Oprah's ten books

Yesterday I was flipping through magazines at the doctor's office, waiting to be called back for an echocardiogram.  Even though I had taken along the novel I am currently reading (The Road Taken by Rona Jaffe), the front cover of "O" Magazine (May 2010) promised to tell me Oprah's top ten books.  So I picked up the magazine and got out pen and paper so I could share her list with you.

1. A New Earth ~ by Eckhart Tolle
2. The Poisonwood Bible ~ by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Night ~ by Elie Wiesel
4. A Fine Balance ~ by Rohinton Mistry
5. Discover the Power Within You ~ by Eric Butterworth
6. East of Eden ~ by John Steinbeck
7. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle ~ by David Wroblewski
8. The Pillars of the Earth ~ by Ken Follett
9. The Bluest Eye ~ by Toni Morrison
10. The Known World ~ by Edward P. Jones

I have read five (and a half) of these -- just wasn't in the mood to finish Tolle's book and finally gave it away.  I have no desire to "discover the power" within me, maybe because I'm feeling powerful enough.  Three of the novels were powerful -- The Poisonwood Bible, A Fine Balance, and East of Eden -- and have enough going on for great book club discussions.  It probably wouldn't hurt for everyone to know what's in Wiesel's Night trilogy about the Holocaust and Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye about the little black girl who thought she needed blue eyes to be beautiful.

I plan to read the other three books, all pictured here.  The Known World was the winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the winner of the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and a finalist for the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction.  I've had The Pillars of the Earth on my TBR list for years -- and only its thickness keeps putting me off.  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle sounds interesting, from what I read in this synopsis:

Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life on his family's farm in remote northern Wisconsin where they raise and train an extraordinary breed of dog. But when tragedy strikes, Edgar is forced to flee into the vast neighboring wilderness, accompanied by only three yearling pups. Struggling for survival, Edgar comes of age in the wild, and must face the choice of leaving forever or revealing the terrible truth behind what has happened. A riveting family saga as well as a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is destined to become a modern classic.

So tell me, what do you think of these books?  Which ten books would you put on a list of favorites?