Between my classes I went to a small bookstore on St. Catherine called Argos, I believe. I browsed the fiction section and bought a copy of Widow For a Year by John Irving for only five dollars. I've been thinking of buying the book for a while now but whenever I found it in Chapters, or Indigo, or whatever bookstore I was in, it always looked too expensive. Maybe later, I thought to myself. I guess I wasn't ready to dish out twenty-five dollars for it.

Another reason I didn't buy it, was because after The Door in the Floor (the film adaptation starring Kim Bassinger and Jeff Bridges) was released, all the new copies of Widow for a Year had that annoying, "now a major motion picture" blurb and photos of the actors on the cover. It makes me think of how violated I feel when I see John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Gabriel Garcia Marquez' A Hundred Years of Solitude commodified by having Oprah Winfrey's "seal of approval". Not even the ancient bard, Homer is safe from Oprah's Book Club.

Don't you think it's a little odd to have mainstream America reading classics because Oprah says it's trendy to read? I picture a group of frumpy, old women sitting around drinking tea and discussing the merits of Homer's The Iliad on modern day society. It's ridiculous that people are going to read these books because a celebrity tells them it's worth reading and not based on the literary merits they deserve.

Anyway, those are my two cents. I'm happy with my purchase and I'm looking forward to an enjoyable read. Good evening.