Oprah Winfrey reflects on book club, announces 100th pick
The Oprah Winfrey book club has reached 100 picks
NEW YORK (AP) — For her 100th book club pick, Oprah Winfrey relied on the same instincts she has drawn upon from the start: Does the story move her? Does she think about it for days after? In a work of fiction, do the characters seem real to her?
“When I don’t move on, that’s always a sign to me there’s something powerful and moving,” Winfrey told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview.
On Tuesday, she announced that she had chosen Ann Napolitano’s “Hello Beautiful,” a modern-day homage to “Little Women” from the author of the bestselling “Dear Edward.” The novel was published Tuesday by Dial Press, a Penguin Random House imprint, and Winfrey believes its themes of family, resilience and perspective give “Hello Beautiful” a “universal appeal" that makes it a proper milestone.
A Winfrey pick no longer ensures blockbuster sales, but it retains a special status within the industry; for authors, a call from Winfrey still feels like being told they've won an Oscar. Winfrey told AP that she is in “awe” of the club and its history, “the very notion” that someone might go and buy a copy of “Anna Karenina” or a little known book simply because she suggested it.
