Would Like to Read
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
2007
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
2006
2005
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Light in August by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
2004
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
2003
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2002
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
2001
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
2000
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
Open House by Elizabeth Berg
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell
Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
1999
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Jewel by Bret Lott
1998
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
1997
The Best Way to Play by Bill Cosby
The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby
The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby
A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
1996
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
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3 comments:
Just saw this at Diane's, too. I've actually read 29 of them - loved her classics selections, A Fine Balance, The Corrections and Wally Lamb's books. Anybody that can sell Faulkner to the masses is pretty amazing!
I know it's popular to knock Oprah book selections, but she does highlight some really good stuff. I wouldn't choose a book because Oprah selected it, because there are some duds on that list. (Pillars of the Earth garnered one of the snarkiest reviews I've written on my blog.) And I think in the late 90s, her selections did skew toward sad, sentimental women's fiction of varying quality. But still, to dismiss Oprah books altogether seems silly. Love in the Time of Cholera is one of my personal favorites, and there are plenty of other books on that list that I liked quite a lot and others that I want to read.
JoAnn: I agree! If she can get people reading difficult classics, more power to her!
Teresa: I think you sum up her picks pretty well. "Sad, sentimental women's fiction" does describe quite a few of her selections, doesn't it? (Ugh - I can't stand that stuff.) But if you're someone who doesn't read much, Oprah's a pretty good place to start.
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