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News Tue May 24 2011
The Oprah Book Effect
Wondering how the impending absence of Oprah will affect book sales? As an avid reader, with or without Oprah, I tend to think that we REAL readers - those of us whose shelves are stacked with books we plan to read someday, who never go anyway without a book on their person, who get more from a good find at a used bookstore than most women get from buying a new pair of shoes - will barely take note of her show's passing. That may be a bit of snobbery (or plain annoyance from being asked, when you're reading a book Oprah happened to pick, if you've read any of "her" other books and you realize they're not talking about the author), but the picture painted by these Nielson BookScan numbers is pretty hard to ignore. As a champion of books of all kinds, I have to admit that this loss makes me sad, just a little.