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Book club picked a 700 page doorstop and we spent 3 weeks just arguing about the reading schedule
Our little club in Boise voted in a 700 page novel back in March and I figured we would just read it and talk about it, easy. Instead the first meeting turned into a 90 minute fight about whether to split it into sections or read the whole thing at once, and I ended up making a 4 page Google Doc with page counts and dates just to get people to stop emailing me. It took 3 weeks and two extra meetings before we even started chapter one, all over a schedule. Next time I am bringing a printed calendar and a hard vote at meeting one. How do you all stop a club from getting stuck on logistics and actually get to the book?
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the_ryan9d ago
Man, a 4 page Google Doc just to pick reading dates is wild. I get that people have busy lives and different reading speeds, but 3 weeks of arguing before chapter one is a whole other level. That would drive me up the wall, honestly. Our club had a smaller version of this and what fixed it was picking the whole schedule at the same meeting we pick the book, no email chains after. We also capped it at two meetings per book no matter how long it is, which forces us to just move. A printed calendar and a hard vote like you said is the right call. My only tip is to make the vote binding even if someone misses that meeting, because the people who skip are usually the ones who complain later.
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