The host picked a 900 page book and I found a trick that saved the whole club from falling apart
Our club picked this massive 900 page novel back in April, and attendance started tanking hard. We went from 11 people at the first meeting to 4 by the third session, and two of those four hadn't even cracked the spine. People kept saying they were behind, or they forgot which character was which, and the whole thing was turning into a guilt fest. Then I had an idea that sounds dumb but worked way better than I expected. Instead of discussing the whole chunk we read, I started opening each meeting by asking everyone for just one scene that stuck with them, no page numbers, no spoilers past where we were. The rule was you only had to have read as far as the scene you wanted to talk about, even if that was chapter 2. Suddenly people who were 400 pages behind were jumping in because they could still talk about the opening. We went back up to 9 people by the next meeting, and the woman who organizes it said it was the best discussion we'd had in two years. Has anyone else tried something like this when a giant book is killing your club's momentum?