replacement book club

I've been in a book club for over 10 years.

It's a great group of women. Over the years, the books have become secondary to the socializing. The actual book discussion often lasts less than 15 minutes, but the great food, drink and conversation can span hours. Still, I miss the more intense dissection of a book.

Our book club meets on Friday nights, every month. But now because of my work schedule,  I can't attend. So I find a substitute book club.

7:30 a.m. my phone rings. I am still asleep. It's M.

"So, did you finish the book yet?"

M and I are the only people in our book club. It's great. We dress any way we want. We don't worry about the food; there is none. We have multiple, unscheduled meetings on every book. Unlike most book clubs, we discuss as we go.

"Where are you in the book?" I'll ask.

But then I need to qualify.  "Tell me in general terms." I don't want any major plot twists to be revealed.

M has no problem telling me what happens in a book if she's ahead of me. Recently I took a guess on the identity of a killer.  M responded, "No, he didn't do it." I said, "Wait!  Are you serious?  I don't want to know!!"  To which M replied, "Well you don't know who did it....I just told you who didn't do it."  She wasn't kidding.

M, on the other hand, will straight out ask, "This is who I think killed her? Am I right?"  And she really wants an answer.

I tell M to watch HBO's Night Of, which I loved. After 3 episodes, M skips to the 8th and final episode to see how things turn out. For a highly nuanced person, she doesn't like subtlety in her books and movies. "Just tell me what happens." She'd be awful on a jury where information builds and is slowly unveiled.

We both like Truly Madly Deeply by Liane Moriarty but agree the title should have been Day of the Barbecue.

For our next book club, we decide on two: I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reis and The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. 

We've already begun a discussion of sorts on the former.

I email:
I am going to read both…i take the kindle to work (couple next door) but will read the other (book from library) at home…just started that one…I’m thinking of ending things and i like it (thought she was talking about her life but it’s her relationship with her boyfriend she’s thinking of ending)

M responds:
As book club discussions go,  asking each other the meaning of the book title is a non issue for most people but you never read the précis on I'm Thinking of Ending Things or you would have known she wasn't suicidal. 

As I recall you started to read the synopsis and stopped yourself saying, "No, I don't want to know." We are so different.

On some things, yes. On the important things, no.