I always said book clubs should avoid heavy books, but one meeting made me eat my words.

4 comments

4 Comments

Stella_scott96 is onto something with books like The Overstory. My club learned to pick one heavy book a year but break it into small sections. It cuts down on the performance and actually lets people dig in.

abby_martinez6h ago

That whole thing where simple stuff gets turned into a performance? You see it everywhere now. Like people who used to just make dinner now need special gear for sourdough, or a guy who buys a hundred dollar tool for a basic home fix. It's like we can't just enjoy a book or bake bread, we have to prove we're doing it the "right" way. Makes you miss when things were just about the thing itself.

stella_scott9618h ago

What was the book that changed your mind? I used to feel the same way until my club tried 'The Overstory'. It's a huge book about trees, sounds dry, but we talked for three hours straight about memory and science. Sometimes the heavy stuff gives you way more to grab onto.

the_kim17h ago

My book club picked up War and Peace last year and I swear half the members suddenly got glasses. Not prescription, just little wire frames they'd take off to make a point. The other half started quoting Russian proverbs at the coffee machine at work. It turns out a dense book is just a fancy costume party for people's egos. I miss when we just read bad mysteries and argued about the wine.