Debate over a book club pick that backfired badly

Last season, our club voted to read a dense historical fiction novel that turned out to have graphic scenes nobody expected. Half the group felt blindsided and angry, saying we should have checked content warnings first. The other half argued that challenging reads are part of growth and we shouldn't shy away from tough topics. I was in the first group because it triggered some bad memories for me, and I skipped the meetings after. My friend Lisa says avoiding hard books makes us lazy readers, but I think respect for members' limits matters more. Now we're split on whether to screen books ahead or trust the voting process. What do you think? Should book clubs always vet picks or take risks together?

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3 Comments

lisa8396mo ago

We vet all picks after a nasty surprise last year.

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michaelross6mo ago

Last year's draft must have been a real mess, @lisa839. I guess that's why the vetting process now takes twice as long.

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wells.alice6mo ago

Hey Lisa, you said you vet all picks now after last year's nasty surprise... but the original post says that bad vote was last season. Maybe that was the surprise that made you start vetting? It sounds like the vote itself is the problem, not the lack of vetting yet. So the new system is because of that exact mess.

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