At Her Majesty's Request...

Friends,

The Lord God Oprah, through her subscription bible O, put out a list of five books that everyone should read at least once. The list was created by one of her disciples, Vince Passaro, but we, as the playthings of the Wise and Just Oprah, should consider it as the word of She, The Pontiac Giver. This list was made in 2005, so I hope Queen Winfrey does not begrudge my coming late to these requests.

Anyway, here's the list. What do you think of it? Personally, I find them all wonderful, worthy of a list carrying Her name, which will in future generations will be unknowable, like the true name of God.

1) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2) Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
3) The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century translated by Thomas Merton
4) Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (by the way, while not recommended in the article, the film version of Waiting for Godot found in this collection is fantastic, and available for checkout in most libraries (including MNSU)...by the way, it's pronounced God-oh, not Guh-dough).
5) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

I am pleased that a disciple of The Oprah would pick works like Lolita & Waiting for Godot because they are so, so good. Not that the others are bad. Not at all. In fact, they are great. Fantastic even. Trees wish to be killed just to become paper with those words written on them. Oh, I hope I have not upset Her by disparaging Her list.

viva el mustache

ps...notice Terrance Hayes' Wind in a Box is not on that list...looks like the Shawshank Oprah e-mail campaign needs restarting