The special trust you derive from a very good silent book club

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This month, our east end Toronto silent book club chapter celebrates its 7th anniversary, thank you very much! Here’s how our first meeting went.

Our latest meetings, online and in-person, were just yesterday. Not every meeting is like this, but some like yesterday’s are an interesting balance of our fellow readers’ enthusiasms and delights and … disappointments or cautions. I actually really appreciate that our readers have so grown to trust each other that our discussions and reviews are not just about what we enjoyed reading, but what we didn’t. When the review is not necessarily glowing, we can also trust that the assessments will be measured or readers acknowledge when maybe it just wasn’t the right time for one to be challenged by a particular subject or author. It’s still constructive and informative.

Silent book club member Kath's recent reading, including The Doctor’s Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood and The Moonlight Market by Joanne Harris

Cover of Showa 1926-1939 A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki

Page of graphic novel Showa 1926-1939 A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki

Page of graphic novel Showa 1926-1939 A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki

Silent book club members gathered, reading silently, at a table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books include works by Rob Ford and Doug Ford, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Annick MacAskill, Rachel Cusk, Elizabeth Renzetti, Thomas Pynchon, Claire Fuller + more

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with some of the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books include works by Rob Ford and Doug Ford, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Annick MacAskill, Rachel Cusk, Elizabeth Renzetti, Geoff Ryman, Robert Jordan + more

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with some of the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books include works by Thomas Pynchon, Oakley Hall, Claire Fuller, Gerard Reve + more

As always, every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended (as I just suggested) – but that’s still more than OK, we think. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear readers, means a lot.


Here are some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations, items and tidbits that are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

  • In case you missed it … yes, we’re that book club from TV!

  • One of the creatures chronicled in Pests – How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire is the cane toad. If that story sparks your interest, you might also enjoy the 1988 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.

Our group’s previous reports and book lists – all eminently trustworthy – areright here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with continuing and astonishing momentum, they are now boasting over 1,000 chapters!!! (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Happy, happy reading (or even sad, or challenging, or frustrating reading … but keep going!) until next we meet!

Even when you aren’t there … the book club and the books are always there

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Not everyone makes it to every book club meeting, every month. (Mind you, many make it to many meetings, which makes every month’s meetings full, rich and special.)

But you know what? Every month’s meetings happen, and happy readers gather to generously share their reading, virtually and in person. Those meetings spawn a new and intriguing combined list of books that have delighted, challenged, maybe occasionally disappointed but always filled our time in interesting ways. So, I’m just going to get to the list right away … and I’ll chatter at more length about the books, the readers, the recurring themes and lively topics that emerge in our discussions … all that and more, next month.

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with one of the group's book selections - Winter by Ali Smith - sitting on a table next to a latte.

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books include works by D.H. Lawrence, Ferdia Lennon, William Gass, Audrey Schulman and George Eliot.

As always, every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended – but that’s more than OK, we think. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear readers, means a lot.


Here are some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations, items and tidbits that are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

That effing brilliant book club from TV

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A neighbour walks into a favourite local coffee shop (East Toronto Coffee Co!), spots our group ensconced in a cozy corner, silently reading and enjoying our beverages, pastries and the company of fellow readers, and addresses us:

“Hey, are you the book club from TV?”

and we reply, “Why yes, we are!”

and he declares, smiling:

“You’re famous!”

Why yes, I guess we are!

… and not only are we famous, but we’re effing brilliant!

… and not only are we all that, but our group’s continuous celebration takes many forms, including sharing moving passages from our reading:

“The desk is empty except for a pewter mug – a polo trophy won by her grandfather – holding pens, and a small Persian box with a design in dull blue and gold. It had been her mother’s, and had held paper clips. The box gives Sarah a sweet tiny rush of feeling. It still holds her mother’s paper clips, she has never emptied it. She feels a near magical connection to the box, and to the paper clips inside, which her mother had touched. She can’t explain why – her mother had touched many things in the house – but the little box is charged. It was part of her mother’s daily life, and is still here, whole. She knows this feeling is only hers. Her children may know that the box was her mother’s, that the paper clips were hers, but it can’t matter to them as it does to Sarah. She never uses the paper clips. She wants to keep the link intact, as though the presence of the paper clips themselves, light and silvery and insubstantial, means that her mother might use them still.”

excerpt from Leaving by Roxana Robinson

Our discussion meeting this month took a different tack. Rather than a topic related to reading and readers, group members Tom and Lisa led a discussion on a specific book: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As they described it, “SBC is founded on the subtle quality of silence. Addressing Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, [we] will be hosting a chat about silence as a powerful trope, and the importance and implications of confronting difficult issues out loud.” So yes, we were kind of gathering like a more traditional book club. It was an interesting change of pace, beautifully facilitated and instructive even if you had not yet finished the book or, in some cases, had blurred recollection of it because, say, one had read it during the early days of the pandemic.

