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When Oprah tells you to read a book, you do it.
On Tuesday, producer, philanthropist and media mogul Oprah Winfrey announced the next title for her book club—the comedy novel Go Gentle by Maria Semple.
It's the 122nd book pick and Oprah says this one is a real page-turner. As per the book's publisher:
Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a “coven”—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger.
Soon, her ordered world is upended by black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and international intrigue . . . and her past—which she has worked so hard to bury—lands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and she’ll risk everything to get it.
"This is one wild ride of a story that carries equal parts wit and wisdom," Winfrey said. "I learned so much about Stoicism—I laughed out loud for real. And underneath the humor there was always something tender … a quiet truth about relationships, identity, and what it means to find peace with yourself."
Already, the book, released on Tuesday, has 3.7 stars out of 5 on Goodreads and a positive review from The New York Times.
Semple is known for her other novels, Today Will Be Different, This One is Mine, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette, the last of which has 4 stars on Goodreads. It's a fan favorite and was even made into a film in 2019 starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, and Laurence Fishburne.
Go Gentle, which she discussed on The Oprah podcast, is Semple's first book in 10 years.
"To authors, 'to get the call' means one thing: Oprah has phoned out of the blue and made you a book club pick," Semple said. "Truth is, I should have been prepared, considering the countless hours I’d spent in fantasyland imagining it happening to me … before scolding myself that it was an honor bestowed on other, more serious writers. When, while tidying the kitchen, I heard her voice for the first time, I hit the ceiling in bewildered, grateful, joy. I’m still there."
Oprah's Book Club, which is is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has featured bestsellers like Kin by Tayari Jones, Matriarch by Tina Knowles, From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough, The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Becoming by Michelle Obama, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier and many more.
Watch the podcast with Semple below before heading to the bookstore:
