Veteran book club member swore by skipping chapter summaries

A guy named Tom from my old club in Austin told me to never read the author's chapter summaries before the discussion because they bias your take. I ignored him for two meetings and it totally messed up the conversation since everyone else had fresh impressions. Anyone else find that skipping the summaries changes how you argue about the themes?

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leo1071mo ago

Did you ever try reading them after the discussion instead?

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the_nancy1mo ago

I mean, yeah, the whole "after the discussion" thing is actually pretty key. I had a friend who used to get into these huge arguments about a book club pick, and she'd get so mad she'd refuse to even look at the book again. But one time she finally tried reading it a few days after the fight, and she said she saw stuff she totally missed before. Like she was so focused on being right during the discussion that she just skipped over the parts that could've changed her mind. Kinda makes you wonder how often we do that without realizing it.

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