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I voted against our book club pick for the first time in 3 years and it actually made the talk better
Everyone in my club of 9 people says you should never pick a book you already hate because it kills the talk. I tried it anyway in March when we read a 700 page doorstop I could not stand after 40 pages. I forced myself to finish it over 11 days and showed up with 4 pages of notes about why the ending ruined the whole thing. Instead of killing the talk, it ran 2 hours and 15 minutes, our longest ever, and 3 people who barely spoke all year jumped in to argue with me. Turns out having one person who openly disliked the book gives everyone else permission to admit they did not like parts of it too. Our next pick got 6 votes against 3, which never happens, because people stopped being polite about it. Has anyone else noticed that the person who hates the book ends up doing more talking than the person who picked it?
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felix_thomas733d ago
Noticed the same thing in my group. We read a book everyone said was fine, and the talk died in 20 minutes cause nobody had anything to push against. Next month a guy flat out said he hated the pick before we even started, and suddenly everyone had an opinion. People need a target, even a small one, or they just nod along and go home early. The hater ends up being the spark whether they mean to or not.
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