The hands of a reader, holding a book, next to a table laden with more piles of books. The table, at East Toronto Coffee Co, has a

Silent book club member Vicki (that's me, with my signature messy hair and glasses), on screen getting ready for our zoom meeting, with books stacked next to my computer, including a stack of poetry collections I read during the Sealey Challenge, plus the novel Look After Her by Hannah Brown.

Standing outside the East Toronto Coffee Co coffee shop, holding two books: Look After Her by Hannah Brown and Disorder by Concetta Principe.

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books include works by Concetta Principe, Hannah Brown, Karen Stiller, Andrea Abreu, Howard Jacobson, Benjamin Stevenson and John Ralston Saul.

Silent book club readers with their books open at the table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Oh my heavens, what another dizzyingly gorgeous and varied reading list we have to share again this month! Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended – but that’s more than OK, we think. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear readers, means a lot.


Wait, there’s more! How about some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

Immerse yourself in our group’s previous reports and book lists right here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with continuing and astonishing momentum, they are now boasting over 1,000 chapters!!! (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

And yes, if you see us silently reading “in the wild” … we are the book club from TV! 🙂

Literary quests – delightful, twisted, circuitous, comforting and more – all of them splendid!

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Our silent book club readers are a witty and articulate bunch, it probably won’t surprise you to learn. Sometimes as the conversation flows jauntily around one absorbing reading updates after another, the synopses of different books enchants as much as the books themselves. When, for example, one of our readers described a book as being a “twisted spiritual quest”, not only was I captivated, but it sent me off on a wee tangent (not for long, because I didn’t want to miss the next update) on how we’re often on different literary quests with our reading – and hence the title of our latest report. Nuff said!

Our discussion meeting this month revisited a previous topic that was shot through with new and troubling urgency. Can we/should we separate the person from the work? We’ve discussed variations on this subject before, but the shocking Alice Munro news has all of us very sadly contemplating this again.

Much has been written, was published as recently as a couple of days ago, and will still be written on this. We took as our cue this piece by American writer Brandon Taylor. We vented, we grieved, we expressed a range of emotions, we admitted that we didn’t know how to express our feelings, we acknowledged that privilege plays a part in what we should and should not be focusing on …

After the meeting, I was inspired to send this message to the group:

“Thank you” was not nearly sufficient, but I want to thank all of you for taking part in last night’s silent book club discussion pop-up. One of the many joys of assembling with you, virtually and in-person, is that it is literally a joy, a celebration, so uplifting. That we can also gather to take on the thornier aspects of being dedicated readers is, well, maybe not something we want to make a habit of … but when we do, I am so grateful to do that with such thoughtful, insightful, articulate and generous individuals.

Silent book club member Vicki's colourful stack of recent reading, including books by Naomi Klein, Phil Hall, Pamela Mulloy, Cherie Dimaline, Saeed Teebi, Susie Boyt, Colm Toibin, Dale Martin Smith and Alice Oswald

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books in hard cover and digital format include works by Steven Johnson, Dale Martin Smith, Tommy Orange, Saeed Teebi, Joanna Goodman, Colm Toibin, Virginia Woolf, Safiya Sinclair and Ariana Harwicz

Silent book club meeting at the East Toronto Coffee Co, with the group's book selections spread out on the table along with beverages and pastries. The books in hard cover and digital format include works by Steven Johnson, Dale Martin Smith, Tommy Orange, Saeed Teebi, Joanna Goodman, Colm Toibin, Virginia Woolf, Safiya Sinclair and Ariana Harwicz. My white sneaker-shod feet are visible on the bench next to the table.

Silent book club readers with their books open at the table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. To be honest, that doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended. However, inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear readers, means a lot.


Need some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

Immerse yourself in our group’s previous reports and book lists right here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with breathtaking momentum, they are now boasting over 1,000 chapters!!! (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Hoping you succeed in all of your literary quests!

“Then it is time to read alone, together.”

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This month, we’re so pleased to have silent book club member Lori Schuett introduce our latest blog post. Lori joined our group just a few short months ago, but it already feels like she’s been with us as long as our tbr piles are tall!

Silent book club member Lori sits in a slate gray armchair with a book and a handsome teddy bear. Plants on a windowsill are nearby.

After a 30-year career teaching English and Communications at both high school and college level, retirement was a welcome new beginning 24 years ago.

Teaching literature to impressionable minds requires patience and dissection skills, to name a few, along with a sense of humour and openness to some rather unusual opinions at times.

I was not sure reading was an activity at the top of the list for leisure with my new found freedom but books have been a significant part of my life since learning to read at a very early age.

