12
I think we're too hard on the 'boring' books in our club picks
Our book club has been on a roll lately picking these complex, layered novels. Everyone loved the last one but I honestly struggled through it. Last month I suggested a simpler mystery novel from 2018 that I read in two days. Three people rolled their eyes before we even voted. I actually learned that sometimes a straightforward story with clear emotional beats can spark better discussion than a dense literary work. Has anyone else found that a so-called 'light read' led to a surprisingly deep conversation in your group?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
wright.kevin9d ago
Amen to that. I suggested a cozy mystery once and got the same treatment, but it ended up being one of our best discussions because everyone actually finished it.
3
vera_lewis7d ago
Oh man, that "we don't read airport books here" line is painfully familiar. I actually read an article last week about how book snobbery is basically just insecurity dressed up in fancy words. The people who gatekeep reading the hardest are usually the ones who haven't tried a new genre in ten years. Cozy mysteries and cheesy thrillers take just as much skill to write well as anything literary, they're just more fun about it. I've found that the snobbiest readers in my groups are the ones who DNF half the books they start anyway. Meanwhile the "light read" fans are the ones who actually show up to book club with something to say.
2
amyh219d ago
Right, the eye rolls. I once suggested a cheesy thriller for my group and someone actually said "we don't read airport books here." Cut to two months later, the same person couldn't stop talking about a romance novel they read on vacation. Look, I'm not saying my reading taste is elite, but I can finish a book without needing a literary map and a nap. Sometimes the "light read" hits harder because you're not spending half the time just trying to figure out what the author is even saying.
2