A Comprehensive Guide to All 100 Books in Oprah’s Book Club
A Comprehensive Guide to All 100 Books in Oprah’s Book Club
Since 1996, Oprah’s Book Club has selected books that engender conversation, spark enlightenment, help launch emerging authors, and reacquaint us with the already prominent. The goal? To connect readers around a community of fellow bibliophiles. The secret sauce? Each pick is chosen by Oprah herself, who delights in sharing books she loves with the ever-growing OBC audience. Her most recent pick, Bittersweet, by Susan Cain, resonated deeply with Oprah. This book joins Nathan Harris’s Sweetness of Water, Michelle Obama’s Becoming, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers as Oprah’s Book Club picks, as well as the many other titles—fiction and nonfiction alike—OBC has spotlighted over the years. You’ll never forget these illuminating stories—just ask Oprah.
100) <i>Hello Beautiful</i>, by Ann Napolitano
amazon.com
$19.60
What Oprah said about her 100th pick: “I’m telling you, once you start, you won’t want it to end…and be prepared for tears.”
Written in homage to the classic Little Women, Hello Beautiful follows the story of the four Padovano sisters, who live in Pilsen, a working-class neighborhood of Chicago. The girls’ close-knit, rambunctious family is forever changed when the eldest, Julia, marries a young man with a tragic past that threatens their future together.
99) <i>Bittersweet</i>, by Susan Cain
amazon.com
“This book has the power to transform the way you see your life and even the world,” Oprah says. “I have started to look at my own life in the world differently.”
Bittersweet, by Susan Cain, is a nonfiction title that explores how we deal with sadness. Not by denying it. Not by surrendering to it. But by acknowledging it. Even if, at times, it seems self-defeating because: We’re all supposed to be happy, right? Or at least try to be happy?
98) <i>Demon Copperhead</i>, by Barbara Kingsolver
amazon.com
Oprah says, “It’s an absolutely riveting read.” Demon Copperhead re-envisions the Charles Dickens classic David Copperfield, setting it in modern-day Appalachia. Kingsolver was inspired while on a visit to Dickens’s seaside English retreat and actually started writing Demon Copperhead at Dickens's own desk. It’s Kingsolver’s 17th novel in some three decades, and in writing it, Kingsolver says she wanted to counter some of the condescension and downright snobbery directed at the region in which she was born and still lives, a region whose people, she believes, have been exploited for generations, most recently by pharmaceutical companies who targeted Appalachian residents and created the current opioid crisis.
97) <i>That Bird Has My Wings</i>, by Jarvis Jay Masters
HarperOne
amazon.com
Masters has been incarcerated in California’s San Quentin State Prison for the past 41 years. Oprah read the book shortly after it was first published by HarperOne, in 2009, and it left a strong impression: “His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system, and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today,” said Oprah.
HarperOne has reissued the book, which contains a foreword by spiritual teacher Pema Ch?dr?n, who has long championed Masters’s cause.
Masters had this to say about the selection of his book for Oprah’s Book Club:
“I turned 60 this year, having entered San Quentin at the age 19. I wrote That Bird Has My Wings while in solitary confinement, isolated and alone,” he says. “My greatest hope at that time was that a few young people would read my story and learn from my mistakes. Thanks to Ms. Winfrey and her book club, my story will be introduced to a national audience. It is my greatest hope that their lives will be the better for it, and I am forever grateful for the honor and the opportunity that Oprah has afforded me.”
96) <i>Nightcrawling,</i> by Leila Mottley
amazon.com
$16.99
Mottley, who is about to be 20, began her astonishing debut novel when she was just 16. It has received raves from such luminaries as Dave Eggers, Kiese Laymon, and this one from James McBride: “Leila Mottley has an extraordinary gift. She writes with the humility and sparkle of a child, but with the skill and deft touch of a wizened, seasoned storyteller.”
95) <i>Finding Me</i>, by Viola Davis
amazon.com
$18.48
In her powerful and empowering memoir, the first Black actor to earn the so-called “Triple Crown of Acting”—an Oscar, a Tony, and an Emmy—details her rise from poverty and other trauma to emerge as an iconic American artist. Through revisiting her childhood and all its pain, she was able to finally answer the question that had long haunted her: How did I claw my way out?About the pick, Oprah had this to say: “There are so many lessons to be learned from this breathtaking memoir about triumphing over adversity and trauma. Viola Davis leaves it all on the page—from her beginnings in South Carolina as the fifth of six children born in a sharecropper’s shack to acclaim as an actor, producer, and philanthropist. I was so moved by this book that I just had to share it with our entire OBC audience.”
