England’s Answer to Oprah: Richard and Judy
Posted by: Misha Stone
So, I just got back from a rather whirlwind tour through London. With an infant in tow, no less. Well, I meant to take notes on what people were reading in the Tube (one of my favorite things to do while on vacation), but I had another brilliant idea.
I had noticed these stickers on books last time I was in London–stickers proclaiming “Richard and Judy’s Book Club.” These stickers are everywhere and the books are pretty much always on the bestsellers lists.
Richard and Judy (pictured above with J.K. Rowling) are two British TV personalities who have parlayed their popular talk show into an opportunity to borrow from Oprah–to talk about and sell books. Like Oprah (but on a smaller scale, mind you), they have become the taste-makers of a nation.
For quite a few years now, Richard and Judy have been sending books up the bestsellers lists and even host a Book of the Year Award program.
While some book groups avoid bestsellers like the plague, I find that such lists can offer some interesting titles in the mix and represent the pulse of the time. But even for groups that like to avoid bestsellers or even Oprah picks, why not try some bestsellers from abroad? While you’ll see many of the same titles in our lists, you’ll also find some books and authors off the beaten path in America.
Here is the list of Richard and Judy picks since they started their popular book club in 2004:
2004
- Monica Ali - Brick Lane
- Martina Cole - The Know
- William Dalrymple - White Mughals
- Zoe Heller - Notes on a Scandal
- David Nicholls - Starter for Ten
- Joseph O’Connor - The Star of the Sea
- Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones (winner)
- Asne Seierstad - The Bookseller of Kabul
- Nigel Slater - Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger
- Adriana Trigiani - Lucia, Lucia
2005
- William Brodrick - The Sixth Lamentation
- Paula Byrne - Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson
- Justin Cartwright - The Promise of Happiness
- Karen Joy Fowler - The Jane Austen Book Club
- Chris Heath - Feel: Robbie Williams
- David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas (winner)
- Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler’s Wife
- Jodi Picoult - My Sister’s Keeper
- Andrew Taylor - The American Boy
- Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Shadow of the Wind
- Harry Hindley- goes back in time
2006
- Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
- Richard Benson - The Farm
- Geraldine Brooks - March
- Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer
- Martin Davies - The Conjurer’s Bird
- Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
- Anchee Min - Empress Orchid
- Kate Mosse - Labyrinth (winner)
- Eva Rice - The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets
- Andrew Smith - Moondust
2007
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun
- William Boyd - Restless
- A.M. Homes - This Book Will Save Your Life
- Lori Lansens - The Girls
- James Robertson - The Testament of Gideon Mack
- Griff Rhys Jones - Semi-detached
- Jed Rubenfeld - The Interpretation of Murder (winner)
- Catherine Ryan Hyde - Love in the Present Tense
2008
- Danny Scheinmann - Random Acts of Heroic Love
- Katharine McMahon - Rose of Sebastopol
- Roger Jon Ellory - A Quiet Belief in Angels
- Patrick Gale - Notes from an Exhibition
- Joshua Ferris - Then We Came to the End
- Mark Slouka - Visible World
- Lloyd Jones - Mister Pip
- Tim Butcher - Blood River
- Peter Ho Davies - The Welsh Girl
- Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
Additionally, Richard and Judy have hosted a Summer Book Club, and you can find those titles as well listed on the Wikipedia page.
Cheers!
March 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
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October 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am
[...] by Richard & Judy, British television personalities with their own book club a la Oprah. Misha wrote about them some posts [...]