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Had a book club meltdown over a single chapter in September
We were 6 weeks into reading a 500 page novel and 3 members admitted they only skimmed chapters 4 through 8. One lady said she skipped them because the descriptions were boring. I was sitting in my living room in Austin and I just said we need to pause the whole thing. I asked everyone to go back and read those chapters before our next meetup, no exceptions. Two people got defensive and said I was gatekeeping. We lost one member over it but the rest of us finished the book strong together. Has anyone else had to call out skimmers in their group?
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taylor.sean22d ago
Austin is full of book clubs and I've heard from a few people that skimming is more common than you'd think. There was a survey I saw on a reading habits site that said something like 1 in 5 readers skip chapters they find slow. That number stuck with me. So you're not alone in running into this. It just shows how personal reading preferences are and how they can clash in a group setting.
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Honestly I gotta disagree with this take. Calling someone out for skimming five chapters in the middle of a 500 page book feels less like keeping the group on track and more like controlling how everyone reads. People have different attention spans and lives, you know? That survey about 1 in 5 skipping slow chapters just proves that skimming is a normal way to get through a book, not some crime against the club. If someone missed a few chapters but still showed up ready to talk, that should be fine. Losing a member over this just means the group was more about strict rules than actually enjoying the read together.
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