94) <i>The Way of Integrity</i> by Martha Beck
Penguin Life
amazon.com
$14.99
The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, which was published last spring, was a New York Times bestseller and the first offering under Maria Shriver’s book imprint, The Open Field/Viking.
On her 94th pick,Oprah said: “As we all navigate this watershed moment in our collective history, The Way of Integrity provides a road map on the journey to truth and authenticity. Her latest work is filled with aha moments and practical exercises that can guide us as we seek enlightenment.”
93) <i>Bewilderment,</i> by Richard Powers
92) <i>The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,</i> by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Harper
amazon.com
$18.40
Epic doesn't begin to describe this tour-de-force of a novel, which touches on family, legacy, identity, and America's tangled roots. Ailey, our protagonist, is the second of three girls. Ailey grows up visiting her mom's family in a small town in Georgia, and becomes curious about her roots—who does she descend from? Her first-person narration is a coming-of-age story meets history. But Jeffers also incorporates a sweeping narrative about Ailey’s ancestors, who she tries to know and understand through the years.
91) <i>The Sweetness of Water,</i> by Nathan Harris
Little, Brown Company
amazon.com
$14.63
Set in the fictional town of Old Ox, Georgia, at the very end of the Civil War, Harris’s powerful first novel centers on brothers Prentiss and Landry, who are at last leaving the plantation where they’ve spent their entire lives, and grappling with what will come next. “As I read this masterful novel,” Oprah said, “I kept thinking—this young 29-year-old is a first-time author, so how did he do this?” She continued, “As the best writers can do, Nathan takes us back in time, and helps us to feel we are right there with Prentiss and Landry as they get their first taste of freedom. I rooted for them, and feared for them, too.”
90) <i>Gilead</i>, by Marilynne Robinson
amazon.com
$10.49
For the first time in the history of the Book Club, Oprah chose four books by the same author at once: the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack by Marilynne Robinson. Together, these sublime novels form a quadrilogy of sorts, all of which takes place in the fictional Iowa town of Gilead. “Marilynne Robinson is one of our greatest living authors,” Oprah said, “and in the Gilead novels she’s written a quartet of masterpieces. The more closely I read them, the more I find to appreciate, and the more they show the way in seeing the beauty in the ordinary.”
89) <i>Home</i>, by Marilynne Robinson
Picador
amazon.com
$10.75
Home is a continuation of Gilead, the meaning of family and the secrets that surround them. Robinson had this to say in response to the news of her books being chosen: “Oprah Winfrey is a singular voice in this country and in the world. It is wonderful and amazing that my books will have the kind of attention only she could bring to them.”
88) <i>Lila</i>, by Marilynne Robinson
Picador
amazon.com
$13.75
From a life of poverty, Lila enters the town of Gilead, where she meets John Ames, a minister. Plagued by her past, Lila and Ames try to forge a new path.
87) <i>Jack</i>, by Marilynne Robinson
amazon.com
$6.99
When Oprah picked up a copy of Jack. The story—of the forbidden love between a down-on-his-luck white man and the prim and proper Black woman who’s come to occupy his mind and heart—is set in the mid-20th century. Yet it's a timeless tale of deep connection despite circumstance, of frailty, of familial bonds, of inequality, and of what it means to be human.
86) <i>Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,</i> by Isabel Wilkerson
Random House
amazon.com
$16.72
“Of all the books I’ve chosen for book club over the decades, there isn’t another that is more essential a read than this one,” Oprah said of Isabel Wilkerson's 500-page tome, which reveals the existence of a caste system in the United States. In the stunningly illuminating book, Wilkerson draws parallels between the United States, India, and the horrors of the Third Reich. “It explains why we are where we are in terms of racial injustice and inequality,” Oprah elaborated.
85) <i>Deacon King Kong,</i> by James McBride
Riverhead Books
amazon.com
$14.63
A 19-year-old drug dealer with an incredible pitching arm. A death-defying drunkard. An Italian-American mobster with a soft side. These are just a sampling of the many richly drawn characters whose lives intertwine in this soaring novel set in the projects of 1969 Brooklyn, which blends humor and wisdom on each page. Deacon King Kong finds the sublime in the ordinary—and you can read the first chapter here.
