book club - want to leave

[katiekittlemouse]

joined a book club a couple of months ago and I am not enjoying it all. I feel v. guilty and not sure how to say that I don't want to go anymore as a friend kindly invited me along int he first place.
it's all taken very seriously and we spend the whole two hours talking about the book in minute detail. I was hoping that a book club would be fun - we might discuss the book for half an hour (if that) then chat and gossip/have fun. I have been to 2 mtgs and they were both not enjoyable for me at all.
how do I tell my friend I don't want to go anymore... just tell her the truth or miss the next meeting and hope they get the message? I don't want to offend her as they are all friends of hers but it's jst not my bag.

Tell her that you are struggling to finish the books and find it difficult to offer a detailed opinion at the meetings as a result. That for now you are going to stop going but may resume in the future when you have more reading time?

Are they her friends? If not then tell the truth; that you thought it would be more fun and on your rare (?) nights out of the house you would prefer something a little more light hearted.

Yes, just say that you don't have time for the reading.

How well do you know the other members? I was invited to join a book group by a friend and, to be frank, the gossip part of the evening can sometimes be quite tedious. Many of the other members - who I don't know at all well - have children the same age (much older than mine) who attend schools which mine don't go to and possibly never will. So when the gossip turns to dissecting the teenagers' love lives or which teacher has put whose teenager in detention, it all goes over my head. Sometimes it's better to have a wine-fuelled argument about the book!