When you think of celebrity book clubs, it’s likely that Oprah Winfrey’s is among the first ones that come to mind.
Oprah’s Book Club has been a pivotal part of the literary world since it was founded by the talk show host and philanthropist, 70, in 1996. Winfrey first got the idea for the club when she learned that an intern at the The Oprah Winfrey Show shared her love of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel The Color Purple. The two began to exchange books, until the intern suggested that they should expand the club and literary discussions to the show itself.
For 15 years, Oprah’s Book Club was included as a discussion segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and helped launch many books to bestseller status. After a brief hiatus in 2002, it now spotlights books that Winfrey chooses on a limited basis and has featured over 100 selections. Oprah’s Book Club aims to share books that “engender conversation, spark enlightenment, help launch emerging authors, and reacquaint us with the already prominent,” according to Oprah Daily.
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From classics to memoirs and the hottest new contemporary fiction, Winfrey has picked a wide range of titles over the years. Read below for the 2024 selections of Oprah’s Book Club.
‘Familiaris’ by David Wrobleswki
Blackstone Publishing
The sequel to Wrobleswki’s bestseller The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, this ambitious novel follows John Sawtelle, who embarks on a fresh start in the Wisconsin woods in 1919. Joined by his wife, their two friends and a trio of dogs, John and his companions come to depend on each other while learning to adapt to the strangeness of their new home.
‘Long Island’ by Colm Tóibín
In 1976, Irish immigrant Ellis Lacey, whom readers might recognize from the author’s novel Brooklyn, is now a wife and a mother to two teenagers. When Ellis learns that her husband, Tony, has gotten another woman pregnant — and that the woman’s husband plans to leave the baby with Ellis — her decisions reverberate throughout this emotional novel that Winfrey calls “deeply emotional.”
‘The Many Lives of Mama Love’ by Lara Love Hardin
Simon and Schuster
In this stunning memoir, the author, a mother and wife, is convicted of 32 felonies after paying to feed her heroin addiction by stealing money from her neighbors. During her time in prison, Hardin became known as “Mama Love” to her fellow inmates, and, following her release, she reflects on her journey of survival, forgiveness and redemption.
“‘Once you start reading, be prepared, because you won’t want to stop,” Winfrey said of the book.