84) <i>Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family,</i> by Robert Kolker
Doubleday
amazon.com
$15.23
“This is a riveting true story of an American family that reads like a medical detective journey,” Oprah said of her 84th pick. Hidden Valley Road is the extraordinary of the Galvin family of Colorado, who had six children diagnosed with schizophrenia—and six children untouched by the illness.
83) <i>American Dirt: A Novel,</i> by Jeanine Cummins
Flatiron Books
amazon.com
$9.99
"This story changed the way I see what it means to be a migrant in a whole new way," Oprah said of American Dirt, an Apple Book Club pick. The book follows the journey a woman and her young son take to the United States after their family is murdered in an act of cartel violence.
82) <i>Olive, Again: A Novel,</i> by Elizabeth Strout
Random House
amazon.com
$13.84
Oprah selected Olive, Again as Apple Book Club pick because she fell in love the with prickly protagonist "despite her flaws." The book is Strout's follow-up to her 2008 Pulitzer Prize–winning book Olive Kitteridge.
81) <i>The Water Dancer: A Novel,</i> by Ta-Nehisi Coates
One World
amazon.com
$15.39
For her first selection of the new chapter of Oprah's Book Club with Apple, Oprah selected Ta-Nehisi Coates' first novel, The Water Dancer. The odyssey follows the story of Hiram Walker, a young man born as a slave on a plantation in Virginia who has been gifted a mysterious, magical power that eventually saves his life when he nearly drowns in a river. “I have not felt this way about a book since Beloved,” Oprah, said of the book, referring to the late Toni Morrison's celebrated novel. "I knew early on the book was going to cut me up. I ended up with my soul pierced.”
80) <i>Becoming,</i> by Michelle Obama
amazon.com
$20.20
"I want the whole world to read this book. I know everyone is already pre-ordering, and if you’re in a book club, you should read it together," Oprah said, announcing her December 2018 selection. "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."
79) <i>The Sun Does Shine,</i> by Anthony Ray Hinton
St. Martin's Press
amazon.com
$19.59
"Over the years I've chosen many great novels, very few memoirs for my book club, but this story reads like an epic novel. And it is all true! Mr. Hinton was falsely convicted of murder and spent 30 years on death row before he was finally released," Oprah said in a 2018 Super Soul Sunday interview.
78) <i>An American Marriage,</i> by Tayari Jones
Algonquin Books
amazon.com
$14.08
"I love this title because the novel redefines the traditional American love story. It's really a love triangle and places it inside a world that a lot of people don't know about, but impacts all of us in really big ways," Oprah announced in February 2018.
77) <i>Behold the Dreamers,</i> by Imbolo Mbue
Random House Trade Paperbacks
amazon.com
$15.99
"It's about race and class, the economy, culture, immigration, and the dangers of the us versus them mentality. And underneath it all pumps the heart and soul of family love, the pursuit of happiness, and what home really means," Oprah shared in June 2017.
76) <i>Love Warrior,</i> by Glennon Doyle
Flatiron Books
amazon.com
$9.40
"You're going to absolutely love this book and the spirit of it, whether you're married or single, whether you're a mom or not," Oprah declared on OWN in September 2016. "All women are going to see themselves in these pages. It's daring, and it's raw, and it's filled with a lot naked—I do mean naked—truths!" she said.
75) <i>The Underground Railroad,</i> by Colson Whitehead
amazon.com
$10.28
"'Blown away' is an often-used expression, but with this book it was to the point of sometimes putting it down and saying, 'I can't read anymore. I don't want to turn the page. I want to know what happens, but I don't want to know what happens,'" Oprah said in September 2016, describing the harrowing tale of a teenage slave who runs away from a cotton plantation.
74) <i>Ruby,</i> by Cynthia Bond
Hogarth
amazon.com
$16.00
This wrought love story, chosen in 2015, explores what happens when a woman needs to face her childhood demons in the face of racial injustice.
73) <i>The Invention of Wings,</i> by Sue Monk Kidd
Penguin Books
amazon.com
$11.18
This historical novel that Oprah selected in 2013 centers on an abolitionist from Charleston, South Carolina, her sister, and their slave.
