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Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3239
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 26, 2007 - 08:01 pm: | 
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Winfrey's Book Club Returns With Poitier Memoirs
1/26/2007 12:12 PM ET
CHICAGO (AP) — Oprah Winfrey turned to an old acquaintance and personal idol for her first new book club choice since the James Frey scandal a year ago, announcing Friday that she had selected Sidney Poitier's The Measure of a Man.
Poitier's "spiritual autobiography," published in 2000, combines memories of such plays and films as A Raisin in the Sun and The Defiant Ones with observations about the Academy Award-winning actor's childhood, his religious faith, his thoughts on racism and the influence of such world leaders as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.
"He writes really candidly and passionately about his childhood, his family, relationships and his extraordinary career," Winfrey said on her show. "It's a beautifully crafted book, written like poetry. Because, just as he speaks so eloquently, he also writes that way, too."
Poitier did not appear on the telecast. But Winfrey said she will host "a once in a lifetime dinner party" with Poitier that will include members of her book club.
She called him "one of my personal heroes since I was a little girl."
The Measure of a Man spent several weeks on The New York Times' list of best sellers, and the audio edition, narrated by Poitier, won a Grammy Award for best spoken word album. Poitier wrote a previous memoir, This Life, released in 1980.
Right before Winfrey announced her selection, her 56th book club pick, The Measure of a Man ranked 288,958 on Amazon.com, a number that will likely change, and fast. Winfrey's picks almost inevitably top best seller lists.
Mark Tauber, vice president and deputy publisher of HarperSanFrancisco, an imprint of HarperCollins, declined Friday to say how many books would be printed, but did say he expects to sell hundreds of thousands of copies.
Tauber also said that unlike many celebrity memoirists, Poitier did not use a ghostwriter, although the actor did have editorial "help."
"I'm sure there'll be speculation about Winfrey picking yet another memoir," Tauber said. "But Poitier's life is filled with so much integrity."
During an interview that appeared in her own O magazine in 2000, Winfrey and Poitier discussed his life and career, a meeting that the talk show host acknowledged left her feeling like a star-struck fan.
"Poitier and I are sitting across from each other at the Bel-Air hotel in Los Angeles — and I'm admiring that, at 73, this man still personifies grace, ease, strength and courage," Winfrey wrote at the time. "He is a gentleman in every sense of the word. In my more than 25 years as an interviewer, I've talked to hundreds of people — yet today, I'm giddy."
In 2005, Poitier made a surprise appearance on Winfrey's TV program, when she was marking her 20th anniversary on the air. Just before he came on stage, Winfrey had been telling her audience that after she had interviewed the actor, "I sobbed and cried because I felt I was not good enough for Sidney." Poitier, apparently, was also disappointed — with himself — and phoned Winfrey to say so.
"It was life-changing," Winfrey was recalling, moments before Poitier arrived. "I was like, 'Oh my God."'
Poitier, who turns 80 on Feb. 20, became the first black performer to win the Oscar for best actor, cited in 1964 for Lilies of the Field. His other films include In the Heat of the Night,To Sir, With Love and The Blackboard Jungle. In 2002, Poitier received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
He should be a welcome break from the travesty of Frey, whose A Million Little Pieces was picked by Winfrey in the fall of 2005, only to have The Smoking Gun website reveal in January 2006 that the memoir was largely fabricated. Winfrey initially defended Frey, then changed her mind, brought him back to the show and chewed him out.
Winfrey's next pick, Elie Wiesel's Night, was announced on Jan. 16, 2006, soon after the Frey scandal broke, but had already been decided upon weeks earlier. More than 1.5 million copies of Wiesel's Holocaust memoir were sold because of Winfrey's selection, according to publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Winfrey acknowledged on Friday's show that it had been a year since she had chosen a selection for her book club. She said she was busy during that time researching curriculum for her school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa, which opened earlier this month.
"So I really did not have time to devote to reading other books," she said. "But now I do."
Winfrey indicated the idea to feature The Measure of a Man came to her over the holidays while she was dining with a group of people in Africa that included Poitier.
"We were all sitting around the table, and I was asking Sidney Poitier to tell some of the life stories from his book. And let me tell you, everybody at the table was weeping," Winfrey said. "I was sitting there thinking, I wish everybody could hear this. And then I realized, everybody can! Everybody can. I love this book."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-01-26-oprah-book-choice_x.htm
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 6971
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 26, 2007 - 09:09 pm: |
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If Sidney Poitier is running low on funds, this will certain jump start his finances. Oprah is such a suck-up and endorsing his autobiography is kinda like "gilding the lily". I'd prefer to read a book by an unsung black author with a more inspiring tale to tell than Sidney Poiter whose growing up poor didn't really distinguish him from most of his black contemporaries. He achieved success relatively easy and never really immersed himself in the black struggle. At a time when other black celebrities were speaking out and coming forward, Sidney was busy marrying a white woman and not rocking the boat, albeit creating a noteworthy body of work. This very authentic-looking black man is almost the anti-thesis of Kathleen Cleaver and is a prime example of "black is, as black does". |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3240
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 26, 2007 - 09:39 pm: |
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I believe that Oprah chose his book because she's still reeling from the controversy of her last selection, she needs to regain her credibility and Mr. Poitier is "safe."
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3480
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 27, 2007 - 10:29 am: |
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I hope it turns out to have been ghostwritten by a white woman and it blows up in her face.
I am so thouroughly sick of this woman if she showed up with Jesus I'd turn her off.
Don't go away mad,O. Just go away. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 8142
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 02:42 pm: |
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Chris: "I hope it turns out to have been ghostwritten by a white woman..."
Like whom? Sidney's WIFE?
Hahahahaha!!! |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3504
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - 12:11 pm: |
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Just look at O--she has to be holding the book, smiling--it's all about O whatever it is.
She is as sickening as Mary Lou Retton (remember her--everywhere you looked she was grinning and chirping "It's supercharged!"
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 8196
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - 12:39 pm: |
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Chris,
Dayam, bruh. Comparing Oprah to that insufferablea$$ Retton is a LOW-lowblow. |
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