Last week you were unanimous in your willingness to read outside your demographic (i.e. young adult and children’s books).
This week I’ve been thinking about TV book clubs. A recent article in The Times examined The Richard & Judy effect: the process whereby a book recommended by the couple on their afternoon chat show immediately results in an enormous increase in sales. So much so that the Bookseller magazine suggests Richard and Judy’s recommendations are responsible for one in every 50 books sold in Britain! A similar phenomenon has been seen with Oprah Winfrey’s book club in the US.
Surely this can only be a good thing, particularly since there is so little book-related broadcasting in the UK. Not necessarily. Arts broadcaster Mark Lawson recently complained that, by picking books that would probably have done well without their help, Richard and Judy follow rather than lead public opinion.
There’s been criticism of the Oprah Book Club too. Jonathan Franzen’s comment that books chosen by Oprah were schmaltzy and one-dimensional led to the talk show host retracting her invitation to feature his book, The Corrections. (Following Oprah’s original endorsement, Franzen's publisher had increased the initial print run from 80,000 copies to 800,000 - proof of the Oprah effect!) [via a really interesting article at Moby Lives]
Thanks to Richard and Judy, I’ve read and enjoyed a bunch of books I wouldn’t otherwise have picked up. If because of Oprah, 800,000 people read a book that a tenth would otherwise have read, who’s to complain?
So what do you think? TV bookclubs: Yay or Nay and why?
Yay or Nay archives / Richard and Judy archives
[Don't forget it's Yay or Nay day at Hippyshopper, Bridalwave, Corrie Blog, Catwalk Queen, Kiss and Makeup, The Bag Lady, Shoewawa and Shiny Shiny, too!]
Look out for a special Yay or Nay Top 10 tomorrow!
