Our club went from 4 people arguing about the ending to 11 people actually reading, and the fix was so simple
Six months ago our little book club out here in Boise was down to 4 regulars, and half of us hadn't finished the book each time. Nobody wanted to say it, but the meetings felt like homework. So in March we tried something dumb and easy: the person hosting picks the book, and they have to bring 3 questions printed out on paper before anyone talks. Our next meeting had 11 people show up, and 9 of them finished the whole thing. That's a jump from maybe 2 of us finishing in the old days. I think having the questions in hand gave everyone something to grab onto instead of just saying whether they liked it. The host rotation also made people feel like they had a real job to do, so they showed up. Curious if other clubs have tried something like this, or if the printed questions thing would annoy people who like keeping it loose?