The worst book club debate I ever sat through was about 'The Alchemist'

I was in a book club last spring that spent a whole two hours arguing over whether 'The Alchemist' is actually a deep book or just a bunch of fortune cookie sayings. One lady wouldn't let it go, kept saying Paulo Coelho changed her life because she read it during a bad divorce. Then some guy countered with actual stats, like how over 65 million copies sold doesn't make it literature. I just sat there eating chips and wondering why nobody ever debates something good like 'Blood Meridian' instead. Has anyone else had a book club debate that just went in circles for way too long?

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2 Comments

maxmurphy1d ago

A different club I was in had the same problem with The Alchemist, and we switched to picking books that were chosen by majority vote each month instead of one person deciding. That way if someone loved a book like that, they'd have to convince the rest of us first before we even read it. We also started limiting any single debate to 20 minutes max, and then someone would just say "okay, moving on" and we'd vote on a new talk topic. It cut down on those endless circular arguments a lot.

christopher_flores461d ago

Started making them read short stories instead lol never had that problem again.