Based on the dialogue on these boards, the majority of the people just don't read anything challenging or deep, or if they do, they miss the message.

You can try to say that this book club is meant to excite people to read things other than genre fiction. It isn't, though. We aren't like Russian narodniks of the Nineteenth Century, "going to the people" and enlightening them.

The people who will participate in this club are people who enjoy *good* books. We know who we are. Of course, that doesn't stop the other people from voting at the Quickpolls, which is why decisions about which books to read shouldn't be swayed in that manner.

I suspect The Count of Monte Cristo won solely on name recognition, which is a function of its popularity as what Russians would call a "boulevard novel", i.e., something that would be sold popularly on the streets.