The Current Book Club Choice

Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende

Spirited Eliza leaves her home in Chile in search of her lover, who has set out for the California Gold Rush. What she finds instead is adversity and adventure and, through her own resourcefulness, an even more momentous journey to independence and freedom.


The Recent Book Club Choices

Robert Morgan   Jane Hamilton   Breena Clarke   Maeve Binchy   Melinda Haynes   Janet Fitch  

Gap Creek, by Robert Morgan

Oprah's latest pick is here! The author of "The Truest Pleasure" returns his readers to the world of the Appalachian high country as a couple struggles to survive amid fires and floods, flesh-and-blood grifters, drunks, and busybodies who insinuate themselves into their lives in the late 1800s.


A Map of the World, by Jane Hamilton

With more than 65,000 hardcover copies in print, rave reviews from coast to coast, and appearances on several national bestseller lists, the publication of Hamilton's "extraordinary story of a family's disintegration" (People) in paperback should be among the literary highlights of the summer.


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.


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.


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!

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