Oprah revives book club

Just when the notion of book clubs had begun to seem quaint -- the luster had faded since a certain TV talk show’s retreat from the scene -- here comes Oprah Winfrey again, thundering in on her white horse. Winfrey says she plans to start a new TV book club on literary classics.

Her announcement Wednesday at a meeting of the Assn. of American Publishers in Washington drew a standing ovation.

Winfrey said her new club will focus on literary classics and may include several books from the same author. Three to five times a year, she will travel to a related site, such as the author’s birthplace or the book’s setting. She told the publishers that she hopes the new club will “make classic works of literature accessible to every woman and man who reads.”

Winfrey’s selections for her old book club, which ended last April, were all current releases that then landed on bestsellers lists. Her choices, though, sometimes were ridiculed by the literati as being lowbrow.

-- Renee Tawa