Here are a few more theories from GalleyCat on Oprah’s upcoming pick.
Yesterday, GalleyCat predicted the next Oprah Book Club pick could be All Aunt Hagar’s Children by Edward P. Jones, but reader Martin Schmutterer is placing his chips on the new Wally Lamb novel, The Hour I First Believed, even though it’s not scheduled to come out until November and it’s officially priced four dollars higher than what we’re told Oprah Winfrey‘s selection cost. “The Road proved that these things can be changed for O,” Schmutterer explains; we shall see…
And here’s another possibility—it’s been pointed out that perhaps the reason the Barnes & Noble website only lists a hardcover and large print edition for Oprah’s pick is not that the trade paperback is on the way, but that the book is so new that the paperback isn’t even on the horizon. And that possibility, runs one theory, would put David Wroblewski‘s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle into play… a debut novel that many would say lives up to Oprah’s claim about her upcoming selection: “Once you start it, you won’t want to put it down!”
But, you know, there’s no reason to take the word of some blogger on this—what do you think?
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is very good. But it is, like the play “Hamlet” that I’ve heard critics compare it to, a tragedy. If I had a dollar for every person who ever said they don’t like books without “a happy ending” I’d have my own bookstore by now. I’ve already heard that said about this novel too. I wonder how many people who read her suggestions are emotionally up to a modern tragedy?