On Oprah’s blog, Life Lift, we have our weekly book recommendation.

Coral Glynn by Peter Cameron

Coral Glynn
by Peter Cameron

In the standard domestic drama, a poor lonely girl comes to work for a rich lonely man, and the two fall in love, a la Jane Eyre. The thought-provoking Coral Glynn begins in just this way. It’s right after World War, and Coral comes to nurse the dying mother of Major Clement Hart—an Englishman whose leg and confidence have been badly damaged on the battlefield. The Major quickly falls in love with Coral, and the two decide to get married, until a gruesome murder in the neighboring woods sends Coral fleeing back to London. For a few pages, it seems as if this book may turn into a Gothic thriller: how will the two reunite and who exactly is the killer? But Peter Cameron is so much more of skilled and subtle writer than this. Underneath his page-turning plot is a careful, complex examination of loss—and the human ability to fully experience love after too much loss. Coral has suffered all kinds of quiet, devastating violence in her own life—the unspoken kind that’s either ignored or simply expected when it comes to working-class woman, post-war or not. It’s her emotional life that becomes the real mystery of the novel. Coral can’t engage with others, even as they become entranced, if not bewitched, by her. She tries to connect, of course, and at strange, unexpected times, longs for more, such as when she enters a florist shop and is overwhelmed by the beauty of the flowers, feeling “in some way that ll the life and warmth of the cold, drab town, of her life, had collected in this room—that she was in the hot golden center of the world.”  Here is the pleasure of the novel—albeit a painful one. In bringing Coral to life, Cameron knows what not to say, how to leave the kind of tiny, white space that lets us readers imagine the huge, colorful, overwhelming world of even the most broken human heart.

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USATODAY brings further attention to the underground, cult-like book, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY that is becoming one of the most talked about books of the season. Turns out, FIFTY SHADES started off as a Twilight Fan Fiction creation.

Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by EL James:

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind – until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her – but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

What do you give a baby born with everything? If you’re Oprah Winfrey you give BOOKS! According to The Insider, Ms. O sent Jay-Z and Beyonce’s new baby girl, Blue Ivy, a trunk full of children’s books…now wouldn’t you love to know which books made Oprah’s list?

On August 11, 2011, ABRAMS and Harpo, Inc. released the cover of The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy and a list of notable luminaries who are contributing to the book.  Copies of The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy can be pre-ordered wherever books are sold and will be available in stores November 15 and will probably be a BIG holiday book purchase.

The book chronicles the full 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show with unforgettable highlights and images, as well as essays about its indelible impact and most important themes by well-known individuals across a wide variety of areas and interests.

These contributors include:

• Maya Angelou, who writes the foreword
• Bono and Nicholas Kristof writing on giving and social action
• Ellen DeGeneres, Stanley Crouch, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., writing on equality
• Julia Roberts and Diane von Furstenberg writing on culture and style
• Toni Morrison and Elie Wiesel writing on books
• Maria Shriver and Gloria Steinem writing on women’s issues
• Dr. Phil McGraw, Mark Nepo, and Marianne Williamson writing on spirit and personal growth
• Bob Greene and Dr. Mehmet Oz writing on health and wellness
• John Travolta and Phil Donahue contributing tributes to Ms. Winfrey

The cover features an image of Ms. Winfrey taken by acclaimed fashion photographer Ruven Afanador.

About the Book
The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy
Abrams
On Sale: November 15, 2011
Author: Deborah Davis w/ foreword by Maya Angelou and multiple contributors
Hardcover with jacket
$50.00 US / $55.00 CAN
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0059-0
150 color photographs 240 pages / 10 ½ X 13 ½

Read more at Oprah’s Press Room.

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
Oprah Winfrey

I was lucky enough to be a part of Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure and traveled extensively through Australia with the incomparable Ms. O. When I first ran into her (as pictured above) she said, “Jocelyn! My book club girl!” A perfect moment!

