Online with Oprah

I have a confession to make. I have jumped onto the Oprah's Book Club bandwagon. This is somewhat unusual for me, because I am not typically a bandwagon person. You know the type I'm talking about. The people who want to be part of every trend, and not just part of it, but among the first to get on board so they can brag about being one of the first.

The truth is, I typically resist anything that qualifies as the latest trend. When all of my classmates in fifth and sixth grade were reading The Hobbit, I refused to read it (and not because I hated reading). How good can a book whose main character has a name like Bilbo Baggins be, I reasoned. (Pretty good, it turns out. I finally read it a few years back.) When cell phones were the new big thing, I swore I would never have one. Who wants to be available 24/7, I wondered. (Apparently I do. Turns out they're pretty useful. But mine doesn't have a camera, and I still haven't figured out how to send a text message. See? Resisting.)

So when Oprah started talking about this book A New Earth, I was skeptical. I am not one to read a book just because it has the little "O" sticker on the front. But when I heard that the subtitle was "Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" (something I've been wondering about since hanging up my teacher's hat), and when I found out that she and Eckhart Tolle (the author) were going to offer a free web class, my curiosity got the better of me.

I went to Barnes & Noble (or maybe it was Border's) to check it out. Sitting in the cafe, a caramel latte in hand, I read the first two chapters to make sure it would be worth buying a copy. With themes like increasing your consciousness, breaking free of the ego, being with a capital "B," and transformation, the book stoked my curiosity just enough to convince me to by a copy. But not because Oprah said so.

The first class -- a worldwide event -- is tonight. I received an email from Oprah's team yesterday telling me that I am to login and take my virtual seat twenty minutes before the broadcast begins. I have no idea what to expect. It could be a total bust for all I know. Or I could find myself connected to a community of people who think (with apologies to Eckhart for using that verb) like I do...a new experience indeed.