In a group that large, there is probably no requirement to speak unless you want to, although groups vary.

Socially, if you keep attending, propinquity will likely help you become part of the group at a deeper level.

People discuss the book, but it can vary, whether people talk about plot or characterization, or whatever. If something surprised you, that can be a good thing to mention.

I have my kindle app synced with good reads, so I share my book shelf that way.

There is a whole other thread on this here on r/books. If the Telegraph is correct that they changed Matilda's favorite authors, that is a bridge too far for me. Bowdlerization is looked down on for good reason. It isn't fair to not disclose to fans who may be buying copies of books they loved as gifts for children and relatives.

Is there another publisher with the rights to publish in 2023 or are originalists limited to used book stores?

See the articles linked and discussion on the thread here on r/books. The article in the Telegraph claimed they changed Matilda's favorite author. I think it is worth verifying. If they go too far it is bowdlerization. I'm generally opposed, especially if they don't disclose in the book that changes have been made and what they are.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is full of them. If you visit r/Discworld you will find discussions.

Dench is Nora. I emphasized the cast members I recognized.

I found a stark spare unadorned beauty in this book. Definitely not for everyone, but I thought someone here might appreciate it.

I tried to communicate clearly that it is a very quiet story where not much happens beyond the development of the relationship. I also loved a Man Called Ove.

Edit, tastes vary. Some people like bird watching or knitting, others may prefer roller coasters or bungie jumping. Some like all of the above.

Watership Down captured my imagination and wouldn't let me go. Travels with Charley made me feel better about Steinbeck and about humankind generally. The Traveling Cat Chronicles was simple, moving and melancholy.

Re cruelty, I think he is muckraking. Like Black Beauty, or Uncle Tom's Cabin or the Jungle, he is portraying social evils he sees to elicit a response of sympathy or outrage. However, even in 'good' families, the common forms of punishment for children then would be unacceptable today. Also criminal justice for adults at the time was severe and cruel.

Re antisemitism, readers at the time called Dickins out about Fagin. Dickins responded and later wrote better jewish characters,

https://tikvatisrael.org/charles-dickens-imperfect-teshuvhah/

The history of the end of long term inpatient options for most patients is well documented. The abuses in the bad old days were real and horrific, but proposed replacement care for closed institutions was never implemented or budgeted for. Police, social workers, medical staff all have fewer options than they need to solve the problem until someone earns a lock down space in a hospital for the criminally insane by doing something like this. Everyone with a stake in city life should be doing what they can to hold government feet to the fire to change things and make inpatient care available earlier and more often. Just my two cents, but you are right. We are currently handling this issue wrong across the country.

In California, mountains get snow, even in Death Valley. But I understand your perspective. January really is a good time to visit Death Valley if you aren't stupid about how you do it.

TLDR if you plan to hike an icy snowy mountain trail, bring your ice axes. Also, there are many trails in Death Valley in winter that don't have snow or ice.

So I aimed and missed by assuming that someone I met on social media was active. Sorry. Depression and grief can absolutely interfere with attention span and focus. I do recommend the bookclub and classicbookclub subreddits.

Coursera offers university courses online. You could also start with short stories and novellas. r/suggestmeabook is a good resource for finding literature.

Johan Hari's book Stolen Focus is one of several that shows how social media is designed to be addictive and shortens attention span.

Making a commitment to read for a minimum amount of time each day and doing it can help.

Edit, r/bookclub and r/classicbookclub and r/fantasy among others choose books to read as part of a group with discussion.

Tam Lin but is marketed as fantasy with fair folk. 95 percent of the book is an extremely mundane and idealistic story of a young womans university experience. The book has dorms and dining halls, classes and homework, dates and adventures. It also has a wealth of literary quotes that I thoroughly enjoyed feeling out with. But someone looking for fantasy adventure is going to be deeply disappointed until the last section of the book when the fantasy appears and is then quickly resolved. I enjoyed the book, but it barely matched what it claimed to be.

For book suggestions the mods are going to ask you to take your question to r/suggestmeabook or r/booksuggestions.

Reddit also has r/romancebooks, r/historicalfiction, r/horrorlit, r/fantasy and r/printsf.

You may not be ready yet, depending on how old you are, but sometime I would encourage you to read Flow the psychology of optimal experience by Csikzentmihalyi, Bowling Alone, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, Watership Down, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Paper Castles, Captain's Courageous by Kipling, the Millionaire Next Door and Deep Survival by Gonzalez.

Best wishes for your future.

I am very happy to learn more and correct my practice where there are issues. Life is complicated but I boycotted and protested against South Africa back in the day and try to not actively collaborate with injustice.

As for boats, I like them and my grandfather served in submarines.

On my limited cruise experience, mask use is varied. There are signs warning about hand washing and specific signs instructing people to use a paper towel to touch the door to the bathrooms.

As for price, in my experience, all rules are disclosed ahead of time, but much like Casino resorts, if you get drunk and make a poor decision, there is no sympathy from the company.

Thank you for promoting the book.

Thank you for mentioning the book. I will read it.

You have presented one side, so here are some thoughts. I appreciate the risk of norovirus and COVID is real, but sexually transmitted infections? How is it unique to cruise ships if people choose not to use condoms? Sexually transmitted diseases are also widespread on land. Some people treat cruises like Spring break, but every year, resorts on land are also full of people partying and finding people to have sex with. I have read that retirement communities also have rampant stis.

We took two elderly relatives on a cruise to Alaska and had a really nice time. They especially enjoyed the live music. The comfort of the ship made travel a reasonable choice for them. Cruise ships give disabled people access to glaciers and fjords.

There is a lot of bad industry practice in this world. I am glad there is a book calling out the cruise ships for their labor practices. Putting pressure on them to do better is a cause I that I fully support. Having said that, am I exploiting labor any less if I fly to Puerto Vallarta and stay in an all inclusive resort? Most if not all of the staff are from countries where people also see migrating to Quatar as a rational job seeking decision.

I have seen gatekeeping threads on the travel subreddits where people seem to look down on many forms of popular travel because they are not the ideal travel experience. Personally I am in favor of access to travel for the middle class, even if it doesn't exactly match my tastes and preferences.

I will have to read the book. Muckrakers have done great work historically from Uncle Tom's Cabin and Black Beauty and Upton Sinclair's the Jungle through Ralph Nader's work and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and a Civil Action and Erin Brockavich, up to now with Empire of Pain about the Sacklers and many more.

If you want to truly investigate this, I would try short stories to see which authors have styles and characters you enjoy. You can find lists on r/suggestmeabook. I would also try narrative nonfiction to see if you like it better. Devil in the White City or Endurance by Lansing or into thin air tell compelling true stories. Or maybe you prefer books that explain something like the Man Who Mistook his wife for a hat for neurology or And the Band Played On by Shilts about the history of the AIDS crisis or Cadillac Desert about water issues in the Western United States or Flow by Csikzentmihalyi on the psychology of happiness.

However some people prefer podcasts or videos to books and that is ok. As long as someone is generally curious about life, I don't think there is a wrong way to learn or enjoy art. To my mind many video games today play a similar role and are just as artistic as opera was before television and radio. Bottom line, figure out how you enjoy your life.

One suggestion I have is to search r/suggestmeabook for best or favorite short stories. Many short stories are available online. The plot structure is tight because of the format. You can find authors whose work you like and then read their longer books.

He was a journalist not a historian, but try Randy Shilts' books for excellent nonfiction about historic events. He died too young.

It's not exactly literature, but I enjoyed the memoir Whatever you do don't run. However, there is no content outside of his work life, including colleagues, tourists and animals.