Found a trick that stopped our book club debates from getting personal
My book club of 8 people was falling apart last summer. Every debate about a character's choice or a plot hole turned into people taking it personally, like if you hated the main character you were attacking the person who picked the book. Someone would say a book was boring and the person who recommended it would get quiet for the rest of the night. I started using a simple approach: before anyone shares their thoughts, we each rate the book on a scale of 1 to 5 with zero explanation, then everyone writes down one thing they liked and one thing they didn't on a slip of paper before we talk out loud. It took maybe 5 minutes extra at the start, but it made the discussion way less heated because people already saw where everyone stood on the numbers. Nobody feels attacked now because the ratings and notes are anonymous until we choose to share them. Has anyone else tried a cold open method like this to keep book club debates from turning into arguments?