Oprah - Kitty Kelley

If someone told you that Kitty Kelley was writing your biography would you be happy? Probably not, because even though Kitty's biographies make fun beach reads that we all secretly gobble down, they are always "unauthorized" and fearless when it comes to setting the record straight. While Kitty's books are usually a gossipy romp through a celebrities life, Oprah: A Biography
is more like a jet fuel induced rocket rushing to space.

Kitty focuses on interviews with Oprah's father and relatives all who have little to do with her current life and while they may be able to talk about her past life, they seem to lack the understanding of the woman she's become. Kitty races through Oprah quotes so fast that they are more like reading a list than having any context to the complicated and intelligent Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is funny. Sometimes her humorous quotes are taken out of context.

No matter what you think about Oprah, (and lets face it, she has sort of gone off the New Age, "I'm so rich, I don't know what to do with all this money" heebie jeebie cliff.) the book cannot truly tear her down off her pedestal. For those of us who grew up watching her, there is a sense of understanding that Oprah has always been a "work in progress" and the fact she loves to continue to learn and grow is one of her greatest assets. No one can deny that Oprah has earned her wealth, worked hard to improve her skills and dreamed and set goals for her life that most of us average people cannot or do not know how to do. The woman is extremely generous and her humanitarian works alone could probably be the subject of a book in itself. In the end, Oprah is always inspiring, always transcending stereotypes of race, gender and looks. She is always brilliant. She is always Oprah.

I hope that one day Oprah writes her own autobiography or someone writes a fair and balanced definitive tome on her life. She deserves it.

Quotable Book Quotes

"What I've learned from my philanthropic giving is that unless you can create sustainability, then it's a waste." - Oprah Winfrey, "Oprah" by Kitty Kelly

The Mushrooms Made Me Mad

It has not been a happy week.

Can I just say that I really mean it when I say, "Thank God it's Friday!" All I have to say about that is that I was so undone and upset with everything going on in my world (read serious man problems) that I was angry with everyone today. I suddenly realized I needed to take a moment to relax when I realized that even the poor, left over mushrooms that I found in my refrigerator at noon today were making me angry.

Being a cook who likes to use everything up and not waste food, I realized that I was angry at them because they needed to be cooked. I realized I needed a bit of a reality check, or more likely a fantasy check into a winter weekend of major media infusions. Mushrooms aren't my favorite food and I only eat them when the recipes I'm making require them. There weren't enough of them to make my usual leftover mushrooms dish, a hot or cold salad of mushrooms cooked in vinegar and spices, drizzled with olive oil and garlic. But I realized, as I counted the number silently in my head, that there were enough of them staring at me so I could not just throw them out either. I handled the anger by cooking them soundly this evening in oil and butter with garlic and sprinkled some salt, pepper and parsley flakes on them. I don't read Mastering the Art of French Cooking for nothing!

Of course now it's the weekend and I still am dealing with the difficulties going on in my life but there is brie cheese to eat and Sex and the City 2 to finish so I'm going to work through things. I'm enjoying the mind numbing movie entertainment so much I am considering on watching the entire six seasons of Sex and the City which I have on DVD in it's entirety except for the last three episodes. I don't have the last three episodes because some bright, Hollywood executive decided to split the last season in half. So each DVD of season six only has three episodes! Hello?! And the bright, European version only has the first half of the last six episodes on it's sixth season episode DVD. So, Carrie starts the affair with Mikhail Baryshnikov and I really don't know what happens after he puts the jam in her tea.

But I digress......

In between the TV and cheese, I will be working on Bleak House and I am happy to announce that I just finished, My Life in France. That's the big news. I am now starting Oprah by Kitty Kelly. More on that re read when I get farther into it.

Have a great weekend!