One of the most well-known celebrity book clubs celebrates 30 years this month: Oprah’s Book Club. Launched in September 1996, Oprah has highlighted 124 books.
Oprah’s Book Club began as a monthly segment on her television talk show, with a break from the monthly cadence in the early 00s when Oprah said she could not keep up with the required reading. This ran until 2011, when the club evolved into Oprah’s Book Club 2.0, rolling into Oprah’s OWN and utilizing social media for discussion. Apple TV+ brought Oprah’s Book Club back to television between 2019 and 2021, and today, the book club operates as part of Oprah’s podcast.
Many of the books selected by Oprah have sold millions of copies, and titles have ranged from fiction to nonfiction, new releases to classics.
- The very first Oprah’s Book Club pick was The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard, which was Mitchard’s debut novel.
- Oprah’s most current pick for September 2026 is Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller
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- 74 of the authors who’ve had books selected are female–including two female author duos–while 52 of the authors are male.
- About 34% of the authors have been authors of color.
- Authors Eckhart Tolle, Bill Cosby, Toni Morrison, Charles Dickens, Marilynne Robinson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jonathan Franzen, Wally Lamb, Jane Hamilton, Kaye Gibbons, Tayari Jones, and Barbara Kingsolver have each seen more than one of their books selected.
Oprah’s got several celebrations planned throughout September for the big 3-0:
- “30 Books I Can’t Forget” Daily Reveals, with Oprah announcing one of her Club Picks each day in September as among the most memorable.
- A special episode of Oprah’s Book Club Podcast on September 30, featuring Barbara Kingsolver, Ocean Vuong, Abraham Verghese, Elizabeth Strout, and Viola Davis.
Oprah’s Book Club has inspired numerous celebrity book clubs. It has also been at the center of several literary controversies. Who can forget Jonathan Franzen’s disdain about The Corrections being selected or the discovery of fabrications in James Frey’s “memoir” A Million Little Pieces?
Whatever you may feel about Oprah or her picks and whatever format her club has taken, one thing is for sure: she’s helped countless people discover or rediscover a love of reading for three decades.
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