My book club imploded after we couldn't agree on a single book for 3 months straight

So my group of 6 friends started a book club back in January. We picked "The Night Circus" first and it went great. Then we tried choosing February's pick and it turned into a total mess. Three people wanted a thriller, two wanted historical fiction, and one refused to read anything over 300 pages. After 2 hours of arguing in the group chat nobody budged and we just stopped meeting altogether. Has anyone else had a book club fall apart over picking books? How did you get people to compromise?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewh287h ago

Taking what @tara700 said a step further - maybe rotate who gets to pick the book each month. That way everyone gets a turn but nobody has to argue about it all at once. Give each person full control for their month, no pushback allowed. It works for my buddy's group, they just take turns and deal with whatever gets picked even if it's not their thing. Another option is to set some ground rules first like max page count or a list of approved genres before anyone even brings up titles. That way the drama happens upfront and not when feelings are already invested in a specific book.

tara7009h ago

Pick a book where everyone reads different genres and you just discuss each one. That way nobody has to agree.