Starter Villain - and the book club

He wasn't actually a cat.
He was a man with a talking cat sidekick.

I have always wanted to be in a book club. However, the truth is that I have always been afraid of not being smart enough to find all the analogies and looking superficial.

I need not have worried. We have a book club I joined here at the community. It turns out that I am not too superficial for this group. Perhaps too serious instead. I'll get a handle on it from here on.

We read "Starter Villain" this week. The club is two hours long.

6:30 - 6:50: Hellos and set up for dinner / buffet

6:50 - 7:30: Eating and shooting the shit

7:30 - 8:30: This is spread out through the hour extra:

• 15 minutes: Views of the book
• loved the talking cat spys
• loved the Dolphins going on strike more...
• loved the comment, "Dogs cannot be spies because they will betray you for a treat and a pat on the head.
• Me: I found the idea that a villainous uncle leaves you an empire and secret base in the Caribbean goofy. But the overall idea is that the rich control the world, and you can't get into the club. It resonated with me.
• -silence-
• -beat-
• "I lived in Grenada once, and there really are islands that people own privately."
• Followed by a long discussion of the pros and cons of living in the Caribbean
• 15 minutes: Discussing why people cannot be at the next meeting:
• Going on vacation to Laos, Thailand, and South Vietnam. "Hope the martial law is done by then."
• The South Vietnam reference was made three times for effect to 3 different groups before someone said it was South KOREA where the problem was, and there was no South Vietnam anymore.
• This was news to him, even though there hasn't been a South Vietnam since 1975
• Going to Seattle for family - my daughter is flying me up as she is finishing college.
• Would love to go, but I have tickets from Broadway that week.. "darn"
• "Well, I'll be from New Year's Skiing by then.
•  PS - Very sad no one followed up on the details of the skiing venue - but this was cut short by yet another reference to South Vietnam
• 10 minutes on next month's book. It has already been decided.
• Two comments that "dang, they were going to pick that book next time"
• 10 minutes: on jobs they retired from:
• Astrophysicist (said with appropriate humbleness)
• Account Manager for Xerox for multiple large companies in LA 
• PS this was NOT me
• Husband is a doctor that is semi-retired but just can't stop helping people.
• Book publisher (okay - that tracks)
• Multiple retirees who now work in art galleries "just for fun"
• 10 minutes: Rambling story from Astrophysicist  on how she was a young mother (at 23) and her child was so smart and well read that when he was 6 years old she had him read the dictionary to see the difference between a Democracy and Dictatorship. And her house was a dictatorship - ha ha.
• Much of that time was spent by people figuring out her age (23 when the kid as born, he is 45 now...)
• Several minutes waiting for someone to ask her about her astrophysics background - spent in vain
• 5 minutes listening to aliments and if urgent care at Eisenhower Medical Center was worth it
• They let anyone into urgent care, but at least they took me right in because I was a HMO member there.
• 10 minutes talking about Trump. Actually, 2 minutes of talking about the future and 13 minutes of bitching about Trump. Hell, I was about to defend him - that's how bad it was.
• 5 minutes of good-byes at 8:35.
• I believe the goodbyes went on; I beat a retreat early - which was 5 minutes late.