Last week, Oprah selected the 65th book for her insanely, popular book club. Since it's the holidays, I'm sure many of her viewers were expecting a novel that would embody the spirit of the season.A tome so feel good and belly-achingly heartwarming, every one of her one billion plus viewers around the world would run out and purchase gazillions of copies like so many times in the past.
Personally I think her current pick, a special-packaged edition of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities, feels sort of like a lump of coal. And I think many of her loyal readers will also question if they've been naughty or nice.
Book length aside, Dickens' plots aren't the happiest. Who could ever forget an orphan pickpocket's iconic request for more gruel? I'm flumoxed by her choices because it's not as if Dickens didn't pen several Christmas-themed stories, including the holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol. Instead, she choose one of the two most depressing stories from the Victorian writer's catalogue and two stories that have nothing to do with the season.
Am I missing something?
Maybe there's something in these two tales featuring angry mobs, a mentally and physically abused orphan, an unfortunate spinster who sits around in an old wedding gown, and prisoners locked up because of the family they were born to. Or maybe I'm just over-analyzing this and it's just an ill-informed recommendation by a social icon who's never read anything by Charles Dickens. Me thinks it's the latter.
Fortunately, the season isn't over. You still have time to salvage your holiday reading list by curling up with Loose-Id's special collection of holiday themed romances, Not Quite Christmas! So save Dickens for another day. You won't be sorry. Each story in the collection is scorching, they embody the spirit of season and they won't bumb you out with convicts filing off a limb and threatening innocent children.
Enjoy and happy holidays!
Not Quite Christmas Collection
So, what do you think of Oprah's holiday picks? Any Not Quite Christmas book you really love so far?
Posted by Koko Brown
My Loose-Id Titles