72) <i>The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,</i> by Ayana Mathis
Vintage
amazon.com
$18.00
One of Oprah's beloved 2012 selections, this beautiful tale focuses on the matriarch of a Black family navigating love and loss through the Great Migration.
71) <i>Wild,</i> by Cheryl Strayed
amazon.com
$16.95
Cheryl Strayed's impactful memoir follows her on a quest to self-discovery as she travels through the Pacific Crest Trail, learning to cope with her mother's death and a severed marriage.
70) <i>A Tale of Two Cities,</i> by Charles Dickens
amazon.com
$10.99
In 2010, Winfrey announced that two of Dickens's most beloved classics would be making her list: A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Even if you read them in grade school, these iconic works are worth revisiting.
69) <i>Great Expectations,</i> by Charles Dickens
Penguin Classics
amazon.com
$9.79
Though it was written in 1860, this sweeping novel about an orphan and the girl who beguiled him when they were just children has stood the test of time.
68) <i>Freedom,</i> by Jonathan Franzen
Picador USA
amazon.com
$12.98
This saga selected in 2010 centers on a seemingly picture-perfect family in Minnesota. But we quickly learn that the old trope is true: Looks are indeed deceiving.
67) <i>Say You're One of Them,</i> by Uwem Akpan
Back Bay Books
amazon.com
$9.89
A collection of short stories told through the eyes of children living in Africa, this 2009 book club choice is both distressing and masterful.
66) <i>The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,</i> by David Wroblewski
Ecco Press
amazon.com
$10.99
Edgar Sawtelle, who was born mute, has only ever known a peaceful, bucolic life on his parents' farm—until a trauma threatens to change that.
64) <i>The Pillars of the Earth,</i> by Ken Follett
Signet
amazon.com
$16.57
Though it's a hefty read at 800 pages, Oprah swears that this 12th-century story (with the erection of a Gothic cathedral at the center) is one you won't be able to put down.
63) <i>Love in the Time of Cholera,</i> by Gabriel García Márquez
Vintage Books USA
amazon.com
$9.93
The Latin literary giant's stunningly written love story spanning 50 years made Oprah's list in 2007.
62) <i>Middlesex,</i> by Jeffrey Eugenides
amazon.com
$13.11
Told from narrator Calliope Stephanides's perspective, Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides explores the complexities of growing up female but struggling between male and female identity—while also battling to comprehend a Greek and American heritage. Eugenides used his own part-Mediterranean background to inject Cal's cultural background with authenticity.
61) <i>The Road,</i> by Cormac McCarthy
amazon.com
$12.07
"It is so extraordinary. I promise you, you'll be thinking about it long after you finish the final page," Oprah Winfrey told the Washington Post in 2007.
60) <i>The Measure of a Man,</i> by Sidney Poitier
amazon.com
$9.04
"He writes really candidly and passionately about his childhood, his family, relationships, and his extraordinary career," Oprah told the Associated Press in 2007 about the esteemed actor's memoir.
59) <i>Night,</i> by Elie Wiesel
Hill and Wang
amazon.com
$6.27
Night, written by Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, was selected in 2006. When announcing her pick, Oprah said that the little book, "should be required reading for all humanity."
58) <i>A Million Little Pieces,</i> by James Frey
Anchor
amazon.com
$15.54
In 2006, Winfrey initially praised Frey's memoir, in which he recounts three months spent in jail. She later denounced his work after it was revealed he lied about major plot details, and then confronted him on her eponymous show, saying she felt "duped." In 2009, Winfrey apologized to him for the segment.
57) <i>Light in August,</i> by William Faulkner
Vintage
amazon.com
$13.69
In the summer of 2005, Oprah selected three Faulkner classics for her club. Considered one of Faulkner's greatest titles, the Southern Gothic tale Light in August follows three people as their lives intersect in the small fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi.
56) <i>The Sound and the Fury,</i> by William Faulkner
Vintage
amazon.com
$11.99
Her second Faulkner classic follows the Compson family's attempt to face loss and love—together.
55) <i>As I Lay Dying,</i> by William Faulkner
Vintage
amazon.com
$10.89
In her final Faulker selection, the author chronicles the Bundren family as they journey across Mississippi to mourn their matriarch, Addie.
54) <i>The Good Earth,</i> by Pearl S. Buck
Washington Square Press
amazon.com
$17.99
Pearl S. Buck's novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. It's a classic rags-to-riches story featuring a peasant Chinese farmer and the challenges faced once he attains wealth and influence. This book landed on Oprah's list in 2004.
