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Oprah Winfrey said Thursday that she would once again include the works of contemporary authors as selections of her highly influential television book club, reversing a three-year-old policy that disappointed publishers and authors who had benefited from her picks.
As her first selection under the new regimen, Winfrey chose "A Million Little Pieces," by James Frey, a harrowing memoir about the author's month-long stay in a treatment facility to address his alcoholism and drug addiction.
"It's a gut-wrenching memoir that is so raw and so real," Winfrey said on her show.
The book was first released in 2003 and paperback publisher Anchor Books has commissioned a new printing of 600,000.
"A Million Little Pieces" was No. 1 on Amazon.com as of Thursday night.
Since 2003, Winfrey has focused on older works, including John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" and Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth." She recently completed a "Summer of Faulkner," picking a trio of novels by the Southern writer.
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