Bad Book Clubs

I am currently in a book club.  
I have always wanted to be in a book club since I read so many books but I am finding this to be less than I had hoped for.
You see I love books. I like a lot of genre's but over the years I have sort of followed a pattern of choices.  I thought this would widen my reading material. 
It has, but they have also been awful books to me.
Isn't the point to enjoy the reading?

But I'm not a quitter so I kept going. I read the books this requires but I continue to read the things I wish to read as well. I have yet to read a book club selection that I couldn't wait to finish. Wait, let me rephrase that. You see I was actually thinking on the last one, I can't wait until this is finished so I don't have to read another word about these horrible people.

I was invited into this book club by a neighbor of mine. I really like and enjoy this woman's company. She is 10 years older than me so she has a lot more free time. She has invited me to a lot of things I have enjoyed but I can't attend because I am not retired.  Last Friday night we went to a local winery and had a few glasses of wine and then went to dinner. I find her a joy. But this book club of women is not as wonderful as she.

The self appointed leader of this group reminds me of nurse ratchet from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. This woman thinks she is the smartest and the only one who can take charge and make good choices for books. She is also a real snob about books and that is where she loses me each and every time. And my goodness should we go off topic she begins to yell at us to settle down. Really? We are all grown ass women here.

The group of women are smart, well traveled, funny and interesting as hell. I don't apply any of those adjectives to this leader, Linda. Linda would call herself that and more but she is only narcissistic and a control freak to the point of a stick up her bum. She is very pretentious....with a stick up her bum.

We had a new member this last week. She was an interesting woman who just retired and returned to the US. She was a CIA operative. I know, I lead such a boring life in comparison to these women. One woman was citizen of the year of her city for her work in 2013. Her work is damn impressive and fascinating as well. All had big and fascinating careers right on down to the corporate librarian whose brain I picked at the luncheon. She too is new and her job is much more than it sounds. 

The newest member, CIA Operative, made a comment in passing about reading a Danielle Steele novel. OMG Linda's head about exploded all over the nice white carpet. She is so snobby about her books. When I suggested the book Gone Girl she rolled her eyes. When I suggested Where'd You Go Bernadette? she did it again. But she made this new woman feel like shit and it laid there thick as could be. Until of course I opened my big mouth.

The latest book was a true story by a man who was an editor at a big NYC house like Simon and Schuster type. His mom was a tough ole broad from money. They had lots of money. His mother got cancer and he would go to chemo with her and they would talk books. They read the greats in literature and they too were quite "selective" of their books. They would never read a great novel by say Wally Lamb, oh now that was too pedestrian.  I liked the book more than I thought I would but honestly I was waiting for this poor woman to die so the damn book would end.  I mean I knew she was going to die that was the whole point of the book.

At the club last week Linda couldn't wait to point out that she read 40 of the books listed. 
I guess I was supposed to be impressed. I kept quiet about all of this until she made the woman who read a Danielle Steele novel feel like shit. The woman who she just made fun of remember was the newest member. She was so embarrassed and said nothing just squirmed and looked down. It was uncomfortable and silent. I was pissed.  I had just had it with this wench. Linda was now in all her glory.
She asked the question to us all, "how many books listed did each of you read?"
I asked why that made a difference to the quality of the actual book? She cocked her head and then in her condescending way, "I take it you didn't read many of them." 

"Believe it or not Linda I read a great many of them just not 40 like yourself. 
I found the whole talk of their books so damn pretentious it made the book unbearable at times and made me skip over those parts."  She gasped loudly.
I went on to say that. "Once at a very high end posh winery in Sonoma that does not do tours by the way without invitation,  I received a great lesson that applies to all of this, at least I think so." 

I went on...."This experience was with some great wines that I may not ever be able to afford, in a very elegant environment with excellent food.  I got an education by the proprietors there that could have made you feel intimated but they didn't. 
At the end of the glorious day the man teaching us and talking to us all day said,  Just enjoy the wine you drink and drink what you enjoy. It doesn't matter if it comes from a box or its our wine, just enjoy it.

That is exactly how I feel about books. What difference does it make if it's a harlequin romance or Danielle Steele or it is a piece of what you think is great literature. Books shouldn't be pretentious. They should take you to lands you may never go. They are always educational and you can learn things from each and every book that you may not have known. It may be as small as just a new word. Knowing that, every book is a good book for people to enjoy. If they enjoy it they are reading. Reading is never a bad thing.

Linda immediately said in her snarky tone, "well that's your opinion."
I heartily laughed out loud. Others spoke up and said they understood and saw that woman in the books behavior when her son suggested a biography of someone who wasn't a blue blood liberal like herself. The conversation then went everywhere and I was off the hook. 

Look I don't care for Danielle Steele or romance books either but that doesn't mean those that do are less than. Which is every thing Linda was saying.   I think I won't be going to this club much longer. The books that get the right of way are so damn boring to me. The women I enjoy I now see outside of the club and that may be good enough. Either that or a couple of us will have to kill Linda. You see after this meeting I heard from a few gals including the one I stood up for. She thanked me. She is no wilting flower being in the CIA and all, but she had never met anyone there before and felt she shouldn't fire back on her first day.
Some told me they have wanted to say that for years. Me and my big mouth said it after 5 book club meetings, which makes me laugh but I'm not surprised at myself. 
Once she made the new woman feel uncomfortable and made her face all red from embarrassment Linda was quite pleased with herself.
Being who I am, I was not going to let this bitchy bully get away with it.