Bob Cox sent in This Story from Salon on all those \”best of\” books. You know the ones, \”Best Short Stories\”, \”Best Long Stories\”, \”Best Boring Stories\”…..
\”Preselection is one of those organizing principles — like Oedipal conflict or right-wing conspiracy — that seem, the minute you hear them, to make disparate phenomena fall into an understandable pattern. Oprah\’s Book Club, for instance, has had more influence on American literature than Lionel Trilling and Ralph Waldo Emerson combined. It\’s so popular because Winfrey is saying, \”This is a good book. Go and read it.\” \”
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