Last night I appeared on the Oprah Book Club webcast for Uwem Akpan’s SAY YOU’RE ONE OF THEM. This book of stories about life in a war-torn Africa, ironically enough, helped me understand deeper parts of myself. The emotional landscape of these stories are breathtaking and reading the book was like a journey. Having been an Oprah Book Club fan from the beginning (way back in 1996 with The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard), it was thrilling to be a part of this worldwide event. I was able to climb deep inside the book, understand the author’s intentions when creating certain characters and developing specific events and hear about other people’s reaction to the book. This was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I can’t wait to find out what the next Book Club selection will be!

Publishing’s surest hitmaker announced that her latest book club pick is Uwem Akpan’s (YOO’-ehm AK’-panz) debut collection “Say You’re One Of Them.”

Winfrey’s choice practically guarantees hundreds of thousands of sales, numbers generally unthinkable for short stories beyond works by Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever and other giants of the art form.

Akpan is a native of Nigeria and an ordained Jesuit priest who in 2006 received a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan.

His work is set in Nigeria, Rwanda and other African countries and often centers on children in distress.

In 2005, The New Yorker featured him in its debut fiction issue.

-Associated Press

I would LOVE to hear what everyone out there is thinking about Oprah’s pick. Feel free to leave a comment. Will you be reading this selection?

Oprah “tweeted“  Monday that her first new book club pick in a year will be announced Friday, Sept. 18. In her announcement, Winfrey stated that she had “never made a selection like “this.”

The week leading up to her announcement could be a record-breaker for the publishing industry. September 14th is the release of Sen. Ted Kennedy‘s “True Compass,” followed the next day by Dan Brown‘s “The Lost Symbol” and rounded out by Oprah’s choice on Friday. This could bring one of the biggest weeks in publishing history.

The last book club selection Oprah made was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. If you head over to Oprah’s website and check out the webcast for her book club discussion, you will see yours truly!

James Frey is finally getting back at Oprah for ambushing him in an interview in 2006, for lying in his memoir A Million Little Pieces.

In the paperback edition of Bright Shiny Morning, Frey adds a talk show scene, where the host berates the character.

“He went on the show. It wasn’t what he was told it was going to be. He got berated, yelled at, booed, scolded, lectured, humiliated.”

The narrator becomes paranoid because of this and loses his mind,  I wonder what Oprah will say about that.

(via Daily Beast)

SUMMARY: Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar’s lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar’s paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles’ once peaceful home. When Edgar’s father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm—and into Edgar’s mother’s affections.

Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father’s death, but his plan backfires—spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father’s murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.

This book, chosen by Oprah as her latest Book Club Pick, has stirred up quite a lot of debate on line. Without giving anything away, I will say that the ending is unexpected, emotional and polarizing. Some people love it, some hate, and others are still questioning the meaning surrounding it.

Regardless of whether you loved it or hated it, THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE is a very special book because it gets people talking, opens up a debate and leaves the reader questioning virtually everything. Wroblewski has written a book that has a very special place in my heart because it reminded me of the first book that ever created an emotional reaction in my young reading life. It was WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS and it absolutely broke my heart. It was certainly one of the most emotionally heavy books I had ever read, and it brought me to tears. THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE did the same thing. What left me the most haunted emotionally was the relationship between Edgar and his dog, Almondine. Almondine reminded me of my own beloved dogs, those living and those that have passed.

Many people see reading as only a mindless escape, but good books should never be considered mindless. Maybe THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE is too heavy for those looking for light reading, but it is certainly a book to be experienced.  Oprah just released the news recently that she is partnering with the film production company that has purchased the rights to the book and will be teaming up with Tom Hanks’ production company to bring THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE to the big screen.

Today is the day Oprah makes her next Book Club Selection. Any guesses? We will be posting ALL about it as soon as it is announced. We will also be reading along and keeping our readers informed.