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For those not familiar with my bookclub, we started out with strong intentions of reading the classics (as defined, alas, by a page torn from, well, an airline magazine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.). We were committed, and, I believe, successful. Certain titles excepted. But we continually itched for the newest buzz book (our buzz books sometimes being so-called bestsellers, but sometimes just books released within the past decade). The thing is — and you have to understand I’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird at least fourteen times, learning something new with each reading — there are many great modern books (is this verging too close to editorializing? Well, it’s my blog, and I can editorialize if I want to.) that Oprah’s desire to revisit the classics strikes me as a cop-out. Like she can’t be bothered to find just the right new thing. And it’s not like Carson McCullers doesn’t deserve new readers. It’s just…yeah, I have to say it, that, like my bookclub, Oprah needs to stretch beyond the Greatest Books of All Time lists. Sure, I know she can do whatever she wants, but, hey, people are going to read Mockingbird. But would they have discovered Toni Morrison without a little help from their Oprah?

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