Good questions, Stephanie! Re Oprah -- I do not see her book club choices as fluff at all. In fact, her novels oftentimes are a little too intense for readers. She loves to read books about people going through tough, tough times. Her choices are sometimes too dark for me. For instance, Toni Morrison is not an easy read, by any stretch of the imagination! And contrary to Barrett, I hated Freedom, but I may have been influenced by a personal encounter with Jonathan Franzen. But that's a story to be told over lots of liquid refreshment, not here on PDD.

In terms of finding good books, I'd check out the DNT's Sunday bestsellers list, which they get from the Midwest Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Booksellers Association -- both are organizations of independent booksellers in the Midwest who report the books selling best in their stores. Since indie booksellers choose their inventory (rather than someone in NYC doing the selecting) and often handsell the books they most love, this list always has some amazing reads on it. If you want to know what's a good read, ask your local independent bookseller, I say. I always ask some indie booksellers I know whom I trust, like this one bookseller in Milwaukee who is always spot on.

And I so agree with you about e-books. Not my thing at all.

It may be the circles you hang out in. I read a lot and my circle includes both males and females who read a lot. I tend to ignore Oprah, one way or the other. Her recommendations neither incites me to buy a book nor inhibits me from the same. I can imagine myself having an ebook reader at some point, but sort of like in the vein of music, I'll buy an mp3 but if I really like an album I'll get it on vinyl if available. I can envision having an ebook reader for something I know I'll read once, but not something I love.

I love the casual conversation where someone drops a book reference...then, several people catch the reference, and those who don't are left behind.  A deep and engaging conversation ensue.

Literature aint broken, but it's badly bent.  As a lousy reader, I have to discipline myself away from things like PDD to make time to read.

Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible is on my top 5 list despite it's "O" stamp.

I agree with the "movie on the cover" thing, but I'd probably never have picked it up True Grit if the Coen Bros hadn't redone the film.  Fantastic story to be sure.  Hattie Ross is now a new hero of mine (as is Charles Portis).  

RE: finding things to read . . . All I have to do is look at something like the NYT's end-of-year list of "100 Best Books" and I can find numerous selections to keep me busy.  I read fairly slow though so I don't need as much material to remain occupied (not to mention I'm a non-fiction junkie). And FWIW, I trust Oprah's choice in books just because she seems to give a shizzle about something being good as opposed to something being widely accessible.  Can't say that for too many media outlets these days.

By the way, I'm well aware of the "evil" that is Amazon (I buy from those used booksellers that connect off the book--usually the cheapest). And that by buying used I'm not being a good booklover. Sorry. I'm poor. I also buy only specific books these days, due to that same fact. Browsing through bookstore stacks makes me spend money I do not have.

Heidi, his name is Per Petterson. He's got 3 novels now published in the USA by Graywolf. He indeed rocks. I knew he'd be big when my high school teacher in Calif. started raving about him to me soon after Out Stealing Horses was released in the US by a tiny Minny nonprofit press.

I want to put in a plug for some of the YA literature being published these days, there are some amazing reads out there! Don't discount a book b/c it's in the YA section in the library or bookstore. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelley was hands down my favorite read last year. And we can't forget Harry Potter, a children's/YA series that introduced so many kids --and adults -- to books. I first heard about Harry Potter way back in 1998 from, you guessed it, independent booksellers.

Barrett, I see your point about e-readers being less cumbersome than books, esp when traveling. Whenever we travel anywhere, we buy books along the way, then have to ship them home, it all adds up. But if I happen to lose my book or want to hand it on to someone, I don't think twice about it. I'd be worried all the time about losing an e-reader. And when I am on a plane and the flight attendant tells everyone to shut down their e-readers, I laugh, as I continue reading my print book.

And, Carla, I love you too! You and Barb have some fine books shelved at the cafe, I highly recommend the selection there, there are some gems hiding out on those shelves.

One of the best resources locally for good literature is the Duluth Public Library.  I read book reviews from the New Yorker and New York Times, then check out the Library website, and 99% of the time, they've got the book. I've read about 10 books a month for the last dozen years,and almost every read has been 'free' from the Library.

Literature certainly isn't dead (or dying), but I do think you have to find the right group of people to discuss books with. Maybe it helps that I have an English degree as do my husband and my best friend, though, so between us and other friends/family, we have a built-in book club almost.

