Oprah's Book Club: Her 8 Most 'Flashlight Worthy' Recommendations (PHOTOS)

Here at Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations -- a website of hundreds of lists of the very best books -- we're going to miss Oprah. Over the last 14 years she's not not only encouraged people to read -- but to read good books. Great books, even.

But there's great... and there's flashlight worthy. You know, flashlight worthy -- those books that keep you up well after you should've turned out the light... reading just one more chapter... just one more page... just one more paragraph.

To save you the trouble of reading all 66 of Oprah's selections, we've narrowed down her choices to what is, in our opinion, the 8 most flashlight worthy page-turners. You can't really go wrong with any of them. (Ok, well, maybe one of them isn't for everyone.)

When you're done with these, drop Oprah a line and ask her for more recommendations. If, by some chance, you don't hear back from her, head on over to Flashlight Worthy. Our Book Club Recommendations and Fiction categories should fill the void left by Ms. Winfrey's departure.

1 of 8

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides

1 of 9

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

The story of a troubled teen, this book keeps you up all night by slowing the movement of time more and more. 30 years pass in the first section. Then 20 more years in the next section. Then a year passes. Then a summer passes. Then a month passes. Then a week. Then a day. Trust me, you'll be up all night.

The Queen and the U.S.A.: The Future of the Special Relationship

Self-Diagnosis Book: 11 Nasty Ailments You Might Have (PHOTOS)

14 Ambitious Amateurs Who Made It Big (PHOTOS)

7 Sex Myths Debunked

On the Resurgence of Occupy Wall Street: Five Must-Read Books

Eating Badly: 7 Consequences Of Fast Food

The story of a troubled teen, this book keeps you up all night by slowing the movement of time more and more. 30 years pass in the first section. Then 20 more years in the next section. Then a year passes. Then a summer passes. Then a month passes. Then a week. Then a day. Trust me, you'll be up all night.

comments(35)

Total comments: 35 | Post a Comment

1 of 9

 

Follow Peter Steinberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/flwbooks

Comments

[WritingRetreats]

11:59 PM on 09/21/2010

I have to recommend Robert Boswell's Heyday of Insensitive Bastards for this list. Anyone else?

[ReesieKitty]

04:19 PM on 09/21/2010

I see a lot of people here knocking Oprah's book club, picks, general fitness to wield such literary might, etc. In a way, I have to agree, because I don't think some of the book club books have been very good over the years and there are always more books out there that DON'T get the audience they deserve. BUT-

I think the real achievement of the Oprah Book Club that we can agree upon is that it has gotten people to read more than they were reading before. I'm not talking about those of us who are always reading something- but people who didn't know what to pick and possibly- believe it or not- had never really discussed a book in their lives picked up what Oprah had recommended, shared it with others and discussed it. And that is a valuable thing, no matter who started it or how it came about IMO.

[garyd63]

09:39 PM on 09/21/2010

I couldn't agree more, RK. On a related matter, have you known people in book clubs who just can't come up with selections? I have. From Harlequins and James Patterson to Oprah was a revelation to many readers. They don't check the NYT list and recommendations each Sunday as some of us do. (Often to our consternation.) Oprah has been a nice aid to those who don't (at least at first) trust their own taste and have decided not to stick with the books stacked in the front of the store or classics read back in their college days.

[CenaW]

11:02 PM on 09/21/2010

If Oprah's got millions to read Middlesex that is worth a lot of uppity literary snobs holding their noses at her.

[garyd63]

12:20 AM on 09/21/2010

Oprah has chosen at least three of the novels of the Nobel laureate, Toni Morrison. She also chose Bernard Schlink’s demanding “The Reader.” Two of Jane Hamilton’s moving novels, were Oprah selections. Works by the remarkable Joyce Carol Oates were chosen. Franzen’s “Corrections” won prize after literary prize. His public rejection of the Oprah award (well, half rejection, the Oprah seal is on my copy of his novel) garnered him another prize, “Bad Winner of the Year.”

A senior editor of the “Washington Post Book World” section sniped at Oprah by making reference to “Oprah’s readocracy.” There’s plenty of fear and loathing wrapped up in that coinage. He should think about what, or if, those citizens of “Oprah’s readocracy” would be reading without her
Book Club.

[And Aerows, if you are still haunted by "The Book of Ruth" you are only experiencing the weight of art filling the hollows left by the feel good pap of our culture. Jane Hamilton captures darkness in her novel. You should thank her for showing you that the art of literary fiction is more than a day at the beach.]

[RhiannonRings]

05:55 PM on 09/20/2010

I really liked Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone."

