Another bloody book club

I’m in two book clubs--gets me out of the house. Today’s was my church club and the book was A Delicate Truth by John LeCarre. I had never read a LeCarre novel and I enjoyed the fast-paced drama and the clever dialogue. The book had it’s flaws but I was mostly interested in the political overtones--that New Labour was more neoconservative than the Tories and that some of its greedier members sponsored foreign adventures in exchange for a big fat share of defence contractors’ government-funded loot. It was a harsh commentary on the current vogue for privatising everything, a trend with deadly outcomes in the defence arena.

The sad thing about this book club was that two members--who are married--totally dominated the conversation. Any opinion expressed by anyone else in the group was quickly torn to shreds by the alpha couple. What is the point of having a book club if you can’t express an opinion? Aggressive challenges by other members serve only to stifle an exchange of ideas and opinions. I left thoroughly frustrated.

David told me later, after I had vented for a while, that it’s hard to run an enjoyable book club. You essentially have to screen the members and have a script that you try to adhere to, perhaps a set list of questions. Our conversation tonight veered all over the place--Weimar republic, trade sanctions, Spanish civil war, Saudi Arabia--none of which had anything to do with the book. Two women hardly said a word, and I don’t blame them. I think I’ll ask the choir members if they are in a book club and try out another club. I’m zero for two this week.
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