminently rational, plainspoken, and impeccably informed voice. If this is how a reading-group alumna … expresses herself, it’s impossible not to regard such groups … as a positive development in America’s intellectual life, and especially in the lives of women. And it’s difficult not to give Oprah some long-overdue props for her impressive achievement.” — Bitch
"This is the first account of Oprah's Book Club I have read to take seriously Oprah's role as a teacher. Farr shows, through detailed comparisons with her own work as a college teacher, that Oprah was teaching the skills, craft, and pleasures of reading."— from the Foreword by Elizabeth Long, author of Book Women and the Uses of Reading in Everyday Life
"Farr demonstrates compellingly that Oprah's Book Club is the 'reading revolution' Toni Morrison claimed it was. In her very engaging account of the Club, Farr enacts what she calls the 'joys of the talking life of books.' Reading Oprah promises to change the way literature is taught in the academy." — Elizabeth A. Flynn, author of Feminism Beyond Modernism
178 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Cecilia Konchar Farr
12 books5 followersCecilia Konchar Farr is Dean of the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at West Liberty University where, in addition to leading as dean, she teaches, researches, and writes about popular literature and the history of the novel. She is author of The Ulysses Delusion: Rethinking Standards of Literary Merit and Reading Oprah and editor of several essay collections, including A Wizard of Their Age and the newly published Open at the Close: Literary Essays on Harry Potter.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2007
This is an interesting little book. Even though it's written by a full professor (at St. Catherine's College in St. Paul, Minnesota), it seems almost like a dissertation. A really good dissertation, but a dissertation. I think the short length is part of the reason, but part of it is also Farr's willingness to take up a topic that, as she admits, more "serious" scholars have avoided.
And, she thinks (and so do I), avoided to their detriment. Oprah's Book Club has been an amazing force, and one worth studying. Farr does a great job of it, too, associating the Book Club not only within contemporary American consumer and talk show culture, but within the history of the novel and the book group as well. She's obviously done her homework, making insightful comments both on the books that have been chosen and on the shows that were dedicated to them, and I agree with 99% of the insights she provides.
She also provides, as an appendix, a complete list of the books Oprah took on in the first six years (her "regular" book club, before she started with the classic stuff she's doing now). She analyzes the choices and argues that many of them are good books, no matter what any book club critic says. She goes into the Jonathan Franzen incident as well, and unsurprisingly comes out on Oprah's side.
One criticism I do have is that Farr didn't spend as much time as I'd have liked answering the book club's critics. When she did, she rightly pointed out the classism in their criticism, and touched on the racism, but shyed away from the gendered element, at least more than I thought she should have. She does point out how many of the books Oprah chose are from female authors, previously unknown authors, and minority authors, though, which is good.
For anyone who is interested in Oprah's Book Club, the history of the novel, or just reading a short, well-done cultural study, I'd recommend this one.
And, she thinks (and so do I), avoided to their detriment. Oprah's Book Club has been an amazing force, and one worth studying. Farr does a great job of it, too, associating the Book Club not only within contemporary American consumer and talk show culture, but within the history of the novel and the book group as well. She's obviously done her homework, making insightful comments both on the books that have been chosen and on the shows that were dedicated to them, and I agree with 99% of the insights she provides.
She also provides, as an appendix, a complete list of the books Oprah took on in the first six years (her "regular" book club, before she started with the classic stuff she's doing now). She analyzes the choices and argues that many of them are good books, no matter what any book club critic says. She goes into the Jonathan Franzen incident as well, and unsurprisingly comes out on Oprah's side.
One criticism I do have is that Farr didn't spend as much time as I'd have liked answering the book club's critics. When she did, she rightly pointed out the classism in their criticism, and touched on the racism, but shyed away from the gendered element, at least more than I thought she should have. She does point out how many of the books Oprah chose are from female authors, previously unknown authors, and minority authors, though, which is good.
For anyone who is interested in Oprah's Book Club, the history of the novel, or just reading a short, well-done cultural study, I'd recommend this one.
February 12, 2014
Farr, an English college professor, provides insights into the debate between literary and popular value and questions the old school that insists anything not on "the list" or written within the last 100 years isn't true literature. She defends Oprah as a teacher who challenges her viewers and shows them the joys of reading, not only classic, but novels one can relate to, appreciate, and learn from. Book clubs have grown in huge numbers. I just joined one myself and can appreciate the social enjoyment of discussing shared books with friends.
December 9, 2022
An interesting study of Oprah's Book Club, book clubs in general, and the study of novels. Also an interesting reflection on the Oprah Book Club backlash (i.e. books lose credibility with some literature elites after Oprah has included them in her book club).
January 18, 2008
See my blog post on it:
http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.co...
http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.co...
Want to read
June 5, 2009Oprah is the Queen of bookclubs, and I want to understand how she does it!
November 14, 2011
Great read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews