kalliope
To make it easy, the poll is here.
Just saw this post from you, I somehow missed it. Re: the pitfalls you mentioned, I think that people get busy and fall behind, but still like the social aspects of the group so they show up anyhow without reading it!
I know that my own perspective is that I don't want to feel burdened by a leisure book club's assignment reading (even if it's a serious book or for study), or feel a dreadful obligation always hanging over my head. I want to discuss a book and its ideas with others, but I'm not the sort who has one focused interest area. I have several projects & topics & engagements to which I devote my time, so I can't give one book all of my free time or attention. I imagine that's true for at least a few others, or they may have hectic work or families and need to sneak in thoughtful reading only when they can.
So for me, breaking a longer book into quarters or sets of chapters would actually make me more energized because it would allow the whole thing to manageably fit into my schedule. If I were to fall too behind otherwise, I'd probably have to quit the club. Plus, since I'm sure many of the books have meaty enough chapters about specific ideas or techniques, there's no need for the book to be finished before discussion begins.
Smaller chunks start people discussing before they've finished an entire tome, which can get people even more excited to continue towards the end if the conversation is good! And if the conversation is good, it won't feel like the book is dragging on too long.
I have heard that there are a lot of pitfalls that come up for Book Clubs and getting people to read the books is one of the main ones. I once read Tarot at a Book Club's Halloween party - they had read Pride & Prejudice and Zombies - and was surprised to learn that about a third of them had read the book.
Maaaaaybe breaking down the books into quarters and reading them one a week instead of the whole book in a month? I worry that the energy really goes out when it take longer than that.
Just saw this post from you, I somehow missed it. Re: the pitfalls you mentioned, I think that people get busy and fall behind, but still like the social aspects of the group so they show up anyhow without reading it!
I know that my own perspective is that I don't want to feel burdened by a leisure book club's assignment reading (even if it's a serious book or for study), or feel a dreadful obligation always hanging over my head. I want to discuss a book and its ideas with others, but I'm not the sort who has one focused interest area. I have several projects & topics & engagements to which I devote my time, so I can't give one book all of my free time or attention. I imagine that's true for at least a few others, or they may have hectic work or families and need to sneak in thoughtful reading only when they can.
So for me, breaking a longer book into quarters or sets of chapters would actually make me more energized because it would allow the whole thing to manageably fit into my schedule. If I were to fall too behind otherwise, I'd probably have to quit the club. Plus, since I'm sure many of the books have meaty enough chapters about specific ideas or techniques, there's no need for the book to be finished before discussion begins.
Smaller chunks start people discussing before they've finished an entire tome, which can get people even more excited to continue towards the end if the conversation is good! And if the conversation is good, it won't feel like the book is dragging on too long.