How to politely drop out of a book club? What do you say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you could just say I'm having trouble finding the time to commit to the books / attend the meetings. Thanks for having me, but I am bowing out for now.

This is perfect, and what I said when I quit mine. Don't let yourself feel guilty about cutting out things that are not how you want to spend your time. A couple of the members I see regularly still say "you should come back to book club!" sometimes, but I just say I don't have the bandwidth for it right now.

[Anonymous]

i'm in this exact situation! It's so undemocratic because only one person chooses the books. I think everyone should have a choice.

[Anonymous]

It's totally fine to say that life is getting too hectic, and you need to cut book club from your life. HOWEVER, if you've been a regular member for more than six months or so, have the guts to show up and deliver this message in person. Delivering the message in an email is cowardly and sends a bad message to people who think of you as a friend.

[Anonymous]

I was so excited when I had my son because it was the perfect excuse to drop out of a longstanding book group I was in with a founder with a very strong personality.

Yes, I was a doormat. I'm a bit better now.

[Anonymous]

From being on the other side of it (an organizer), please do not do what this one woman did... which was make excuses why she couldn't attend each meeting for like 2 years, but consistently say how sad she was that she couldn't be there etc.

I actually lost some respect for her. I was like, you are 65 years old and you can't just say, "I don't want to do this anymore." It was weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i'm in this exact situation! It's so undemocratic because only one person chooses the books. I think everyone should have a choice.

I would hate this. Our club rotates monthly, each person choosing a book and then that person hosts the gathering. We have a few "light weights" who have done neither, and they are the flakiest about coming and doing the reading. That's ok, because we have a big enough group that there's always at least 5 or 6 of us who do the reading and show up. We have a big group because everyone is busy and will need to miss sometimes. We do plan the gatherings around those of us who are the most engaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you could just say I'm having trouble finding the time to commit to the books / attend the meetings. Thanks for having me, but I am bowing out for now.

Another vote for this.