Our book club almost split over a 40 page rule, so we tried a 10 minute timer
Our group of 9 in Des Moines broke into two camps last month over whether a certain ending was earned, and the talking over each other got bad enough that two people left early. I started bringing a cheap kitchen timer and giving everyone 2 quiet minutes to write down thoughts before we open the floor, and it works way better than I expected. Has any other group found a trick that keeps the loud people from taking over without making it feel like a classroom?