A gentle step toward redemption, and doom, for Oprah

Not to start a "This week in Oprah" or anything, but I've just been alerted that the talkshow megastar has chosen Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" for her ginormous, somewhat infamous book club. This is big news for a couple reasons: McCarthy's book, which I read during a brisk and nightmarish few weeks between 2006 and 2007, is one of the freakiest, scariest books to come around in a long time. It's not horror-film scary. It's the-world-is-destroyed-there-are-only-two-good-souls-left scary. Miserable and mesmerizing all at once. Not your typical Oprah readership fare, by any means. Secondly, McCarthy, who lives in New Mexico, has only given two interviews in the last 40 years. His appearance on Oprah will be his first television interview. Ever. How's that for a sure sign of Apocalypse?