53) <i>Anna Karenina,</i> by Leo Tolstoy
Penguin Classics
amazon.com
$12.49
Love, adultery, and loss are explored in Russian writer Leo Tolstoy's most famous work and Oprah's 2004 pick. The married eponymous heroine falls for wealthy army officer Count Vronsky and ultimately destroys her family and her own happiness.
52) <i>The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,</i> by Carson McCullers
amazon.com
$10.39
Carson McCullers was only 23 years old when she penned this 2004 selection. The coming-of-age story pursues the themes of loneliness and isolation, with the racial disparity of the South serving as a backdrop.
51) <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude,</i> by Gabriel García Márquez
amazon.com
$14.50
It's no secret the Nobel Prize-winning author loved telenovelas, and One Hundred Years of Solitude (selected in 2004, a few years before his novel Love in the Time of Cholera) has all the makings of a drama—with a dash of magical realism.
50) <i>Cry, the Beloved Country,</i> by Alan Paton
Scribner
amazon.com
$10.29
Cry, The Beloved Country details the complex history of apartheid in South Africa from both sides. The thought-provoking political tragedy made Oprah's list in 2003.
49) <i>East of Eden,</i> by John Steinbeck
Penguin Classics
amazon.com
$15.99
Picked in 2003, Steinbeck's multigenerational novel tells the story of the Hamilton and Trask families using Biblical analogies like those of Cain and Abel.
48) <i>Sula,</i> by Toni Morrison
amazon.com
$11.39
Set in a tight-knit neighborhood in Ohio known as "The Bottom," two Black girls are linked by a secret they've been harboring. The secret ultimately follows them into adulthood and threatens their friendship. Toni Morrison's riveting novel was selected in 2002.
47) <i>Fall on Your Knees,</i> by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Scribner
amazon.com
$10.49
Canadian novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald weaved a fascinating tale chronicling the Piper family and all their hardships, deception, and miracles. Chosen in 2002, the dark, dysfunctional-family drama is steeped in secrets and scandal.
46) <i>A Fine Balance,</i> by Rohinton Mistry
Vintage
amazon.com
$14.99
Mistry presents four main characters who share a cramped apartment in India. Their outlook is bleak and depressing as they're forced to endure a caste system and government corruption in the 1970s. Oprah added it to her list in 2001.
45) <i>The Corrections,</i> by Jonathan Franzen
Picador USA
amazon.com
$17.99
This wildly entertaining novel (chosen for the Book Club in 2001) centers on a family in chaos.
44) <i>Cane River,</i> by Lalita Tademy
Grand Central Publishing
amazon.com
$8.99
This story—selected in 2001—follows the stories of slave-born women in a multigenerational family saga.
43) <i>Stolen Lives,</i> by Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi
amazon.com
$9.07
In this thrilling memoir—announced as an OBC book in 2001—we learn about the life of Malika Oufki, who was adopted by the King of Morocco when she was 5.
42) <i>Icy Sparks,</i> by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Penguin Books
amazon.com
$12.80
Named after its main character, this book, which was picked in 2001, is about a girl finding herself in eastern Kentucky in the 1950s.
41) <i>We Were the Mulvaneys,</i> by Joyce Carol Oates
Plume
amazon.com
$7.23
This hopeful depiction of a family in crisis was featured on the list in 2001.
40) <i>House of Sand and Fog,</i> by Andre Dubus III
W W Norton Company
amazon.com
$19.98
As their lives intertwine, three people attempt to live the American Dream in this 2000 selection.
39) <i>Drowning Ruth,</i> by Christina Schwarz
Ballantine Books
amazon.com
$3.33
After Mathilda Neumann dies in a freezing lake, the lives of her family members change in this 2000 pick.
38) <i>Open House,</i> by Elizabeth Berg
Ballantine Books
amazon.com
$15.62
This 2000 favorite features Samantha, a woman grappling with the aftermath of divorce while raising her 11-year-old son.
37) <i>The Poisonwood Bible,</i> by Barbara Kingsolver
Harper Perennial
amazon.com
$11.49
The Price family, led by their evangelical Baptist father Nathan, begins to unravel as their bond and faith is tested during a mission to Africa. This pick was announced in 2000.
