The Current Book Club Choice

A Map of the World, by Jane Hamilton

Oprah latest pick is here! This month she has chosen Jane Hamilton's "extraordinary story of a family's disintegration" (People).


The Recent Book Club Choices

Breena Clarke   Maeve Binchy   Melinda Haynes   Janet Fitch   Anita Shreve   Bernhard Schlink  


River Cross My Heart, by Breena Clarke

Five-year-old Clara Bynum is dead, drowned in the Potomac River in the shadow of a seemingly haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters. This debut novel by a wonderfully gifted storyteller tells what effect Clara's absence has on the people she has left behind.


Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy

Ria, who lives on Tara Road in Dublin, thinks her marriage is fine right up until her husband leaves with his young, pregnant girlfriend. By a chance phone call, Ria meets Marilyn, a woman from New England unable to come to terms with her only son's death and now estranged from her husband. The two women exchange houses for the summer with extraordinary consequences, each learning that the other has a deep secret that can never be revealed.


Mother of Pearl, by Melinda Haynes

Set in a small Mississippi town in the late 1950s, Mother of Pearl is populated by wonderfully rich and original characters with themes of identity and the true meaning of family interwoven throughout. The story revolves around twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, a fifteen-year-old white girl who is the daughter of the town whore and an unknown father. Their paths cross through Joody Two Sun, a seer, who sets up camp along the riverbank just outside of town and becomes Even's lover. Both Even and Valuable are seeking the family, love, and commitment they never had, and their search ultimately takes both of them to places they never dreamed they'd go.


White Oleander, by Janet Fitch

White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become.


The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve

A pilot's wife is taught to be prepared for the late-night knock at the door. But when Kathryn Lyons receives word that a plane flown by her husband, Jack, has exploded near the coast of Ireland, she confronts the unfathomable-one startling revelation at a time. Soon drawn into a maelstrom of publicity fueled by rumors that Jack led a secret life, Kathryn sets out to learn who her husband really was, whatever that knowledge might cost. Her search propels this taut, impassioned novel as it movingly explores the question, How well can we ever really know another person?


The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover. She enthralls him with her passion but puzzles him with her odd silences. Then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime. But as he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder. Masterfully evoking eroticism while addressing the moral dilemmas that continue to haunt postwar Germany, "The Reader" is an intimate coming-of-age story as well as a frank and sensitive exploration of the dark areas of a nation's uneasy and embattled conscience.


So you want to sit at Oprah's table?

 First, you've got to read the book! Then, write to Oprah and tell her how the book affected you ... what did the characters mean to you, how did the story make you reflect on your own life ... she wants to know what the lasting impact is from having read the book. Did you love it? Did you hate it? This is your chance to tell her!

Oprah's Book Club
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