The New York Times reports that despite a highly publicised spat over The Corrections, TV host Oprah Winfrey has selected Jonathan Franzen’s latest novel to be part of her book club.
While it won’t be announced until the Friday Oprah show, booksellers are being told that Freedom will get the nod. Melville House’s blog Moby Lives, featured photos of the book with the famous sticker emblazoned on its cover.
When The Corrections came out, Franzen shrugged off the nomination for Oprah’s Book Club which brought the book even more publicity and greater sales. Franzen’s initial objections were, according to the New York Times, because “appearing on her show was out of keeping with his place in ‘the high-art literary tradition’ and might turn off some readers”. Does the selection of Freedom mean that it is a lowbrow book or has the TV goddess ascended now that there’s talk of renaming the Sydney Oprah House?