Orpah’s Choice: A Balm for Frey

Oprah’s 56th book club choice is The Measure of A Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier (HarperSanFrancisco). The book was originally published in 2000.

On Oprah’s new book club pick, the Chicago Tribune says:

If her goal was to erase the memory of the disgraced James Frey, then Oprah Winfrey couldn’t have made a better pick for her book club than a memoir by Sidney Poitier.

I don’t know: I think that was maybe the point. And over the years, Oprah has certainly demonstrated that she’s someone who can grasp a point.

Since Frey’s “memoir” turned out to be almost as packed with as much fantasy as a Terry Pratchett novel, it would make sense to choose not only a book and author Winfrey admired (and there’s a lot to admire here, certainly) but one who seemed, by temperament and reputation, unlikely to have fabricated even small things.

Meanwhile, Winfrey’s Web site is offering readers the opportunity to ask Poitier an interview question and listen to an excerpt of him reading from the book.

The Tribune’s story is here, Oprah’s book club is here and the whole sordid James Frey thing is here, in case you missed it about this time last year.