Oprah's next Book Selection

[Ya Sam]

Oprah Winfrey chooses 'The Road,' by reclusive author Cormac McCarthy


NEW YORK: Before Wednesday, few could have imagined the names "Oprah 
Winfrey" and "Cormac McCarthy" appearing in the same sentence.

McCarthy, one of the United States' most revered and press-shy authors — a 
man only slightly more accessible than J.D. Salinger — will give his first 
ever television interview, lured by Winfrey, publishing's biggest hit-maker 
and a media superstar.

Winfrey announced Wednesday on her TV talk show that McCarthy's "The Road" 
was her new book club pick.

"Mr. McCarthy respects her work, admires what she has accomplished, has an 
awareness of her book club, and thought it would be interesting to 
participate in the conversation with Oprah," McCarthy's publicist, Paul 
Bogaards of Alfred A. Knopf, told The Associated Press. "He knew who she was 
when she called."

In selecting "The Road," not only will Winfrey meet with an author who, 
according to Bogaards, has given just two interviews in the past 40 years, 
but she has taken on a novel with little of the uplifting spirit she often 
favors.

Today in Culture

A trip into China's past, through its toys
Making (and remaking) history at London's National Theatre
Building Phnom Penh: An Angkorian heritage"The Road," published last 
September by Knopf, is a sparely written story of a father and son trying to 
survive as they wander through a burned, bare, post-nuclear landscape. 
Praised almost universally by reviewers, it was a finalist for the National 
Book Critics Circle prize and is considered a leading contender for the 
Pulitzer Prize.

"It's unlike anything I've ever chosen as a book club selection before 
because it's post-apocalyptic. (It is) very unusual for me to select this 
book, but it's fascinating," Winfrey said on her show.

McCarthy, 73, is known for novels such as "All the Pretty Horses" and "Blood 
Meridian," and has been widely cited as an heir to William Faulkner for his 
biblical prose and rural settings. He has been called too sentimental, but 
critic Harold Bloom, famous for his discernment, regards McCarthy as one of 
the greatest living American writers, along with Don DeLillo, Philip Roth 
and Thomas Pynchon.

"That shows good taste on her part," Bloom said of Winfrey's choice.

Winfrey has taken on harsher stories before, such as Elie Wiesel's Holocaust 
classic, "Night," and, notoriously, James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," 
a memoir of addiction and recovery that turned out to be largely fabricated.

In the coming weeks, the reclusive McCarthy, who did not appear on 
Wednesday's show and who lives in New Mexico, will conduct his "first 
television interview ever," Winfrey said.

"It's a bit of a surprise, but a wonderful surprise," McCarthy's editor, 
Knopf president Sonny Mehta, told the AP. "This is good news for those of us 
who have been in the Cormac McCarthy business for a very long time."

"The Road" is one of McCarthy's most popular books, spending several weeks 
on numerous best seller lists. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks 
about 70 percent of industry sales, it has sold 138,000 copies in hardcover 
in the United States. Thanks to Winfrey, that total should increase by 
hundreds of thousands. A paperback was not planned until September, but 
Vintage Books, understandably, is publishing one now, with a massive first 
printing of 950,000 copies.

"It's going to be a big year for Cormac," said Mehta, noting the planned 
release later this year of the Coen brothers film, "No Country for Old Men," 
based on the McCarthy novel of the same name.

Winfrey's choice also marks the first time in five years that she has picked 
a work of contemporary fiction. In 2002, she suspended the club for a year 
and revived it with an emphasis on "classics," such as John Steinbeck's 
"East of Eden" and Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." Her pick before McCarthy was 
Sidney Poitier's memoir, "The Measure of a Man."


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/28/arts/NA-A-E-BKS-US-Oprah-Winfrey.php

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! 
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/