A Beginner's Guide to Oprah's Book Club on Apple TV+

If there's one thing that distinguishes Apple TV+'s launch from that of every other streaming service that's preceded it, it's sheer star power. Between the cadre of stars that blanket their launch slate and projects in the works from the likes of Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and M. Night Shyamalan, Apple is clearly banking on big name talent to draw attention subscribers. One of the biggest names in the entertainment industry is Oprah Winfrey, and any TV partnership with her was always going to garner headlines. But Apple went one better, striking an agreement with Winfrey to bring back one of her most popular and ventures from her talk show days: Oprah's Book Club.

A fixture of The Oprah Winfrey Show from its mid-'90s inception, lasting in some form or another until the Oprah show came to an end, Oprah's Book Club was not only hugely popular with viewers, but it meant a massive uptick in sales for the books chosen. Oprah really was getting America to read more. The Oprah-viewing portion of America, at least.

So how will Oprah's Book Club operate in 2019, without an Oprah Winfrey Show to host it? And for those of us who may have missed the boat the first time around, why is Oprah's Book Club such a big deal in the first place? Read on...

Okay, Start Slow: What Was Oprah's Book Club?

Oprah's Book Club was a recurring segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show (another recurring segment was Oprah's Favorite Things, if you're looking to compare it to something). Initially airing once a month (before ultimately down-shifting to 1-4 times per year), the segment would consist of Oprah introducing a novel that she'd hand-picked and was recommending to her viewers to go read, followed by a discussion of the novel, sometimes with its author.

Was Successful?

Massively. Bookstores and public libraries couldn't keep copies of the books (each emblazoned with a big Oprah's Book Club stamp to better alert shoppers) on the shelves. Waiting lists were long, demand was high, and the publishing industry suddenly had a human recommendation engine the likes of which it had never seen. Oprah's approval meant everything.

What Were Some of the Oprah-Approved Books?

The 70+ books featured as Oprah's Book Club selections included titles like Middlesex, A Lesson Before Dying, and The Poisonwood Bible. Authors selected included Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jonathan Franzen (more on him in a moment). When Winfrey opened the Club up to more classic works of literature, she included the likes of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Carson McCullers.

Were Any of the Books Turned into Movies?

Oh yes. Nearly a decade of Oscar-buzzed indies emerged from the titles of Oprah's Book Club, starting with the very first selection in 1996: Jacquelyn Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean, which became a Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle in 1999. Other book-to-movie adaptions included:

• Where the Heart Is
• The Reader
• White Oleander
• A Map of the World
• The House of Sand and Fog
• The Road
• Wild

Was It Controversial?

A few times, yes. In 2001, Oprah selected Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections for the Book Club, and the author pitched such a fit about his brilliant work of literature being lumped in with Oprah's "schmaltzy, one-dimensional" aesthetic. Franzen was subject to a huge backlash, and when he tried to walk it back and make nice with Oprah, she was not having it. In 2010, Oprah chose Franzen's Freedom for the Book Club, and the two were able to put the past behind them.

Far more damaging -- to both the Book Club and to Oprah's personal credibility -- was the selection of author James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, a memoir about drug addiction that, some time after Frey appeared on Oprah's Book Club to talk about the book, was revealed to be almost entirely fabricated. Oprah was deeply embarrassed, and Frey's mea culpa return to the Oprah show to explain his actions was one of the great televised disembowelings of the modern era.

When Did Oprah's Book Club End?

The Book Club ended three months into the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, in late 2010.  But in 2012, it was resurrected as a joint project between OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and O: The Oprah Magazine. Cheryl Strayed's Wild was the first book of the new era, dubbed "Oprah's Book Club 2.0." This version incorporated Facebook and Twitter and convened far less frequently.

So How Will Oprah's Book Club Work on Apple TV+?

As part of a new wide-ranging partnership with Apple, Winfrey will choose and promote a new book across her various media brands every two months, culminating on Apple TV+ with a discussion with the author and a small studio audience. Her first selection was anounced in September: the debut novel from celebrated journalist and nonfiction author Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Water Dancer. 

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.