Loading…
12
Warning: our book club pick for May broke the whole group in half
We picked The Overstory for our meeting at Rosie's Diner on May 14th and it turned into a two hour fight about whether long nature passages count as plot. Diane got so mad she left before dessert, and now three people say they won't come back if we keep reading anything over 400 pages. How do you all handle it when one pick splits the group like that?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
jennifersmith19d ago
Twenty years ago my own club lost four members over a book that was literally just a guy walking across Spain, so when you say Diane left before dessert I felt that in my bones. Two hours of fighting means people cared, which is honestly a good sign even if it did not feel like one at Rosie's Diner that night. What worked for us was splitting the year into slots, one heavy pick and then two easy ones, so nobody feels like every month is a homework assignment. The 400 page rule is worth taking seriously too, because page count is the one thing people can actually agree on ahead of time. I would reach out to Diane one on one and just ask what she needs from the club, not to win the argument but to keep her at the table. Losing half a group over one pick hurts, but it is fixable if you deal with it now instead of letting people quietly drift.
6