36) <i>While I Was Gone,</i> by Sue Miller
Ballantine Books
amazon.com
$16.59
Despite the fact that her life is seemingly picture-perfect, an appearance by a former housemate forces Jo Becker to dig into her past and face the skeletons in her closet.
35) <i>The Bluest Eye,</i> by Toni Morrison
amazon.com
$14.00
A celebrated work of fiction—and Toni Morrison's first novel—The Bluest Eye follows 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove as she grows into herself in the author's hometown of Lorain, Ohio.
34) <i>Back Roads,</i> by Tawni O'Dell
Berkley
amazon.com
$15.00
A dark portrayal of boyhood, Back Roads follows 19-year-old Harley Altmyer, the son of a woman jailed for murdering his father (a serial abuser) in Oprah's 2000 selection.
33) <i>Daugher of Fortune,</i> by Isabel Allende
Allende, Isabel
amazon.com
$28.95
A love story, Allende's title is centered around Eliza Sommers, an orphan raised in Chile who eventually creates a new life for herself during the 19th-century California Gold Rush.
32) <i>Gap Creek,</i> by Robert Morgan
A Shannon Ravenel Book
amazon.com
$10.99
This bestseller features a badass woman who gets married soon after her brother's death while learning how to navigate adulthood.
31) <i>A Map of the World,</i> by Jane Hamilton
Anchor
amazon.com
$13.00
In this harrowing tale chosen in ’99, the lives of the Goodwin family permanently change after they witness their neighbor's daughter drown in a pool, an event that leads to sexual abuse accusations and the downfall of a family once at peace.
30) <i>Vinegar Hill,</i> by A. Manette Ansay
Harper Perennial
amazon.com
$15.99
Ellen Grier has to move in with her in-laws, raise two children, and deal with her husband's unemployment in a startling portrayal of life in the country gone awry. Oprah announced the pick in 1999.
29) <i>River, Cross My Heart,</i> by Breena Clarke
Back Bay Books
amazon.com
$12.99
Illustrating the Black experience in America, this book follows Alice and Willie Bynum, a couple whose lives completely change after the death of their 5-year-old daughter.
28) <i>Tara Road,</i> by Maeve Binchy
Dell
amazon.com
$8.99
Two women swap lives for a summer only to learn each other's deep, dark secrets.
27) <i>Mother of Pearl,</i> by Melinda Haynes
Washington Square Press
amazon.com
$12.89
Set in 1950s Mississippi, the book touches on racism and small town life in the South.
26) <i>White Oleander,</i> by Janet Fitch
Back Bay Books
amazon.com
$9.98
A 1999 coming-of-age story centers on Astrid, who bounces between foster homes after being separated from her mother.
25) <i>The Pilot's Wife,</i> by Anita Shreve
Back Bay Books
amazon.com
$20.00
This novel recounts the story of a woman grappling with the death of her husband.
24) <i>The Reader,</i> by Bernhard Schlink
Vintage
amazon.com
$10.64
Set in postwar Germany, The Reader zeroes in on the relationship between Michael Berg and Hanna, a woman twice his age who ends up on trial for a reckless crime.
23) <i>Jewel,</i> by Bret Lott
Washington Square Press
amazon.com
$13.66
Lott's novel (selected in 1999) follows the mother-daughter bond between Jewel and her last born daughter, one that's drastically different from that with her other children.
22) <i>Where the Heart Is,</i> by Billie Letts
Grand Central Publishing
amazon.com
$11.49
At 17, and seven months pregnant, Novalle Nation journeys across the country, only to get stranded in Oklahoma with little cash and less hope. Oprah's 1998 selection is a funny, candid depiction of girlhood.
21) <i>Midwives,</i> by Chris Bohjalian
Vintage
amazon.com
$10.29
After saving a child's life during an emergency C-section, Sibyl Danforth, a midwife, is wrapped into a sensational trial after being accused of accidentally killing the baby's mother in this riveting 1998 read.
20) <i>What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day,</i> by Pearl Cleage
William Morrow & Company
amazon.com
$14.67
Told through the lens of Ava Johnson, this story details what happens after a woman leaves the big city—Atlanta—for a quieter, rural life back home.
19) <i>I Know This Much Is True,</i> by Wally Lamb
Harper Perennial
amazon.com
$10.69
This frank book (a 1998 selection) takes an honest look at mental illness, domestic abuse, and family dysfunction with a refreshing touch of humor.
