Just realized I was skimming book club picks all wrong

Been in my book club for about 2 years now. Always thought you had to skim the whole book quickly to get the gist before discussion. Last week I tried something different for our pick on 'Project Hail Mary.' I read just the first 50 pages really close and only the last chapter. Turned out I missed all the middle character stuff everyone wanted to talk about. The host asked me directly if I even finished it and I felt like a total fool. Anybody else figure out they were reading for discussion completely backwards?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethc141mo ago

That first and last chapter approach is a setup for failure... I've seen people try that and they always end up looking lost when the group gets into the weeds. @norathomas nailed it with the frosting analogy, skimming just the edges leaves you with no real substance to talk about.

norathomas1mo ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard! I did basically the same thing with 'The Vanishing Half' - read the first and last chapters thinking I was being clever, then showed up to discussion having completely missed the whole twin thing in the middle. The host gave me this look like I was trying to pass off a book report from SparkNotes. Guess we both learned the hard way that cheating book club is like eating the frosting off a cake and calling it a meal.