Balls

I don't normally notice this stuff, or make a big deal about it, but...

As of yesterday's bookclub announcement by Oprah: since Jan 2005, she's picked 7 books.

All of them have been by men.

If you go back, since 2003 she's picked 13 titles. 11 of them are by men.

For approximately 40* million reasons I find that amazing.

*49 million viewers watch the show every week and the majority are overwhelmingly female. More than  80% say some searches.

Comments

[Katharine Weber]

Maybe -- just maybe -- her purpose in selecting Cormac McCarthy's bestselling, prizewinning novel isn't to provide largely female book clubs with a discovery or an imaginative pick, and maybe it isn't to offer her almost entirely female audience a book they will adore. (They are not going to adore this book.) Maybe -- just maybe -- Oprah is trying to lure male viewers to her show.

[Lauren Baratz-Logsted]

I think Oprah is trying to give herself more gravitas lately - not that she needs to give herself any more of anything! :) But I have been noticing, how much male authors seem to be dominating the most popular airwaves. E.g., Jon Stewart's Daily Show is a wonderful vehicle for selling books and there are authors on all the time - and I do love the show! - but I can't remember the last time I caught a female author on there.

[David J. Montgomery]

It's always possible that Oprah is simply picking the books that really move her and that she wants to share with the world -- and those books have just happened to be by men.

Of course, I'm not sure Oprah does anything on her show without a calculated reason behind it. One doesn't achieve her level of success by accident.

[M.J]

Of course not, I agree with you David. I don't think there is any agenda at all. I just think its interesting and odd and so typical of the world.