[Philly219]

12:54 PM on 09/22/2010

Great book. I'm currently reading "This Much I Know is True". I love how Wally Lamb writes. Gonna order his new one right now with an Amazon gift certificate.

[RhiannonRings]

01:29 PM on 09/22/2010

I didn't know he had a new one, thanks for the heads-up!

[Aerows]

11:47 AM on 09/20/2010

I'll never forgive Oprah for her recommendation of "The Book of Ruth" by Jane Hamilton. It read the entire thing in one sitting, but kept waiting for the hope to arrive and it never did. Most books that can hold my attention from cover to cover are among my favorites, and I read them several times. I didn't even want to see that book when I finished it, despite the fact that six years later, the characters in it still haunt me. And not in a good way, either.

[Deborah Beck]

07:02 AM on 09/20/2010

"The Road" so beautifully written I'd get lost in the writing and then startled that all that beauty was a narrative for the fear of all fears surviving a nuclear attack. (Sorry folks if a nuke war started to hell with being a survivor I want to do down with the first blast.) Devastating and haunting.

I love "Places in the Heart" (even the lousy movie). Amazing the author had one book in her and that was it! I often think that everyone should have one good book screaming to get out of them!

[Occam123]

12:14 AM on 09/20/2010

Except for Marquez, all low brow stuff.

[MihaelaM]

07:16 AM on 09/21/2010

I almost completely agree, leaving the question of Wiesel opened (middle brow perhaps?).

[CenaW]

11:10 PM on 09/21/2010

Toni Morrison is one of her book club authors,
and you really ought to read Middlesex.

[The Iron Cage]

10:45 PM on 09/19/2010

A few things: 1) The Road probably didn't win the Pulitzer because of its haunting simpleness. It was more likely an award for the body of McCarthy's work. 2) If the reader gets confused by lots of characters, make a list of them. Write down each name that shows up with a brief description of who they are or mannerism they have next to the name. Refer to said list when confusion arises. 3) People really get way too worked up over Oprah's book club. There are so many excellent works that she probably hasn't heard of, many of which come from independent presses. Oprah's book club also puts the reading public in a bubble of Americanism, which is distressing. Just to provide a frame of reference, the last American to win the Nobel was Toni Morrison in 1993. Before her it was Joseph Brodsky in 1987. There have been exactly two in the last 30 years. There is a lot of good stuff coming out of other countries that Oprah's book club ignores.

[ReesieKitty]

04:15 PM on 09/21/2010

Lol- Iron Cage- more lowbrow than highbrow, but when I worked at a used bookstore, I was shelving a copy of Anne Rice's 'The Witching Hour' and a piece of paper fell out. It held a DETAILED family tree of every character in the book, how they related to each other/were descended from one another, who had slept with who AND who had slept with the ghost/demon who was one of the main characters! Someone was reading that book VERY closely- and helpfully left their notes in it for the next reader! Ok, I admit it, I took it home and read it, using the helpful guide, before putting it out to be sold...

[The Iron Cage]

06:37 PM on 09/21/2010

That's pretty funny. I'm sure their detailed notes helped. Am I correct?

[CenaW]

11:08 PM on 09/21/2010

So who else with Oprah's power is encouraging reading?
She does have Tony Morrison as one of her recommends.
Tony Morrison is one of my favorites, I discovered her accidentally.
I don't watch television, so don't usually know what Oprah's book club has.

[rougebaisers]

08:16 AM on 09/19/2010

Who cares what Oprah recommends?

[MoonRainbow]

02:09 PM on 09/19/2010

Apparently everyone.

[RasputinsLiver]

11:42 PM on 09/19/2010

Really?

Everyone?

But...I've never read a book that Oprah recommended. Gues that makes me not part of "everyone". Hmm...that would make me...an individual.

I'll be darned. I don't feel so bad now.

[moonstruck10]

10:37 PM on 09/19/2010

Millions of people.

[RasputinsLiver]

11:44 PM on 09/19/2010

Name half a millon of those and support your case with documents to back it all up, birth certificates, adresses and phone numbers, corroboration with neighbors, business associates, etc.

[Samie]

08:39 PM on 09/18/2010

I just read a book called "Under the Influence" (something like that) at a friend's house about analyzing California culture and its effect on the rest of the country that was good. I think books that are insightful about our culture should be recommended more by Oprah. This one was funny, too.

[RasputinsLiver]

11:46 PM on 09/19/2010

I was "under the influence" earlier. Hangin' with Unkuhl "Skunk" Bud.

[KnowledgeEater]

02:14 PM on 09/18/2010

I read The Pillars of the Earth after seeing the episode she ran on it. Loved it. Huge but a page turner than always had me wishing the villain would just disappear.