Somewhere in the mid to late aughts, it stopped being possible to know what everyone was talking about.

For at least the last decade, I haven't known what anyone is talking about, and for the last several years, I haven't really cared.

Hi, before we get to this latest audio excerpt of my new book, The Catastrophe Hour, I want to tell you about an event I have coming up for the book. September 3rd in New York City, I'll be in conversation with Lionel Shriver. Linal is a best-selling novelist. She wrote The Unforgettable We Need to Talk About Kevin, as well as many other novels.

She's a columnist at The Spectator, and she's been on the podcast many times. I cannot think of a better

person to talk with about the literary world, the political landscape, the ideas in my books,

the ideas in her books, all of it. This is taking place again on September 3rd at the Village Underground

Comedy Club at 6 p.m. tickets are $25, but if you purchase your ticket before August 1st,

it's $18. You can look for a promo code at megan dalm.com slash events, which is also where

you'll find the link to purchase tickets. I will post that link in the show notes to

this episode. This is going to be a spectacular evening. We'll be done by 7.30 so the comedy can start

at 8. Perfect New York night. I'd love to see you there. Hi, and welcome to this special edition

of the podcast. What you're about to hear is an excerpt from an essay in my new book, The Catastrophe Hour, which was published in April.

I am running a book club this summer, where we read an essay each week and talk about it on Zoom.

Since there are 14 essays in the book, the club will run for 14 consecutive weeks every Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, starting on June 11th and ending on September 10th.

The way it's going to work is each week I will release a short audio excerpt of the essay that we're discussing the following week.

It's not the whole essay, so you should still

buy the book, but it should give you a taste. The book club is available to paying substack

subscribers who are subscribed at the annual level, which is a better bargain anyway.

If you cannot make the meeting, you will have access to a recording, but only if you're

a member of the book club.

If you are not yet a paying subscriber at the annual level, you can upgrade your subscription,

and we will make sure that you get a link to the Zoom meeting.

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