Hot take: skipping the discussion questions in a book club actually makes for better conversations

In my group last month, I stopped preparing the official talking points and just brought up one random thing that bugged me about the plot, and it got everyone arguing for 45 minutes straight - anyone else find that the pre-written questions kill the natural flow?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_barnes8d agoMost Upvoted

... it's like how people always say "how are you" but they don't actually want to know how you really are. the prewritten questions feel the same way, they're just there to fill space and keep things polite. the real stuff comes out when someone just blurts out what actually annoyed them or made them laugh, you know? it's the same at dinner parties too, the best conversations never happen when people stick to the safe topics everyone agreed to talk about beforehand.

karen2758d ago

Is it really that deep? I mean yeah, "how are you" is usually just a greeting, but I don't think people are being fake or anything, they're just being normal. Like at work, if someone asks how my weekend was, I know they don't want the whole story about my cat throwing up on the rug. I just say "good, yours?" and move on lol. Prewritten questions can still lead to good convos if both people actually want to talk, it's not like a script determines the whole vibe.