Interesting and (to my way of thinking, anyway) valid points all. So given this, where do things like the NYTimes “best books” list figure in? Does the Times do something more like you? The celeb lists?
I think you break this all down really well and give a fair assessment of the trend. I think the whole "book-tok" movement dovetails nicely here with your argument. This is not a conversation about celebrities, but rather a discussion of the lemming nature of the masses (we've ways been lemmings, it's just that now our cult leaders are online, accessible).
The real tragedy, I think, is that there seems to be a yawning gap between the populariry of the club and the quality of the book. Oprah's books were often outstanding. Witherspoon's seem fine. But the rest...
Thanks so much for your kind words! I really appreciate that. And agree re book-tok, social media, etc etc.... when there's so many books out there, its almost amazing that we've found a way to recommend so few.
And fully agree about the quality– Oprah's really were great, but then again, she wasn't contending as much with the short attention spans of people as books today contend with tiktok/instagram etc... Also she wasn't picking things easily made into movies, so maybe that helped..?
Thanks so much for reading and for your insightful comments!
That's a good point about Oprah's goal (I didn't know those details about RW's model!). In fact, as I'm sure you know, Oprah invested a lot in making Beloved into a movie.
I mainly stay away from celebrity book club picks for one reason…the cover. I hate the “sticker” they put on it. Or in the case of books picked by Reese…when they become TV shows or movies, the covers change completely.
I would love to see the likes of Reese take up a reading challenge that includes more diverse and translated works. Perhaps that just means there’s room for other book clubs to fill that space? I personally feel like in the current age of publishing, all publicity for books is good publicity and that if the fluff is the only stuff that gets people reading then that’s a good thing because they’re unlikely to seek more interesting works anyway. Loved this article so much!
thank you so much jen!! yea i would love to see her expand a bit, i imagine if i were reading all her recs i’d be getting bored by now…😂 but totally all reading is good. just wish more of the $$ was going to authors I guess…
I had never fully considered the rights-to-production pipeline that greases the wheels of this machine. I do commend Reese and other women like her for making reading more mainstream, for supporting rising authors, and for helping to get stories like these told (whether it’s more books in hands or via our screens). I think it’s something to applaud, the fact that female businesswomen and self-made multimillionaires like Oprah and Reese have a real upper hand to some stuffy streaming execs in ties. Establishing a business as successful as Hello Sunshine means you’re creating real value.
I do agree that the book choices are not exactly groundbreaking and can be Colleen Hoover-esque. The takeaway of seeking a more diverse array of “influencers” in our lives for books beyond the mainstream is an excellent recommendation 👏🏼
Dua's is the only book club I genuinely ride for bc she picks such interesting books and bc she clearly has read them - they aren't always zeitgeist-y books they're just things she likes. I've also discovered some great things from her (Bad Habits by Alana S Portero). The author interviews and behind the scenes content is quite good as well
I do agree the the cycle of art appreciation leading to movie adaptation and more money feels a bit icky, because it has created a model of what sort of art is worthy of being adapted and making the big bucks. I don't mind someone like Dua Lipa bringing reading back into the zeitgeist or bringing introverted authors onto her podcast to talk about their work though.
I may be the only woman who has never been in a book club. Oprah started a way to get more people reading books and the clubs to follow also do that. Aside from everything stated in this great article, I remember listening to an interview with author Sheila Heti when she commented that she does not like when writers quote others in their writing. She prefers to know about what the writer knows and thinks. As someone who does include the occasional quote, her statement got me thinking about working a little harder to stick to my own thoughts.
I feel similarly to you. I’m always happy to see people reading and authors hitting the jackpot by having their book picked. But there’s a definite ick that can be hard to put your finger on. Most of these celeb book picks are quite similar and not ‘hard reads’-though some are very well written books I’ve really enjoyed, Little Fires Everywhere and Transcendent Kingdom are 2 that come to mind! Great piece, I enjoyed your thoughts on this topic!
