Mark Zuckerberg is not like us. For example, when it comes to New Year's resolutions, the Facebook CEO actually achieves things. And in the five short days of 2015 so far, he's already become Oprah Winfrey. Or, to be more exact, he's founded a book club and immediately gotten a book sold out on Amazon.

Not one to look back on an up-and-down year for his company, Zuckerberg is gazing ahead, as is his tradition. In past years, he's learned to speak Mandarin, worn a tie every day, and most famously, gone vegetarian except for the flesh of animals he killed himself.

Since that's a tough one to top, this year Zuck crowdsourced his "personal challenge" in a Facebook post that garnered over 50,000 responses.

And, "look under your seats," because everyone is a winner. This year's personal challenge is a book club, with a new work to be read every other week. Reading! It's "fulfilling," says Zuckerberg:

The club, which already has its own Facebook page, has been a boon for The End of Power by Moisés Naím. In fact, you can't even get it, because it's sold out on Amazon, and that's the only way to buy books. [Update: Amazon emailed SFist to say that it's back in stock. Sidebar: are Facebook and Amazon friends, or just in a book club together?]

The End of Power is subtitled "From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be." It was the Financial Times Best of the Year, and the Wall Street Journal reviewed it under the headline "Singing Them 1% Blues."

Even if Zuckerberg might be seen as bemoaning the decline of power with this choice of text, predictions are being made of another "Oprah Effect." That refers to the incredible boom in popularity for selected books, such as Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan, which sold 853% more copies when Oprah's stamp was added to it.

So should we get ready for the "Zuckbook Effect?" For Jonathan Franzen to pitch a fit when Zuckerberg picks his next novel for the club? Read on, but remember Zuck's advice: "Please only participate in the discussions if you've actually read the books and have relevant points to add."

Read all SFist coverage of Mark Zuckerberg.

The same day that the world learned that her husband the former Governator had fathered a child with an employee, Maria Shriver hopped over to Chicago to appear on one of Oprah Winfrey's last shows, in blue sequins. The appearance was clearly scheduled long before Shriver knew her husband's philandering was going to be a huge national headline yesterday, and as the AP reports, the topic didn't really come up.

Shriver came on stage at the United Center with Winfrey's best friend, Gayle King. Shriver told Winfrey that the talk show host has "given me love, support, wisdom and most of all the truth." Shriver said she knew she wasn't "alone in receiving those gifts."... Shriver told Winfrey that the talk show host "believed in others so they could believe in themselves."

We imagine Oprah was biting her tongue hard to keep from being like, "Maria, I'm sorry, we need to talk about this love child, girl."

In related news, TMZ has obtained information and photos of the boy Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered out of wedlock. He supposed looks "shockingly like" his father, even though the images are pixilated.

We feel for District Attorney Kamala Harris today. Whenever something delightful happens to us, something bad occurs. You know, to even things out. (It's the way balance is kept in the universe, our paranoia explained to us.) Take, for example, Harris' most recent coup: landing on Oprah's "2010 O Power List," alongside Julia Roberts, Teresa King, Diane Sawyer, Jane Lynch, and Viola Davis.

In part of a glowing piece on Harris, the big O beams:

When Harris sees a problem, she figures out a creative solution, resolutely ignoring both received wisdom and polling figures. Low-level narcotics offenders cycling in and out of jail, with more than half reoffending within two years of release? Some people might agitate for increasing the length of their sentences, knowing that such an approach would make them seem tough on crime. Harris, understanding that whatever the sentence, those offenders will one day be back out on her streets, corralled a host of public and private organizations and companies into funding Back on Track, an education and employment initiative that gives young offenders who plead guilty the tools to change their lives. The result: Fewer than 10 percent of program participants end up back in jail.

And, as Barack Obama can attest, the Winfrey touch could prove magic come election time. Harris, as most you know, is running for Attorney General.

And now, the sour: Harris is taking some heat today for contributions she accepted from convicted felon Norman Hsu, "a big Democratic donor who made national headlines in 2007 when it was revealed that he had been on the lam for more than a decade for grand theft charges in California."

CONVERT MY GRILL! from Justin Barker on Vimeo.

Oprah Winfrey, ruler of the free world, is having a contest promising fame and fortune. It's called "Your Own Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star," which will give birth to the greatest TV show ever. Or not. It's simple: Viewers upload their pitches -- falling under the genres of traditional talk show, cooking, interior design or fashion, health & well-being, and wildcard -- and then people vote for their favorites.

Local Oprah star wannabe Justin Barker, however, found his submission banned from the contest. Twice! Why? Well, for starters, he employed the use of booze in his vegetarian cooking show idea. Which, it seems, is a no-no. Also, he uses his friends in his beta show. Which, according to the fine folks at Harpo, is verboten.

In harrowing detail, Barker explains:

I submitted my vegetarian show idea to Oprah's "Your Own Show" contest and they banned it TWICE! My original edit included alcohol and it got rejected.. I edited out, blurred and dubbed the alcoholic parts and they rejected it again--for including my friends in the shoo! WHAT?! REALLY ? There's no way I am going to dub and blur my friends...

Watch the video and judge for yourself.

Dozens and dozens of mansions in Montecito & Santa Barbara went up in flames last night. There is no ETA for containment of the massive fire, which started a little before 6 p.m. lat night. It has since spread to about 2,500 acres (i.e., around four miles) by early Friday morning. Christopher Lloyd's home has been torched to the ground. But Oprah Winfrey's home remains untouched. We repeat: Oprah Winfrey's home is still standing. You can breathe now. (CBS 5)