I used to think our book club's voting system was fine, but last month's pick changed my mind

We read 'The Midnight Library' because it won a simple majority vote, but half our group in Austin hated it. The debate got so bad two people almost quit. I'm now convinced we need ranked choice voting for our next pick to avoid another split. Has your club ever switched how you choose books?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler6142mo ago

Wish I could say my book club debates stay high minded, but last time we nearly came to blows over whether a character's hat was described as "jaunty" or just "stupid." The deep literary analysis of a middle school teacher's book club is truly something to behold. We switched to a rotating pick system where each person gets a turn, which works only because we're all too polite to openly hate each other's terrible choices. It stops the voting fights but means we all have to suffer through Brenda's yearly cozy mystery about a cat detective. Ranked choice sounds way more fair, honestly.

shah.olivia6d agoMost Upvoted

Jump into a book club debate about cats and I'm out. We had a solid fight about whether a mystery novel was "thoughtfully ambiguous" or just "lazy writing where the author forgot to finish the story." I was on team lazy writing and someone called me a literary philistine. Whatever that means. I still think if the detective doesn't explain how they solved it, it's not a mystery, it's a guess.

cora4002mo ago

You said the debate got so bad people almost quit. What were the main arguments against the book? I've seen fights start over whether a book is too simple or just badly written. Sometimes a group splits between people who want a fun escape and people who want something deep and sad.