Ugh, that sounds painful. A ten minute quote-off in a book club is the worst way to shut someone down because it just makes everyone else uncomfortable and nobody actually learns anything. Your point about author intent vs what's on the page is the real issue here, and honestly both sides have a case, which is why these fights get so heated. The polite move is probably to treat it like a "yes, and" thing, like "that's one way to read it, here's what I see in the text" instead of "you're wrong." Once someone starts quoting scenes at people for ten minutes straight, the vibe is already dead, so the goal is more about keeping the next meeting from turning into a courtroom. Maybe suggest the group pick one scene and have everyone say what they get from it, that way opinions get aired without one person playing professor.

Did you check it at both ends of the range or just boiling? Mine drifted worse at the low end, like 10 degrees off at 190 but only 3 or 4 at 205. I ended up testing at a few temps with a known good one and making a little cheat sheet taped to the machine. Cheap dial thermometers are the worst for this, the spring inside just gets tired over time. If yours is off by a flat 15 everywhere then you can just do the math in your head, but if it drifts different amounts at different temps you gotta test the whole range. Honestly the fix for me was a $20 digital one that I check against boiling every couple months.