Oprah’s Greatest Conversations with Authors: 30 Years of Oprah’s Book Club

Oprah Winfrey (0:01)

Hi, and welcome to this special bonus episode of The Oprah Podcast. This year, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of my book club, The Oprah Book Club, and I want to thank all of you for reading along with me for the last three decades.

SPEAKER_2 (0:19)

To books.

SPEAKER_3 (0:20)

To books.

SPEAKER_4 (0:20)

To books.

Oprah Winfrey (0:24)

Long before I started a book club, one of my favorite things to do was to share my love of books. And I remember when The Color Purple by Alice Walker was first published, I bought out every copy in the store in Baltimore at the time, and I used to hand them out on the bridge, walk into work to people. I would actually walk home when I moved to Chicago. I had a backpack, and I would walk across the Wacker Street Bridge with my backpack, handing out the book The Color Purple.

It didn't occur to me I could have had a book club and I'd have to be out there on the streets. I want to get the whole country reading again.

Ocean Vuong (1:01)

Bring on the book.

Oprah Winfrey (1:05)

But back in the 90s, one of my producers, Alice McGee, and I used to trade books back and forth, and when we really loved a book, we would look up the author in the actual phone book. There was a thing called a phone book at one time, and then called the author to say how much their novel had meant to us, because after you read a really good book, don't you just wish you could go talk to the author? Well, I thought, I'm going to do that. Well, it was Alice McGee, my producer, who started out as an intern, actually, who said, if we are having this much fun together, why don't we just recommend the books to other people, to the audience? And I said, Alice, how are we going to talk about books on television? And she said, well, if you tell the audience to read the book first, and then they read the book, and then we could all come back and talk about it. And I said, okay, let's try it. And we started out with like just five minutes on, because we were like, scurred that people wouldn't want to do it. And that, you know, believe me, all the station managers were like, what, you're going to talk about books on TV?

At the time, this was a really radical idea.

Wally Lamb (2:16)

I bought my first book, and I bought it, so I would have to read it.

SPEAKER_7 (2:19)

I love you for allowing me to be able to read something that helps me identify who I am.

Ocean Vuong (2:26)

I live for the book club.

Oprah Winfrey (2:28)

And now, today, so many well-known people, hello, Reese Witherspoon, hello, Jenna Bush, have book clubs, and I celebrate them, and I celebrate that because it means inviting more people to enjoy reading and believing and elevating great writers who are my rock stars. Our first book to read, it is a novel written by Jacqueline Machard. It is called Deep End of the Ocean. So in this episode, we are turning the pages through some of my most, most treasured conversations with some of my favorite authors. I have many more upcoming picks. I'm reading right now. I'm always, always, always reading. I'll be announcing those new picks soon on the podcast. Our partner, Amazon, has created a storefront to make it so easy for you to browse all 120 book club selections as well as 30 of my most memorable reads to celebrate these 30 years. So you can access it by scanning the QR code on your screen right now.

And I say thanks again for joining me for all of those books I like reading by the fire or reading under a tree.

Well, wherever you read, I'm happy that you've been reading with me. Thank you, everybody.

Well, I love all the books we've done in the book club. Obviously, I have to read them and then choose them. Some people love a lot of them. Some people don't. But the bluest eye this month's election is so special to me. Well, you know, I have this to say about the bluest eye. I remember when I announced it on the show, I was saying, if you don't appreciate, love this book, then I'm really, I have nothing to say to you. And I just, and I really do mean that. It is on my list of, you know, top five great books ever written of all time by living or dead people. And we're so glad you're still living, Toni Morrison. But I have to say, I was in an airport not too long ago, and I saw an entire row of bluest eyes, like in a major airport. And I'm telling you, my eyes started to water because I thought Picola has her day. How do you feel about, I mean, I know this is the first. Does it feel like your baby has finally come into being?