Discussions During Dinner

Most Book Clubs don't usually include dinner with discussions, but I felt this would make for great social time as well. Now it has gotten to the point that the host for the month will begin the discussion during the dinner!

When we first started the club we would always discuss the book after dinner, sometimes over dessert or cocktails. To outright talk with a mouth full of food while discussing the book is starting to get on my nerves. I am one that believes in etiquette and it truly perturbs me to watch this.

Since I started the club I feel I should address this issue. Only problem is I need help with addressing this to everyone without running them away. I would prefer to send out a letter and re-cap on prior guidelines but I do need help with wording in order not to offend anyone.

Queenie D says:
Well, you do have a problem on your hands here! As the creator of a book club, we often feel it is our responsibility to keep things on track, and rightfully so.

To help you I'd need to know - do you follow a set of rules? If so, what are they? If not, how did you originally decide upon the format for a book club meeting?

If you started off with a set of rules, a simple reminder may be enough. If you didn't start off with a set of rules, you may have to be more bold.

I would recommend printing this page from our site - Hosting - and taking it with you to your meeting. You could say that you were doing a little bit of book club research and came across this hosting advice. You could frame as we have here at BCQ which is that dinner time is the chance to get to know each other better and catch each other up on what's new. This way is probably best because you won't offend anyone or end up feeling bossy.

Please be sure to come back and let us know how it goes!