I "Just Say No" to Oprah (Well, Sort Of)

I have a couple of confessions to make.

The first is that I'm not, and have never been, an Oprah fan.  I am certainly not a hater or anything like that.  I just find Oprah to be at the pinnacle of our "celebrity society" in that people feel that they need to buy what Oprah buys, see movies and listen to music that Oprah likes and read books that Oprah suggests.

The second confession is that I have never read an Oprah Book Club Selection.  I've read books that have become Oprah Book Club Selections (if you haven't read it, I strongly recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy).  My wife, who is an avid Oprah fan, suggested that I read A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.  [I'm not a big self help book kind of guy.  I'm pretty set in my ways.  Even if I need help, I'm unlikely to seek or implement it unless necessary.  Plus, have you seen how the author spells his name?  OK, is the "h" silent or not?  Why is the "c" there at all--serves no purpose.  And don't get me started on the last name.  He either doesn't need the two "l"s or the "e."]  I actually bought the book at Costco (aka, the most wonderful place on earth--like it how I worked "earth" back into this??) and tried to read it.  I gave it a valiant effort for almost ten whole minutes.

Which brings me to last week's "big announcement" of Oprah's newest book club selection:  Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan [is it me or does he look like Joe Morgan?].

I see nothing inherently wrong with the Oprah Book Club.  In fact, I think that it's likely that a number of adults started to read books for pleasure or accelerated the pace of their pleasure reading as a result of Oprah's selections.

I'm just not one of them.

Do not, for a second, think that I think that I am above our "celebrity centric" culture.  I am absolutely not.  I care way too much about who famous people are dating.  I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly.  I read my wife's People magazine (it's a single poop mag while, for me, Sports Illustrated takes days of poops).  I begrudgingly do not hate the pop music my daughters listen to.  I do not watch reality tv shows--not because I am above it but because I fear, nay I know, that each and every one of them will suck me in like the spineless entertainment jellyfish that I am.


I don' t "know" Oprah.  Her selections are "one size fits all."  That's ok, I would probably like all of her [non self-help] selections.  I, in fact, have liked all of her selections that I actually read.


But I definitely have a reluctance to read her books, buy her products, eat her foods, watch her movies [I can't stand Tom Cruise any more--the whole scientology "attitude" (I have NOTHING against scientology or any other religion--just don't preach to me, ok?  And I won't preach to you) doesn't help].  She cannot possibly be that all-knowing, can she?


Well, some people think she is.  And some people are just suckers.  My wife wants to buy her new selection.  If she reads it and likes it, I'll probably read it also.  Ok, ok, I am one of those suckers.