I seldom read "best sellers" as I can seldom relate to those stories, which are far from my experience, my being, often even my values and in general do not offer me enough to waste my time on them.
By switching to e-books I have now the opportunity to browse the library's catalogue online and I often pick books from authors I never heard and sometimes discovered new ones. It is though a pity that also libraries tend to stay within set parameters. Well, I guess bookstores do that too...
Anyway, I agree with the points you made. The lack of diversity in the offer is also why so many authors, like me, turned to self-publishing and it is a beautiful thing that nowadays there is this option, offering more variety and topics which are otherwise not interesting to traditional publishers, as they might not sell so well.
Such an interesting perspective on celebrity book clubs - I had no idea about the business model. In the UK the Richard & Judy book club is probably a similar model to Oprah’s
I'm with you. Complicated feelings about a celeb book club. I think people like Oprah were doing a great thing and getting women to find community with each other through reading...the most recent celeb book clubs seem like them "capitalizing" or a trend or "branding" themselves as bookworms. I'm less interested in that. I rely on non-celeb book rec's....my local bookstore, NYT/NPR or other publications, BOTM has become a great resource because of it's diversity in genre, and looking to what my friends are reading. I've seen a flattening in terms of what get's recommended to me online, these things might all be linked. It's a good problem to have I think, the abundance of book talk has been great for my reading appetite. It just means I have to work a little harder to find the things on the fringe.
so well said. i think you nailed it, in far fewer words than i could 😂 Luckily the search is part of the fun (in my opinion!) so going to have continue fighting that good fight! 📚🤠
Interesting and (to my way of thinking, anyway) valid points all. So given this, where do things like the NYTimes “best books” list figure in? Does the Times do something more like you? The celeb lists?
I think you break this all down really well and give a fair assessment of the trend. I think the whole "book-tok" movement dovetails nicely here with your argument. This is not a conversation about celebrities, but rather a discussion of the lemming nature of the masses (we've ways been lemmings, it's just that now our cult leaders are online, accessible).
The real tragedy, I think, is that there seems to be a yawning gap between the populariry of the club and the quality of the book. Oprah's books were often outstanding. Witherspoon's seem fine. But the rest...
Thanks so much for your kind words! I really appreciate that. And agree re book-tok, social media, etc etc.... when there's so many books out there, its almost amazing that we've found a way to recommend so few.
And fully agree about the quality– Oprah's really were great, but then again, she wasn't contending as much with the short attention spans of people as books today contend with tiktok/instagram etc... Also she wasn't picking things easily made into movies, so maybe that helped..?
Thanks so much for reading and for your insightful comments!
That's a good point about Oprah's goal (I didn't know those details about RW's model!). In fact, as I'm sure you know, Oprah invested a lot in making Beloved into a movie.
Absolutely agree with this!
I mainly stay away from celebrity book club picks for one reason…the cover. I hate the “sticker” they put on it. Or in the case of books picked by Reese…when they become TV shows or movies, the covers change completely.
No totally— the sticker is like a warning label to me at this point 😂
I would love to see the likes of Reese take up a reading challenge that includes more diverse and translated works. Perhaps that just means there’s room for other book clubs to fill that space? I personally feel like in the current age of publishing, all publicity for books is good publicity and that if the fluff is the only stuff that gets people reading then that’s a good thing because they’re unlikely to seek more interesting works anyway. Loved this article so much!
thank you so much jen!! yea i would love to see her expand a bit, i imagine if i were reading all her recs i’d be getting bored by now…😂 but totally all reading is good. just wish more of the $$ was going to authors I guess…
Agree! As a librarian, I’m glad people are reading, absolutely. It’s just not for me.
I had never fully considered the rights-to-production pipeline that greases the wheels of this machine. I do commend Reese and other women like her for making reading more mainstream, for supporting rising authors, and for helping to get stories like these told (whether it’s more books in hands or via our screens). I think it’s something to applaud, the fact that female businesswomen and self-made multimillionaires like Oprah and Reese have a real upper hand to some stuffy streaming execs in ties. Establishing a business as successful as Hello Sunshine means you’re creating real value.