18) <i>Breath, Eyes, Memory,</i> by Edwidge Danticat
amazon.com
$10.79
Weaving political upheaval into the narrative, novelist Danticat explores the life of 12-year-old Sophie Caco, a girl forced to move to New York to live with a mother who's had little involvement in her upbringing.
17) <i>Black and Blue,</i> by Anna Quindlen
Random House Trade Paperbacks
amazon.com
$14.69
A woman runs away from her abusive husband to begin anew and give her son a better life in one of Oprah's 1998 picks.
16) <i>Here on Earth,</i> by Alice Hoffman
Berkley
amazon.com
$15.87
In this novel, March Murray returns to her Massachusetts hometown to face her past, including a man she was previously in love with.
15) <i>Paradise,</i> by Toni Morrison
amazon.com
$12.79
Morrison's novel, chosen in 1998, explores race relations in Oklahoma, along with the battle between two communities, one led by women refusing to give up their freedom.
14) <i>The Best Way to Play,</i> by Bill Cosby
Cartwheel
amazon.com
$12.50
Over 20 years before now-disgraced actor Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, his children's books, which follow the Little Bill character, made it onto the list, first in 1997.
13) <i>The Treasure Hunt,</i> by Bill Cosby
amazon.com
$4.99
Another of Cosby's children's books follows Little Bill and how he stays entertained on a rainy day.
12) <i>The Meanest Thing to Say,</i> by Bill Cosby
11) <i>A Virtuous Woman,<i> by Kaye Gibbons </i></i>
Gibbons, Kaye
amazon.com
$13.00
Chosen in 1997, Gibbons will make you fall in love with Blinking Jack Stokes and Ruby Pitt Woodrow, an unexpected pair that find solace in their differences.
10) <i>Ellen Foster,</i> by Kaye Gibbons
Algonquin Books
amazon.com
$10.99
Gibbons won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Institute of Arts and Letters for this novel, which follows 11-year-old Ellen, a complicated character who, early on, plots the death of her father.
9) <i>A Lesson Before Dying,</i> by Ernest J. Gaines
Vintage
amazon.com
$9.49
Gaines's novel details what happens after Jefferson, a Black man, is the only survivor of a shooting that left one white store owner killed. Oprah announced this selection in 1997.
8) <i>The Heart of a Woman,</i> by Maya Angelou
Random House Trade Paperbacks
amazon.com
$15.99
In 1997, Maya Angelou's autobiography made Oprah's list. This story recounts Angelou's move to New York from California with her son, Guy, and illustrates a community of Black artists that molded her.
7) <i>Songs in Ordinary Time,</i> by Mary McGarry Morris
6) <i>The Rapture of Canaan,</i> by Sheri Reynolds
Berkley Books
amazon.com
$15.94
After becoming pregnant, Ninah fears the reaction of her grandfather, the leader of a strict Christian congregation, in this book hailed by Oprah in 1997.
5) <i>Stones from the River,</i> by Ursula Hegi
Simon & Schuster
amazon.com
$18.20
Trudi Montag grapples with Nazism in Germany while learning that despite her difference in appearance as a dwarf, all humans are unique.
4) <i>She's Come Undone,</i> by Wally Lamb
Pocket Books
amazon.com
$16.99
Lamb's novel chronicles the life of Dolores Price, a 13-year-old who welcomes womanhood and is eventually dead-set on conquering her insecurities in this 1996 selection.
3) <i>The Book of Ruth,</i> by Jane Hamilton
Anchor
amazon.com
$11.49
Not only did Hamilton earn Oprah's praise in 1996, but she also won the 1989 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for Best First Novel for her story about a woman coming to terms with her rocky relationship with her mother—and life alone—after her dad's death.
2) <i>Song of Solomon,</i> by Toni Morrison
amazon.com
$11.59
In this 1996 pick, Morrison explores the life of Macon Dead Jr., a.k.a. Milkman, the son of the richest Black family in a small town, as he grows in and out of the South.
1) <i>The Deep End of the Ocean,</i> by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Penguin Books
amazon.com
$14.49
In 1996, Oprah's first-ever selection was this suspenseful novel, which follows a family as they learn to cope—through humor and unrelenting strength—with the disappearance of a child.
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Oprah has been recommending has been recommending her favorite books to readers via Oprah’s Book Club since 1996. Here's the complete list.