Winfrey picks Nathan Hill's novel 'Wellness' for book club

abcnews.go.com:

For her latest book club pick, Oprah Winfrey broke the news to author Nathan Hill in modern style

NEW YORK — When she started her book club nearly 30 years ago, Oprah Winfrey would sometimes inform the authors by looking up their numbers in the phone book — when phone books were in common use — and calling them up.

For her latest pick, Winfrey broke the news to author Nathan Hill in modern style: She arranged with his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, to pop up during a Zoom meeting and tell Hill that she had chosen his novel “Wellness,” a sweeping, 600-page narrative about an embattled married couple in Chicago .

In a video shared with The Associated Press, Hill is chatting with his publicist at Knopf about anticipation and promotion for “Wellness,” which comes out this week. A new box suddenly appears and there is Winfrey, holding Hill's novel in front of her.

“I have an idea, why not choose it for Oprah's book club?” she says.

«You're kidding,» an astonished Hill responds.

“What. A. Book!” Winfrey tells him, adding that the novel made her nostalgic for Chicago, where she used to film her talk show. “You are an incredible writer for our times, what you are able to do with language, with your words. It's so powerful, so moving.”

“Wellness” is Winfrey's 102nd book club pick, and the first since she selected Abraham Verghese's “The Covenant of Water” in May. In announcing her selection Tuesday, Winfrey called Hill's book a «modern take on love, marriage, and society’s obsession on improving almost every aspect of our lives — and the impact technology and social media has on our culture and in our lives.»

“This brilliant novel will leave you thinking about the truth of your own life and the stories we tell ourselves and each