Why have you quit a book club?

So the title is pretty self-explanatory: I’m curious what would cause a person to quit (or not join) a book club. Yes, this is slightly self-serving because I’m hosting an on-line book club read-along, but I also want to know because I’m thinking of quitting one of my book clubs. I seriously doubt I’ll lack the umph to do it, but maybe this will help.

I’ve run into a few reasons people don’t want to be in a book club: don’t like the book, don’t have enough time, worry about falling behind or not finishing the text, don’t like the other people participating, etc. But I want to know what finally pushed you over the edge.

Here’s my situation. I’m in four book clubs; two through my library, one that I run at work, and one I run online. So that’s a lot of books that are more-or-less dictated to me. I don’t get a lot of time to read books I choose, unless they’re audiobooks. One of my book clubs just isn’t doing it for me consistently. There have been a good number of duds from this group. But, on the bright side, a lot of hits. I read The Art of Fielding in this group, the book I choose as my #1 read of 2014, and it’s with this group that I had the discussion on The Light Between Oceans that led to my top page of all time. But more recently, I’ve been let down by the selections. The group isn’t well-organized and the discussion always seems to go to someone’s medical problems or something that was on PBS. A little side-tracking is fine, but this group can be too much.

So, as a way to remedy this disappointment a bit, I started my Read-Along with Me series. I could (kinda) pick the books and hoped to find a group of like-minded people who were excited to talk about books. And I think Read-Along 1 (The Maze Runner) went well. Read-Along 2 (The Space Between Us) shrunk to 2 other participants, but we had a lot of fun. It was a great discussion and we ended up loving the book. So I decided to go ahead and do Read-Along #3 (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) which began this past weekend and after several people having to decline, there are only two of us left: me and Nicole. So I’m trying to find out; why don’t  you join a book club? Then I’ll do the opposite of that.

So Reader, help a girl out. What would turn you off to a book club? What would turn you on to one? What would make you quit? And, if you will, should I quit my book club and strike it off on my own? I’m not sure I’m brave enough! What is your opinion on themed book clubs?  That would be something like a YA club, or a SciFi club or a historical fiction club.

And, if after all this, you want to join Nicole and I for Read-Along #3, please send me an email. We’d love the company.

Until next time, write on.

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