I Think You Have To Hand It To Oprah

I have a family member who appears to be making it her personal quest to keep the magazine industry afloat because she's subscribing to a bizarre number of the things. Recently, she's added O, The Oprah Magazine. It seems like a pretty generic mag to me, except for one thing--the Reading Room section, which in the March issue goes on for five pages and includes short write-ups on twelve books and a Books That Made A Difference piece by Sarah Vowell. That one includes five more titles. And there's a piece elsewhere in the magazine by and on Sandra Cisneros.

The book bits in the Reading Room have some real depth and breadth, too. They include what's described as a "naturalistic novel" by Philip K. Dick, the new bios of John Cheever and Flannery O'Connor, a volume of short stories, and a mystery.

And some of these bits are written by people like Jonathan Lethem, Francine Prose, and Amy Bloom. That's not too shabby.

While book reviews seem to be disappearing from the face of the Earth, one publication is doing its little part to bring titles to the attention of its readership.

Today's Training Report: Got two pieces done for the 365 Story Project and feel that I'm getting back into that groove. Also started writing a business letter. Business letters are very time consuming for me. Very angst-inducing.