Literature Oddity
 

Not so odd fact - The Harry Potter book is the number one selling book in the US right now.

Odd fact - The number two selling book is John Steinbeck's "East of Eden."

Does anyone no why?

It's Oprah's first selection for her new book club. It's good to see that she picked an obscure novel by an author no one's ever heard of...

Oprah's book club waned toward the end of its previous run, but judging by East of Eden's success, she's still pretty much a publishing-industry juggernaut. Books chosen for her club usually sold anywhere from 500,000 to one million copies, give or take--this in an industry in which sales in the low five figures are often a wild success. It's cool that she's promoting literature in a country where it's been on the decline for decades, but IMHO it would've been cooler if she'd found some lesser-known writers to publicize.

the good thing about her selection is that maybe it will get people to read something by steinbeck besides "the pearl," "grapes of wrath," and "Of Mice and Men." I teach english and kids rarely stray beyond what's required which is too bad.

Almost every student who has ever read both East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath prefers the former to the latter. Then I get them to read Tortilla Flats and then Winter of our Discontent. Steinbeck is as close to an American Shakespeare as a writer gets. Anything that exposes the american public to good literature gets my seal of approval.

would you rather have her expose us to the latest "Message in a Bottle" or "Where the Heart Is"?

Oh my no. But my point is that Steinbeck's already a well-recognized part of the Great American Canon. He's great, sure, but there are tons of obscure writers who deserve attention (some of whom blow most canonized writers' socks off); what's more, I think that readers deserve to hear about these writers, too.

Part of what cheeses me off about Oprah is that when she ended her club's first incarnation, she said, "it has just become harder for me to find books on a monthly basis that I am really passionate about." Maybe she was just burned out, but if she was serious, then she simply wasn't looking hard enough. Check out the Review of Contemporary Fiction or Rain Taxi or BookForum, et al., for reviews of tons of great books, many of them by writers who count themselves lucky if they sell a thousand copies.

At the same time, I agree that better Steinbeck than many/most of her previous choices. Ultimately I wish she were more adventurous, but one must walk before one runs, etc.

I would bet a significant amount of money that at least half of American adults with a high school education have read Steinbeck's work. The Grapes of Wrath was required for every level of Sophomore English in my high school, I also read it in middle school English.

if oprah says read it, the US does?! whatever lol

My favorite is Travels with Charlie.

shit, i gotta burn my copy if all the oprah fans are readin' it. death to oprah.

That's really too bad that his books are now part of the 'soccer mom coffee klatsch' thing she's doing. I've enjoyed averything of his that I have read, and hate to think that these sycophants are reading the same things I enjoy. On the upside, I somehow think that she won't be tackling and Ayn Rand anytime soon (insert sycophant joke here.)

At least she is getting those average, american housewifes (not to offend any Oprah fans who don't fall in that category..yeah you 2 over there) to read the classics and maybe move away from Harlequin romances.

Actually, after the kerfuffle over the last author in her previous book club (the one that told her to take a leap) she will probably concentrate on dead authors, as they tend to not be publicity seekers.