I'll recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, if anyone is looking for a good book. (Alison Anderson's translation from French is gorgeous. I'm looking for someone who has or will read it in French to discuss it with me to see how true to the original the ideas and certain translated sections are, as some may be translated for an English-language audience -- and I'm just curious like that.) I picked it up on a whim from The Bookstore at Fitger's a while back, just one of those gut feelings, and the book turned out to be just right. It's one of those books that seem like a conversation you'd have with another literary person, and it references other books (mainly Anna Karenina by Tolstoy -- definitely another one to pick up and read, if you haven't).

I've never had to shut off my nook on an airplane. I just turn the wifi part off, and I'm good to go (same as with a laptop. If I'm watching a move, I just turn the wifi off and keep watching). I guess there's a reason the ability to turn wifi off on the nook is called "Airplane Mode." ;) I'm a voracious reader, and the nook has been a huge space saver in my carry-ons, since I would normally have to take at least five or six books (or more -- not including the ones I buy while on vacation) with me when I'm gone for more than a weekend (and I never check luggage). With my nook, I currently have over 300 books at my fingertips. I love the e-ink and lack of backlighting. 

I'm the same as someone else on here mentioned, though: I may first buy it on the e-reader, but if it's one I love, I'll buy a physical copy (and I still buy tons of physical copies, because my husband and I just love books) just like if I love an album, I'll buy the vinyl (if available). There's nothing like the smell and feel of a book, and as much as I love my nook for its portability and ease of carrying several hundred books around, it will never fully replace physical ones.

For example, I have 60 gigs of music on an ANCIENT Ipod I purchased way back in 2003. Itunes doesn't recognize it when I plug in into my computer

S'why it is important to be very wary of propitiatory technology and software. All my digital music players have to be plug and play/drag and drop. I likely will not go e-reader route until ebook formats are cross platform compatible

That's weird about your iPod. I have one from about May/June 2004 (literally four days before they came out with the then-newer one, whenever that was in 2004) that is still going strong. I refuse to buy a new music player until this one dies, so I carry around my "brick" (according to people who see it) of a player. It still works with iTunes, and what's more, I can now download the music OFF of the darned thing (wasn't as easy back in the good ol' days when I first got it, especially since I had a hard drive go bad shortly after I bought it and had already mega-loaded it with music. The drive took my music with it -- and Apple was absolutely no help on that front for several years. Luckily, my husband's best friend was working for Apple at the time. When he eventually visited from CA, he was able to download the info for me to back up again.)

Most of my e-reader books were downloaded from Project Gutenberg, which is a helpful site, as I can download them in a variety of formats (including plain text and some in pdf). Some of them even have the original illustrations, which is an added bonus for an e-ink reader. That said, probably 99% of my e-books are also in another format already (such as the plain text and so on), so I'm not worried about losing the capability to read my books in ten years. (Not to mention that I've only had to purchase three books on the entire thing, so I'm out little money even if it becomes obsolete tomorrow. B&N has weekly free reads and often has a large selection of free books in the classics range. Also, as I've mentioned, most came from Project Gutenberg anyway, and are in non-proprietary formats already. I can and do read pdfs on the nook. And as the nook itself cost me all of 39 cents --yes, cents--, I'm good to go for a while until it dies. Even if the technology becomes obsolete, I can and will use this thing until it dies and get my money's worth out of it. I tend to do that with technology except for laptops and computers due to my line of work anyway.) Some of my e-books are ones I have well-loved physical copies of already and just want a more portable version to read snippets here and there when I'm in the mood for that particular book or author.

Carl, I agree about mood. I tend to read "lighter" literature on my e-reader, but that might be because I tend to buy the heavier literature I want to read (or check it out at the library and then buy it if I like it). There's just something about the printed page, no matter how much I like my nook. An e-reader is nice for those with impaired vision, though, and I wish e-readers had been around when my grandmother was alive. She read several books a day and often didn't even sleep for reading all night. When her eyesight started failing, she was sorely limited in what she could read, but with an e-reader, she could have adjusted the book text and read all night again.

Claire: thanks for the clarification on Oprah's selection process...I think I was just going for a 'think for yourself, question the Oprah' stance..but indeed, there has to be some gems in there.  

And yes, although I have never used an ereader (am old-fashioned in certain respects), I think mood would be relevant.  And there's something about having that physically weighted copy in your hands that seems to almost be an imprinted habit in my mind (at least, that feeling outweighs my fear of accidentally destroying an ereader in a freak accident)

Feel the need to justify? A polite discussion about the positives and negatives of e-readers is really wierd? 

I suppose you might want to pipe in to explain why you don't feel the need to justify your really wierd comment too.

Fair enough... and I'll learn the right way to spell weird.

Conneticut?