12 good books: despite Oprah's careless words, there are dozens of books worthy of attention. (Inside Track).(Oprah Winfrey drops book club)(Brief Article)(Column)

They're stacked high on my nightstand, waiting to be read: backlist books, frontlist titles, new galleys, old classics. Oprah Winfrey, as you've all heard, can't find any books to inspire her with the desire to read and to share what she's read with her viewers. In the damning statement she released last month as she dropped her show's book club, she said, "It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share."

When Winfrey was honored at the National Book Awards several years ago for the impetus she and her book club had given books and reading--not to mention publishers' sales and library circulation …