Two names you may not have expected to hear in the same sentence — Glenn Beck and Oprah Winfrey. Nonetheless, Motoko Rich’s headline in the NYT today says that “Glenn Beck Is Becoming New Oprah.”

But a Beck book is quite different from an Oprah book. Beck likes thrillers, especially ones that reflect his own political stances (Brad Thor, James Rollins, Vince Flynn). He’s also picked some authors who, as Beck delicately puts it, are “on the liberal side of things, which is, you know fine.”

Andrew Gross, for instance, tells Rich that the Beck attention gives with one hand and takes away with the other; conservatives who bought the book based on Beck’s recommendation are angry that they were duped into buying a “bunch of lefty” garbage. Meanwhile, his liberal fans are suspicious of his association with Beck.

Many years from now, some cultural historian will come up with a plausible theory about why vampires are so popular right now.

For now, the Philadelphia Inquirer observes that today’s vampires are quite different from your father’s; once inherently evil, now they can be lovable heroes.The theme of morality runs through many current popular vampire movies and novels.

To fully explore this subject, the article suggests the huge vampire anthology, The Vampire Archives.

The Vampire Archives: The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) Retail Price: $25.00 Paperback: 1056 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2009-09-29) ISBN / EAN: 0307473899 / 9780307473899