I do agree that the book choices are not exactly groundbreaking and can be Colleen Hoover-esque. The takeaway of seeking a more diverse array of “influencers” in our lives for books beyond the mainstream is an excellent recommendation 👏🏼
Dua's is the only book club I genuinely ride for bc she picks such interesting books and bc she clearly has read them - they aren't always zeitgeist-y books they're just things she likes. I've also discovered some great things from her (Bad Habits by Alana S Portero). The author interviews and behind the scenes content is quite good as well
i hear really good things about Duas! i’ll have to check it out
Celebrities = influencers = money making machines
I do agree the the cycle of art appreciation leading to movie adaptation and more money feels a bit icky, because it has created a model of what sort of art is worthy of being adapted and making the big bucks. I don't mind someone like Dua Lipa bringing reading back into the zeitgeist or bringing introverted authors onto her podcast to talk about their work though.
Totally agree!
I may be the only woman who has never been in a book club. Oprah started a way to get more people reading books and the clubs to follow also do that. Aside from everything stated in this great article, I remember listening to an interview with author Sheila Heti when she commented that she does not like when writers quote others in their writing. She prefers to know about what the writer knows and thinks. As someone who does include the occasional quote, her statement got me thinking about working a little harder to stick to my own thoughts.
Really glad you addressed this. I feel as conflicted as you, but think it's important to raise all the questioning you did here. Thank you!
thanks so much for reading!
I feel similarly to you. I’m always happy to see people reading and authors hitting the jackpot by having their book picked. But there’s a definite ick that can be hard to put your finger on. Most of these celeb book picks are quite similar and not ‘hard reads’-though some are very well written books I’ve really enjoyed, Little Fires Everywhere and Transcendent Kingdom are 2 that come to mind! Great piece, I enjoyed your thoughts on this topic!
thank you so much! i appreciate you reading and engaging with my writing 📚💗
Excellent piece! And what a cute editor you have 😍
I seldom read "best sellers" as I can seldom relate to those stories, which are far from my experience, my being, often even my values and in general do not offer me enough to waste my time on them.
By switching to e-books I have now the opportunity to browse the library's catalogue online and I often pick books from authors I never heard and sometimes discovered new ones. It is though a pity that also libraries tend to stay within set parameters. Well, I guess bookstores do that too...
Anyway, I agree with the points you made. The lack of diversity in the offer is also why so many authors, like me, turned to self-publishing and it is a beautiful thing that nowadays there is this option, offering more variety and topics which are otherwise not interesting to traditional publishers, as they might not sell so well.
Such an interesting perspective on celebrity book clubs - I had no idea about the business model. In the UK the Richard & Judy book club is probably a similar model to Oprah’s
i’ve never heard of that one!! i’ll have to take a look. thanks for reading!
I'm with you. Complicated feelings about a celeb book club. I think people like Oprah were doing a great thing and getting women to find community with each other through reading...the most recent celeb book clubs seem like them "capitalizing" or a trend or "branding" themselves as bookworms. I'm less interested in that. I rely on non-celeb book rec's....my local bookstore, NYT/NPR or other publications, BOTM has become a great resource because of it's diversity in genre, and looking to what my friends are reading. I've seen a flattening in terms of what get's recommended to me online, these things might all be linked. It's a good problem to have I think, the abundance of book talk has been great for my reading appetite. It just means I have to work a little harder to find the things on the fringe.
so well said. i think you nailed it, in far fewer words than i could 😂 Luckily the search is part of the fun (in my opinion!) so going to have continue fighting that good fight! 📚🤠
the search IS absolutely a part of the fun! thanks for writing this, lots to chew on!
thank you for reading! 💕
A very interesting article! I didn't know all those behind the scene details about the business of Reese's book club.