I recommend that you read this

Oprah’s recent decision to scale back her “Book of the Month” club selections must have sent shock waves through the world of housewives and people addicted to mail-order catalogues. “B…b-but who will tell me what to read NOW?!” they protested, rushing for their USA Today, People magazine and Reader’s Digest.

It had to end sooner or later. Personally, I’m glad that it has. Since 1996, Oprah’s bedtime reading list dominated national fiction and non-fiction sales (and movie box-offices, considering how many of them were made into films and television features). Despite some genuinely worthy nominations, like Ernest Gaine’s “A Lesson Before Dying,” her books were often sensationalistic epics that assaulted the emotions and became templates for any author who wished to succeed in the literary world.

Come on. Nobody should have that much power over what people think.

However, there are aspects of the demise of Oprah’s club that give me pause. First, consider the state of literacy in the United States – at 97 percent, we stand below a lot of European nations, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, adults spend only 91 hours a year reading. (We spend 17 times that amount watching television!) A 1999 Gallup poll shows that 60 percent of Americans read 10 books or less a year. The theory is that as long as people are reading something, even if it isn’t Anna Karenina, we should be grateful. And as much as I hate to admit it, Oprah’s club got people reading. Just ask Warner books, which raked in $50 million simply because of The Televised One’s blessing. Perhaps we really do need somebody shoving books in our faces, shouting “Read! Read!”

Still, I find Oprah’s comment that “it has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis” ludicrous. The United States publishes about 60,000 books a year; within that statistic are countless titles and authors that deserve recognition they probably will never get. Personally I think there’s no feeling comparable to “discovering” a great book, just by spending a few hours browsing Half-Price. And would it have killed Oprah to have recommended something in an unfamiliar genre, such as science-fiction, or an older novel that deserves to be repopularized?

The whole “recommended reading” thing irks me. I find it hard enough to want to read some of the things professors assign me in class. I can’t imagine living my whole life being told what to read – especially by someone who takes pride in the fact that, spelled backwards, her name is exactly the same as that of a famous Marx brother.

I suppose I shouldn’t begrudge those of you that find worth in Oprah’s selections. It is for you people that the “Today” show has recently announced it will pick up Oprah’s book recommendation calling. As for me, I recommend that you turn off the television set and go somewhere that encourages you to think for yourself – the library.