Take a look at this article, Novelists beg Oprah: Help us, please! and then come back. Read it? Good. Time to rant.

I'm so angry I don't even know where to begin. Actually, I do. Let me begin by saying that I think Oprah is a lovely person who has done a lot of good over the years. Personally, I don't think her book club was one of them. I know that some would consider that heresy what with me being a librarian and all, but that's how I feel. I've had a love/hate relationship with Oprah's book club (both modern and classic) ever since she started one in 1996. As someone who has worked in libraries in either a paraprofessional or professional position, I saw the number of people who came through the door to get the latest Oprah pick. Great, right? I mean, who isn't happy to see patrons who rarely grace our libraries with their presence walk through the door. So thank you, Oprah, for getting people off their booties and in to their local libraries and book stores. But wait, just wait. I saw other things as well.

I saw my library being forced to purchase multiple copies of books that our patrons had not been previously interested in, books our trained collection development people did not think would be right for our collection/patronage. I saw our fiction collection being driven by not what the majority of our patrons would be interested in reading, but by what one woman thought they should be reading. I saw many of these patrons return these chosen titles a little confused, not quite sure what all the fuss was about but still trusting in Oprah. I also saw many of these patrons leave my library empty handed, only willing to return once the great O had revealed what the golden book was. I wasn't happy with what I saw, but I wasn't angry (yet). I rationalized to myself that people were coming through the doors, and that was enough. Maybe in the future they would lift their heads up, look around, and see that the library had other great books to offer them for their reading enjoyment.

But then Oprah crossed a line and lost me. In a snit because one author didn't want to be an Oprah pick, she ended her club by saying, "It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share." Hmmm...... What could I possibly say to that? The words "Bite me, Oprah" come to mind. You can't find one book on a monthly basis that you feel compelled to share? That's weird. I have no problem finding books on a weekly basis that I feel compelled to share. Maybe you just weren't looking hard enough.

And now we have this letter from a group of literary authors with their hands out to Oprah. You can read the letter in its entirety here. Reading it got me even more stirred up. What offends me as a librarian and as a reader is this statement:

When you established The Oprah Winfrey Book Club in 1996, you did something very bold, something that no one else has done. You declared that every person -- anyone who could turn on a TV set -- could be part of the literary world and enjoy it. You declared that anyone could like good books.

Really? Everyone could like good books, not just the crap they had been reading before they had Oprah's wisdom to guide them? Hallelujah! Saved from the misery of reading of all the garbage out there. It's about time someone approached Oprah and got her to right this wacky, wacky world. To the authors that signed this letter, shame on you. Shame on you for making a judgment against what readers are reading today instead of literary fiction. Everyone has their own personal reading taste. I'm sorry that literary fiction is in a bit of a slump right now, but you aren't the only genre out there experiencing this problem. Reading tastes are cyclical. What one person enjoys reading today they may not want to read three months from now.

Also, I find it very offensive that this letter also appeals to Oprah to do it for the readers. The authors need your help Oprah, but really it's all about the readers. They're lost without you, and their literacy is at risk. Puh-leez. As I librarian, I don't care what people are reading as long as they are reading. This letter is offensive to me, to readers, and to authors outside of the literary fiction world.

My class is suppose to read literary fiction in a couple of weeks, and right now I'm so mad I could cancel that section and pick something else. I won't though. I recognize that all books, even ones I don't personally enjoy reading, have their merits and appeal to some segment of readers and as librarians it is my job and the job of my students to understand and respect that. Gee, wouldn't it be nice if authors could do that as well?

--------------------------------------------------------------------