"She's picked some good books," Franzen said in an interview posted on Powells.com, "but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one-dimensional ones that I cringe, myself ..."
Impossible to imagine the woman who endorsed Bridges of Madison County, and her audience, enjoying any of Jonathan Franzen. Pretentious book-club bimbos ought to stick with work offering a veneer of thoughtfulness, by trendy authors. Mind you, I like that he got a sales boost out of the publicity. I realize that not ALL of her recommendations are bad, and I recognize that not ALL of her audience is witless, but witless women tend to follow her instructions as they would the dictates of a prophet. Oprah-fandom itself gives them the appearance of some sort of intelligence.
I got a kick out of Franzen's "apologies":
"To find myself being in the position of giving offense to someone who's a hero -- not a hero of mine per se, but a hero in general -- I feel bad," he told USA Today. (From here)
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