Long Story Short on Oprah: Kindle, Dickens, Franzen

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When the iPad was featured as one of Oprah's "favorite things last month," the iPad got plenty of air time and gushers of enthusiasm from the show's host.  Today, Oprah packed plenty of Oprah into her program and the Kindle made a cameo appearance in the final minutes of the broadcast.  But here's the skinny from the perspective of Planet iPad book lovers:

• Jonathan Franzen appeared on the program for the first time and spoke at some length about writing, fame, television, and his previous Oprah's Book Club selected novels The Corrections and Freedom.
• Just like Franzen in 2001, Charles Dickens did not appear on the program, but Oprah nonetheless announced that a two novels-in-one book composed of Dickens' novels A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations is Oprah's Book Club selection #65. She also said she had never read either book. Franzen said he had read all of Dickens.
• At the end of the show Oprah held up a Kindle and announced that Amazon was giving everyone in the studio audience a Kindle 3G. "I love having a book in my hands," Oprah said, "but if you're traveling, you've gotta love the Kindle."