Swapped out my library's discussion guide for one I wrote myself and attendance doubled

I've been leading a book club at the downtown branch in Omaha for about two years now. We were using the stock publisher guides for our monthly picks, but after a few flat meetings I decided to write my own discussion questions for 'Klara and the Sun' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Our group went from 8 people showing up to 16 last month, and the conversation was way more lively. Has anyone else had better luck ditching the official guides and making your own?

3 comments

3 Comments

robertcarr1mo ago

8 to 16 people because you changed the questions? That's wild.

mianelson1mo ago

Honestly @robertcarr, it's not that I changed the questions, it's that the original test had a flaw that made counts unreliable. Ngl, fixing it just showed the real numbers.

ross.lily1mo ago

Honestly the publisher guides are trash most of the time, they ask the most basic surface level stuff. Like "what did you think of the ending?" Bruh that's not gonna spark anything. I wrote my own for "The Vanishing Half" and started getting people arguing about passing and identity within five minutes. Way better than the official one which just asked if they liked the twin premise. It's not that deep, people just want questions that make them feel smart or get them heated.