Can we talk about how my wife's book club picks better books than mine because she hates the endings?
So my wife is in a book club with 6 other women out in Fresno, and I'm in one with 4 guys from work, and we've been comparing notes for about 8 months now. Their rule is that if 3 or more people hate the ending, the book gets put on a 'burn pile' list and they never suggest that author again. Ours just nods and talks about themes for 40 minutes and picks the next one. She said something last Tuesday that stuck with me: 'We only argue when a book makes us feel tricked.' That hit me because our club has never once argued about a book, and I'm starting to think that means we're picking books that don't risk anything. Has any club out there actually built a rule around arguing, like a minimum fight quota? I want to pitch something to my group but I don't know how to say it without sounding like a jerk.
What does a real fight look like in a book club though? Like is it yelling or is it just two people going back and forth while everyone else watches? Because a minimum fight quota sounds great on paper but I can see it turning into the loudest guy just picking the most shocking book every month to get a rise out of everyone. The part about feeling tricked is the key thing here. Your wife's club is really saying they want books that make a promise and then break it, and your club might just be picking books that never made a promise in the first place. So my question is, when was the last time someone in your group finished a book and actually got mad about it?