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Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Thursday, March 28

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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.

 
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Book Club is the literary section of Gapers Block, covering Chicago's authors, poets and literary events. More...

Editor: Andrew Huff, ah@gapersblock.com
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