Would you trust this woman with your summer reading?
I was talking to a friend today who mentioned that she was planning to give away some books. She has a lot of science fiction, some random books on Africa, and a few crappy Oprah books.
“Crappy Oprah books?” I asked. Of course, she was talking about the Oprah book club thing, where Oprah whispers the name of a book and the author can suddenly afford caviar for breakfast.
I don’t watch Oprah, I don’t pay attention to Oprah, and I don’t care what book she’s chosen for her club. But I have noticed that she’s chosen some pretty good stuff. Not crap at all.
I had a look at the books she’s picked over the last twelve years, and here are the ones I’ve read:
Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi. I thought it was pretty good. I’d never read about a german dwarf before, and I still remember the word, “Zwerg” (German for dwarf). Points for originality, first of all. Not crap.
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail, by Malika Oufkir. Easy to read. Compelling story line (especially for nonfiction). Downright good book. Not crap.
As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury, both by Faulkner, of course. Hated them both. I generally hated any Faulkner I came across in college, so I don’t specifically remember what I hated about these two. I know I read them both. Still, would people call it crap?
Night, by Elie Wiesel. Not crap. For one thing, it’s only, like, four pages long. I read bedtime stories to my one year-old that last longer. So that’s an automatic plus.
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Excellent book. Playful and witty writing plus a fascinating story line. Super-non-crap.
That’s it. I’m not even going to talk about all the books that were beloved and well-known before Oprah gave them a new audience. Just from the ones I’ve personally read, I think she’s ok.
I see The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen, on her list. It’s also on my bookshelf, but I’ve been avoiding it because it’s long and I’ve got this feeling that it’s more clever than I want to bother with right now.
But I can tell that it can tell that I’m avoiding it. And Oprah liked it, right? So maybe I’ll give it a shot.
I had a very hard time with The Corrections. It is dark and disturbing. And shows how ugly illness is. I was reading it on the plane when I met a hilarious old lady. She had a degenerative disease and needed help getting into her seat, so I thought she was a frail old lady, but once she started talking to me, she had me cracking up the whole flight. She told me that she was told by doctors that she couldn’t have babies. She said she told her husband they weren’t going to stop trying until he had one. He had apparently helped write one of the Military interrogation manuals. She said she made sure to get a copy before they married so whenever he tried to pull something on her, she’d say, “uh, uh, uhhhh… I know that trick, chapter 4, section 9.” True or not, she was entertaining. She basically told me I was going to send her the book when I was done and wrote her address in it. Her husband had died of Alzheimer’s I told her she wouldn’t like it. We kept in touch over IM and indeed, she didn’t like it.
You’ve reminded me of a reason I’ve been avoiding it. I don’t want to spend my reading time being depressed about accurate and detailed accounts of disease.
So I guess I’ll keep avoiding it and Oprah can do what she will.
Glad to be of service. Disease sucks. No one should have to read about it in their spare time. The other book I place in the same category as The Corrections is “She’s Come Undone.” Once again, disturbingly uncomfortable. I’d give that one a miss, too, if you get the chance.