Oprah’s wildly popular TV show was very influential. So influential, in fact, that there’s a business term for it: the Oprah Effect. A mention by Oprah can be the making of a previously unknown brand, and books recommended by Oprah see their sales soar. Of the 70 books she recommended on her show between 1996 and 2011, 59 made it onto the USA Today Bestseller List. 22 hit number one – including Tolstoy’s classic, Anna Karenina. Her most-recommended author was Toni Morrison – many of us are so grateful that Oprah helped spotlight her incomparable books.
The 70 Books That Were Recommended on the TV Version of Oprah’s Book Club (in reverse order)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Becoming by Michelle Obama
This phenomenal, inspiring memoir by the former (and forever in our hearts) First Lady is the latest pick by Oprah. “I want the whole world to read this book,” she said. “It is Michelle Obama’s story, of course, but I know it’s going to spark within you the desire to think about your own becoming.” The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides The Road by Cormac McCarthy Night By Elie Wiesel A Million Little Pieces by James Frey Light in August by William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton East of Eden By John Steinbeck Sula by Toni Morrison Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Cane River by Lalita Tademy Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz Open House by Elizabeth Berg The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver While I Was Gone by Sue Miller The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Back Roads by Tawni O’Dell Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende Gap Creek by Robert Morgan A Map of The World by Jane Hamilton Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke Tara Road by Maeve Binchy Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes White Oleander by Janet Fitch The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve The Reader by Bernhard Schlink Jewel by Bret Lott Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts Midwives by Chris Bohjalian What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman Paradise by Toni Morrison The Best Way to Play by Bill Cosby The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby A Virtuous Woman by Kay Gibbons Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard In 2012, the magazine teamed up with TV channel Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to launch Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 – a new, online version of what had been the very influential monthly pick on Oprah’s own wildly popular show. And earlier this year, Oprah announced a new partnership with Apple TV.
The 10 Books Recommended By Oprah Since Relaunching the Book Club in 2012
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
“You’ll come away with greater empathy and understanding,” says Oprah about this book. “You’ll want to talk about it with somebody.” Barack Obama has praise for it too, calling it a “moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.”
Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle
This one is a memoir of one woman’s self-discovery after her marriage imploded. When she announced this pick, Oprah said that it “captures the beauty that unfolds when one woman refuses to settle for good enough, stops numbing or denying her pain, and makes her own rules for love and life.”
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
“This book had kept me up all night, kept my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the next page,” Oprah said of this acclaimed depiction of pre–Civil War life for enslaved African Americans.
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Ephram has loved Ruby forever, and when she returns home he has to choose between protecting her from violence, and loyalty to his own sister. “I’ve never read a book like this before…the prose is luscious,” was Oprah’s verdict.
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
This novel follows the lifelong story of Hetty, given to Sarah on her 11th birthday as a handmaid, and Sarah herself, who goes on to become a pioneer in the abolitionist movement. Oprah says: “It is layered, it is gripping, it’s historical and based on real life from pre-war Charleston, South Carolina.”
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
This is a novel of a mother’s 12 children and their lives, which illuminates the story of The Great Migration. “This book touched me so deeply. The spirit of sacred truths just leap from the pages,” says Oprah.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of walking the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother passed away was the first pick for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. She called it “stimulating” and “thought-provoking”.
