I found a Man Called Ove truly moving and appreciated the ending after the struggle. Midnight library didn't speak to me. I haven't read the other one.

Pynchon's style and choices as a writer have never worked for me and I am a huge fan of some classics that other people hate. People appreciate different things in books. It doesn't necessarily make them bad readers.

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.