Why does nobody talk about how travel memoirs tear book clubs apart?

My group read a book about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Half loved the personal growth parts, the other half said it was just rich people problems. People got so mad they were almost yelling over Zoom. I thought we were here to share thoughts, not attack each other. Now I worry every time we pick a book with a trip in it.

3 comments

3 Comments

benk261mo ago

Oh man, I once argued so hard about a sailing memoir that I almost flipped a table. Now I just nod and smile during those talks.

charles6781mo ago

Seriously? Nodding and smiling is how good conversations die. Those table flipping arguments mean you actually care about the words, the story, the whole point of reading the thing. Passion about a book is a good thing, even if it gets loud. Walking away from that fight just means we all get boring takes and quiet rooms. I miss when people would actually yell about a chapter being wrong.

paul_owens251mo ago

Wow, this happens with way more than just books. It's like every hobby or interest gets split now between people who see the personal story and people who just see the privilege. I've seen the same yelling match over podcasts about cooking or documentaries about tiny houses. Everything becomes a fight about who gets to have problems, which honestly just wrecks the fun of talking about anything.