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Oprah Winfrey's Book Club
In the News 11/18/99
Oprah was honored last night by the National Book Awards ceremony at the Marriott Marquis in New York for her contribution in increasing the national interest in reading.

Oprah's November Pick

Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay

The Amazon review reads...

'This month's books In "Vinegar Hill" Ansay paints a searing portrait of the Midwest's dark side, of a rural culture infected with despair and ruled over by an unforgiving God. Yet she does hold out a grain of hope, too. Just as Ellen seems permanently entangled in familial desperation, she makes a surprising discovery about James's long-dead grandmother--a woman whose rebellious spirit inspires Ellen to rescue herself and her loved ones from the impinging darkness. This late-breaking redemption doesn't cancel out the preceding unhappiness: "Vinegar Hill" remains a tough, uncompromising tale, one that requires some fortitude to read. But those with the heart for it will be rewarded with fine, spare prose and a hopeful ending. --Alix Wilber '

Oprah's October Pick

Since last month's newsletter never went out here is Oprah's last month pick.

River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke

Amazon's Review

" River, Cross My Heart" is set in the African American community of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., circa 1925. Breena Clarke's debut is a superb piece of storytelling--and a powerful meditation on tragedy and redemption....

Bits of wisdom like this are the book's charm. Most remarkable are the church scenes, which Clarke renders almost purely in the give-and-take of voices: the booming preacher's sermon ("The people we love, we only borrowing them"), and the congregation's "Praise Jesus, Amen" exclamations. The author based her novel on stories passed down in Georgetown--tales of that area's first black churches, founded when people decided they wanted their own place of worship, and implicitly their own God. In church, the novel takes flight; history loses its gravity and is absorbed by grace. --Emily White
September 1999

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

Against all odds, two newlyweds manage to buy the house of their dreams. In 1982, property speculation is beginning to be a big, big thing in Dublin--and their street is very much in an up-and-coming part of town. "They laughed and hugged each other. Danny Lynch from the broken-down cottage in the back of beyond and Ria Johnson from the corner house in the big, shabby estate were not only living like gentry in a big Tara Road mansion, they were actually debating what style of dining table to buy." But for its various inhabitants, the street is to become a boulevard of dreams--some broken, others created anew. Maeve Binchy has long proved herself a
secure hand at multiple story lines, and over the course of 500 satisfying pages, she focuses on Ria; her best friend, Rosemary Ryan, a beautiful, endlessly selfish career woman; Gertie, the battered wife of a drunkard; and several other intriguing women, each of whom has secrets not to be shared. There is even an all-knowing fortune teller who early on hints that Ria will travel and start a successful business--two things she knows are definitely not in the offing.

Previous Oprah Winfrey Picks
May 1999

White Oleander : A Novel by Janet Fitch

April 1999
The Pilot's Wife : A Novel by Anita Shreve

March 1999
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, Carol Brown Janeway (Translator)

January 1999

Jewel by Bret Lott

November 1998

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

October 1998

Midwives: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian - "In midwives, author Chris Bohjalian chronicles the events leading up to the trial of Sybil Danforth, a respected midwife in the small Vermont town of Reddington, on charges of manslaughter. It quickly becomes evident, however, that Sibyl is not the only one on trial--the prosecuting attorney and the state's medical community are all anxious to use this tragedy as ammunition against midwifery in general."
September 1998 Selection by Oprah

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage

May 1998 Selection
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

April 1998 Selection
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

June 1998 Selection
I Know this Much is True by Wally Lamb. [ Click here to read more ]

Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Paradise by Toni Morrison. Once again Toni Morrison delves into the issues of race and gender.
The Best Way to Play: Little Bill Books for Beginning Readers
The Treasure Hunt: Little Bill Books for Beginning Readers
The Meanest Thing to Say: Little Bill Books for Beginning Readers
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons
A Lesson Before Dying (Vintage Contemporaries) by Ernest J. Gaines. This is the story of a reluctant teacher taking on the difficult taks of turning a kid on death row into a man before he is executed.
Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
Stones from the River by Hegi, Ursula
The Rapture of Canaan
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

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