Damn You Oprah and Your Empire......

So I already knew that I owned one book from Oprah's book club, Love in the Time of Cholera. I bought it from the grocery store of all places, last Christmas break from school to give myself some light reading to do while I waited to waste away once again doing homework for another faceless quarter. When I got home and inspected said book (I like to look around the book, such as the back cover, front cover, inside sleaves, etc. before actually reading) I discovered I had been tomfooled. By fucking Oprah.

You may be questioning what my issue with Oprah is, and I don't blame you. You are likely of my mother's generation, in which you see her as the housewife's best friend, and if you can get yourself on her show, you just might win a minivan, after all.

I really didn't have a problem with her myself until about a year ago, when I went to a book store in hopes of locating Anna Karinina. And all I could find were copies stamped with her goddamn logo. It broke me in half, with heartache, as I love that fucking book and couldn't buy a proper copy.

I don't want people thinking I am reading a book because Oprah, or some other celebrity, told me it was good. I also won't buy a book that has been adapted for the screen if I can only find copies with the movie covers.

Now that we have very well established how I felt when I found out about Love in the Time of Cholera, imagine my discomfort today when I was re-arranging one of my (many) bookshelves and noticed my copy of We Were the Mulvaneys was also a FUCKING OPRAH BOOK! Is nothing sacred anymore? Is she going to take everything that is sacred and holy to me and shit, that's right, shit all over it like it ain't no thing?

I believe she will.

I like, rather love, books in a way that I cannot care for most people. Same with some television and movies, but most of all with my books. Oprah is trying to take that away from me. And from you. And are we going to stand for it?

Fuck no.

I say you tell Oprah how you feel.

http://www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_reach_fromu.jhtml

Tell her to take her quasi-literary club elsewhere.

Just as a side note, I have no issue with her as a person. Her being a black woman and making something of her career in an industry that is not kind to women, let alone of minorities, is wonderful, especially considering that she doesn't come in the general television package, her weight has shifted more often than I can count and that is fine with me. Also, she is a survivor of incest and sexual assault, and I applaud her openness about it, and wish someday, that I will be that brave in all arenas of my life, and she the social stigma that surrounds issues such as rape and abuse.

I just want her to back the fuck of my beloved books.