Update: it took our club 4 months to settle on ONE book because we kept picking the biggest fight
So our club of 8 in Sacramento kept putting off the actual pick because every meeting turned into a 40 minute argument about whether a 900 page book was "worth it." We burned through 3 whole months just doing this. I finally timed it last month, and we spent 67 minutes on one title before anyone even opened the book. Everyone acts like the debate is the fun part but honestly I think we use it to avoid committing to anything. Does your club set a hard time limit or do you just let it run?
67 minutes is wild but I kinda see it the other way. The arguing IS the club for a lot of people, it's the reason they show up. If you slap a 10 minute timer on it you might lose half your group who just wanna hang and talk. My group in Portland tried a hard limit and 3 people quit within a month. Maybe the move is picking shorter books so the 900 page fight never happens in the first place.