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.

Man, my grandma just used whatever was in the cabinet.

A friend got that church camp or summer school choice and picked camp too.