Oprah's Book Club Review

I love to read. It's been one of my favorite things to do since I was a kid, and it's something that I'll probably keep doing for the rest of my life. The only problem I've had in recent years is figuring out which books I should be reading.

It's easier than ever to pick up a book. That, paradoxically, makes it much harder to figure out exactly which books are actually worth reading. That, perhaps, is why I'm so happy to find any reliable source that can give me recommendations of what to read and that can allow me to stay up-to-date with the discourse surrounding those books.

Oprah's Book Club is a really good source of recommendations, albeit for a fairly narrow range of books. It's definitely worth your time to look at, especially if you're trying to spend more time reading.

What is It?

Oprah's Book Club has been around for quite a long time, and it's probably very familiar to anyone who watched the Oprah Show. It's not really so much a book club as it is a series of recommendations from one of the most popular media personalities in the world. It's hard to say if these are really Oprah's favorite books, but they're definitely all books that have been endorsed by her.

It's really better to look at this book club as a guide for reading some of the books that are most present in the current public consciousness. It's kind of circular, though - these books are popular because they are part of the club, and their popularity helps to make them more important. You're going to see a lot of the same people and topics crop up here, and that's going to tell you a lot about how much you might enjoy the works. 

What Kind of Books?

This book club actually covers a fairly wide range of books, though it doesn't spend too much time hopping between genres. You're going to see a lot of autobiographical works here, though you will probably also see a fair number of fiction books as well. The term 'chick-lit' has been used to describe a fair number of the books as well, but the truth is that these books just happen to be recommended to a club that's largely targeted towards women.

While this might be a club that recommends books, you're not really going to see anything too obscure here. Almost every book on the list is either already a best-seller or soon will be, often due to its association with the club. These are books that you won't just find online - you can pick them up at airports, at supermarkets, and pretty much anywhere else that you can find books.

With that said, the books do tend to target a fairly narrow range of interests. You'll see a lot of emotional stories, a lot of romance, and a lot of stories that are really about the power of individuals to overcome tragic circumstances. The autobiographies really focus on the stories of incredible people, while the fiction really focuses on people who are able to do something spectacular.

If you're the kind of person who already likes these books, you'll have a great time with this book club. It's definitely a great service for finding books that conform to a very specific archetype, if not one for finding books that are going to really help you branch out into wildly different genres or to find authors who write outside of a very specific realm. Taken together, it's a good way to get access to some excellent books.

What Does it Cost?

One of the weird things about this book club is trying to figure out what you're going to pay to read. The issue here is that you can buy in almost any format, so there's not really any standard price. You might pay twenty dollars for a hardcover or four dollars for an eBook - it really just depends on how and when you decide to buy the book.

Since these tend to all be recent best-sellers, you definitely benefit from picking up the books a little later than most. They're all the kinds of books that you'll probably find at yard sales and in book sales in the coming month, so those who can wait can really save some money.

Is it financially worthwhile to do this club? If you're already reading, it's definitely a good way to stay on top of things. There's no real commitment and you can skip the books you don't want to read, so there's really no danger in giving it a shot.

What's The Verdict

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