The 300 page fantasy book vs the 80 page novella, my book club pick backfired

For our March meeting I had to choose between The Bone Labyrinth (thick, grim, everyone's been meaning to read it) and a slim sci-fi novella about a ghost librarian. I picked the 300 pager because I figured the group wanted something meaty. Three of the five members showed up having only finished the first two chapters, and we spent 40 minutes on one person's theory about the map on page 12. The novella would've been done in a weekend and we could've actually argued about the ending. Has anyone else picked the 'serious' book and watched the whole discussion collapse? Maybe I should just force the short one next time.

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violamurray12d ago

Oh man, we did the exact same thing with a 450 page historical fiction last fall. Two members straight up admitted they skimmed the last hundred pages, and one guy kept bringing up a side character that didn't show up until page 200. The rest of us were sitting there nodding along like we remembered who that was. I've been pushing for the short reads ever since, because at least then everyone's actually on the same page when we argue.