I majored in English, and have had an avid love of literature since early childhood. My mother inspired me to love books before I even knew how to talk properly. There is always a novel on my bedside cabinet, and I read daily. Books are wonderful because they feed the intellect and entertain us simultaneously. However, some people grew up in less fortunate circumstances than I did. They do not read books for pleasure because they were never encouraged to do so at an early age. These same people probably do watch television, and it makes sense that they have seen the Oprah Winfrey Show. Everybody knows who Oprah Winfrey is. The Oprah Book Club began in 1996. The idea behind the Oprah Book Club was to encourage fans of her show that might not otherwise have bothered to read first-rate novels for pleasure. I think this was a beautiful idea on the part of Oprah Winfrey, and I applaud her for it. The Oprah Book Club has covered some excellent books. John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Anita Shreve and Joyce Carol Oates are just a few of the great authors in the list of novels the Oprah Book Club has featured to date.