Found a stat about how many books people actually finish in a book club and it threw me off

I was digging through some book club stats online last night for a project I'm working on, and I found this crazy fact that only about 30% of people actually finish the book before the meeting. It came from a survey of like 200 clubs run by a library system in Ohio. I had no idea the number was that low. In my own club, we always have a few folks who skim or just read summaries, but I thought most people powered through. It got me wondering if that's normal or if my group is just full of slackers lol. Has anyone else seen anything like this in their own club or found a different stat that surprised you?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseythompson4d ago

Yeah I remember seeing something similar from a Reader's Digest survey a few years back that said about 40% of people admitted to lying about finishing a book in a group setting. Makes more sense when you think about how many people are busy or just don't like the selection but feel obligated to show up. Your club probably isn't any worse than average honestly.

the_susan4d ago

Actually the RD survey said 30% not 40%.

rileygarcia4d ago

So does that mean the 30% who admitted it were actually telling the truth about lying, or is that number also a lie? I guess the real figure is whatever makes us feel better about our own book club habits. CaseyThompson, looks like your club might be average after all, which honestly isn't bad considering half of them probably haven't cracked the book open since page one.