Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
$9.60 [ Order East of Eden Paperback ]
Note: Oprah has cancelled the Book Club. We are sad.
This spellbinding novel opens as March Murray returns to Jenkintown, Massachusetts, to attend a funeral. March's journey home is spurred on by more than the death of her beloved housekeeper, however. After nearly 20 years, she still yearns for Hollis, the love of her youth. March leaves her husband and immerses herself in her renewed love, her obsession keeping her from seeing the violent abusive man Hollis has become. At once erotic, romantic, and disturbing, Here on Earth will haunt its readers long after they arrive at the novel's distressing end.
$19.51 [ Order Here on Earth ]
The tale centers around the brutal attack of four women in a convent in the all-black town of Ruby, Oklahoma. Set in the 1970s, but reaching back to Reconstruction, the women's stories are interwoven with Ruby's history.
$15.00 [ Order Paradise ]
Oprah chose not one but two novels, both by Kaye Gibbons. Ellen Foster is a marvelous slice of southern life, narrated by a canny 11-year-old. In A Virtuous Woman, Gibbons paints a portrait of a tumultuou yet oddly enduring marriage.
$9.00 [
Order Ellen Foster ]
$10.00 [
Order A Virtuous Woman ]
A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Cajun community in the late 1940's. Jefferson, a young black man, is an unwitting party to a liquor store shootout in which three men are killed; the only survivor, he is convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
"Powerfully evokes in its understated tone the 'new wants' in the 1940's that created the revolution of the 1960's. Earnest J. Gaines has written a moving and truthful work of fiction." --- New York Times Book Review
$12.00 [ Order the Paperback ]
Oprah's summer reading recommendation is truly a delicious summer treat. Songs In Ordinary Time is a novel set in 1960 about Marie Fermoyle, divorced woman raising three children. Her daughter is 17 and involved with a priest, her older son is a 16 year-old temper filled idealist, and her younger son wants, more than anything, for his mom to be happy. Marie gets involved with a dangerous con man, Omar Duvall, which further adds to this compelling story about this family.
"Songs in Ordinary Time is deep and thick as a long, hot summer, a fully realized world ... wrought with fearless detail ... the narrative of a town reminiscent of the collective ache of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." --- The Boston Globe
$12.95 [ Order the Paperback ]
$24.95 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$5.50 [ Order the Paperback ]
Oprah's May, 1997 Book Club choice is filled with unforgettable vignettes of famous people- from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X, but perhaps the most important is the story of Maya Angelou's relationship with her son. Because this book chronicles, finally, the joys and burdens of a black mother in America and how the son she had cherished so intensely and and worked for so devotedly finally grows to be a man.
$22.95 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$12.00 [ Order the Paperback ]
Oprah's April, 1997 Book Club choice is a compelling story of a 14 year old girl named Ninah, living in an isolated southern town, trying to resolve what she hears at the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God`s Almighty Baptizing Wind and her own private desires with her prayer partner James. She soon finds out that she's pregnant but denies the sin of fornication; she believes that a holy child will be born unto her and she will not deny her feelings. The events that follow in the book are unpredictable and magical than even the Church members could imagine...
Quote: "The story compels...Reynolds has an imagination that takes the reader into what feels like the world of a teen-age girl trying to make peace with the world and with God." -- Richmond Style Weekly
$26.00 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$13.00 [ Order the Paperback ]
A story of a group of individuals' lives in a fictional town in Germany that
spans both wars, from 1915-1952. Narrated by dwarf-protagonist and town
gossip, Trudi Montag, Stones From The River tells the story of every day
life during very difficult times in Germany. As the narrator passes on
stories, some true and some not, she begins to see how others remain silent
even in light of knowing untruths and how the seeds of complacency were
planted for the reality of the Holocaust to have occurred. Author Ursula
Hegi, through her heroine Trudi, demands that we all take a look at personal
accountability and how we, as individuals, can only heal by taking
responsibility.
Quote: "What a novel is supposed to be: epic, daring, magnificent, the product of a defining and mesmerizing vision ... It is, in a word, remarkable." -- Michael Dorris, Los Angeles Times
$23.00 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$14.00 [ Order the Paperback ]
Another of Oprah's favorites, follow the story of Delores Price, an engaging
and hilarious women, from age 4 to 40. Like a true survivor, she manages to
get through deep despair through laughter. A liberating read!
Quote: "A heroine to cheer for .... This supremely touching journey to adulthood may remind you of "The World According to Garp" and other sagas of emotional liberation." -- Glamour
$18.95 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$11.95 [ Order the Paperback ]
A story of a simple woman in simple surroundings whose life is threatened by
strong and destructive forces. Although odds are against Ruth she never
quite gives up. By the same author of A Map of the World, Jane Hamilton
also brings to light in this novel another character whose reserves of
strength are surprising yet undeniable.
Quote: "Ms. Hamilton gives Ruth a humble dignity and allows her hope - but it's not a heavenly hope. It's a common one, caked with mud and held with gritted teeth. And it's probably the only kind that's worth reading about." -- New York Times Book Review
$18.95 [ Order the HardCopy ]
$11.95 [ Order the Paperback ]
A rich and magical novel that takes its readers through 4 generations of an
African American family. Accompany Macon Dead, Jr (Milkman) on his journey
to the promise of buried gold and the buried truth about his family's
heritage. You'll find lots of mysteries and revelations and beautifully
written cast of unforgettable characters.
Quote: "Toni Morrison has created a fanciful world here -a universe where ghosts exist, where a dead man's bones are kept in the living room, where a young woman dies of heartbreak, and a grown man will himself to fly....She has an impeccable sense of emotional detail. She's the most sensible lyrical writer around today." -- Philadelphia Inquirer
Looking for Oprah's email address? (Many are!) As you can imagine- given Oprah's visibility, popularity, and wealth- it would not make sense for her to be available via email. She does not have an email address. She would be flooded! There is only one way we know of to attempt to contact her (other than traditional means via the regular postal mail) and that is via America Online (AOL) at the keyword oprah.
You can write her regular postal mail via: Harpo Productions, P.O. Box 909715, Chicago, IL 60607