I did not want to join a book club to read and discuss books with subject matter of no appeal to me no matter what the critics said, but I do love to share ideas and be with people. However I wanted to read about themes that spoke to me. There lay the challenge – how to find them! Yes, there are bestseller lists and friend recommendations, author interviews – but not enough personal insights to guide me to find the “perfect” read. I cannot begin to tally how many books I have read to page 30 and closed it at that point as it was just not for me – an exhausting pastime, I must say – and I was also missing meeting up with other readers.

A few months ago I was scrolling, looking for books, of course, and came across a site called the Silent Book Club. So do members sit around and read the same book silently at their meeting and then discuss it, I wondered?

My search led me to the East End Toronto Silent Book Club that I learned is just one of nearly 1000 SBC’s internationally.

To my delight as I live in Peterborough, they meet once monthly on Saturday mornings on Zoom. In person follows at a local Toronto coffee shop for those who can attend (how I wish!)

I contacted the facilitator, who is a delight and makes everyone feel so welcome, listening carefully to each member’s book comments, and decided to give it a go. I look forward to our monthly get-togethers and really enjoy the new friends I have made. Here’s the best part: I don’t have to read a specific book. Each person presents a short insightful summary of a book or books they have read during the past month while our moderator records the titles. There is opportunity to ask a few questions and after the meeting the titles are added to a huge ongoing file of books mentioned from all of the meetings.

Then it is time to read alone, together.

SBC checks all my boxes: a wealth of books to explore, lovely friendly people, and great conversation. Now I just need more time – and years – to delve into all of the books on my ever growing list!

Silent book club member Vicki's stack of recent reading: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong, Killdeer by Phil Hall and ink earl by Susan Holbrook

Silent book club member Lisa's beautiful bookshelves, white shelves against a white wall, with a spider plant at one end. Next to the bookshelves are a bright window and a comfy dark leather armchair with cushions with bright floral patterns.

Front of the East Toronto Coffee Co coffee shop, where we hold our Toronto silent book club in-person meetings - The windows are decorated with bright line drawings of flowers and a pink bench is visible near the main door

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear readers, means a great good deal.


How about some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

You can always find and immerse yourself in our group’s previous reports and book lists right here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. Last fall, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with breathtaking momentum, they are now boasting 1,000 chapters!!! (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Wishing y’all alone together silent reading time (plus not-so-silent bookish conversation!) that is endlessly rich and rewarding.

Kinds of bookish joy

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There are so many kinds of bookish joy that we can relish as readers, individually and collectively. Every silent book club blog post is suffused with joy, wouldn’t you agree? Well, here are just two of the many kinds of bookish joy that were top of mind this past month.

Silent book club member Vicki (that's me, with my signature messy hair and glasses), on screen getting ready for our zoom meeting, with books stacked next to my computer, including work by Michael Ondaatje, Tanis MacDonald, Margaret Christakos and Laurence Sterne

At East Toronto Coffee Co, getting ready for a silent book club meeting, with books by Eden Robinson, Joanna Goodman, Melanie Marttila, Saeed Teebi and more on the wooden table, along with refreshments

At East Toronto Coffee Co, getting ready for a silent book club meeting, with books by Jarrett Walker, Mary Shelley and Annie Ernaux on the wooden table, along with refreshments

Silent book club members Tom, Richard and Joylyn, engrossed in their reading, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

While on vacation, silent book club member Anne-Louise spotted Small Things Like These, translated to Norwegian, in the window of a bookshop in Bergen

While on vacation, silent book club member Anne-Louise spotted Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Mysteries in Danish, at the Copenhagen airport

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title – and that, dear bookish friends, means a lot.

You can always find and immerse yourself in our group’s previous reports and book lists right here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. Last fall, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with breathtaking momentum, they are now boasting 1,000 chapters!!! (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Wishing you many, many kinds of bookish joy!

The mystique of books that make us laugh

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Emojis showing faces laughing, crying and laughing with tears, taken from the cover of the book Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin.Over a year ago, our silent book club group members decided to add a virtual meeting to our monthly schedule to delve into some of the themes we touch on and skim over during our regular, go-round meetings. These meetings have helped us to both broaden our reading horizons and go more deeply into our reading, and we’re also getting to know each other more as readers and bookish friends.

Last month, our discussion topic was …

* Books that make us cry / upset us in some way – Do we “like” / enjoy them?

… and while it was a rich and revealing discussion, it’s safe to say we all departed the gathering perhaps feeling a little blue.

So, this month, our discussion topic just had to be …

* Books that make us laugh out loud – We need this subject as a counterpoint to our last discussion, about books that make/made us cry. Of course, we can extend this to reflections on the magic with which mere words on a page or screen can cause us to feel immense emotions of all kinds.

… and it was equally vibrant, and evoked more than a few laughs and chuckles along the way. Among the examples and recommendations, readers also asked some interesting questions and made thought-provoking observations about the words on a page or screen that make us merry.

  • Is it harder for words to make us laugh than make us cry?
  • Reading experiences that “literally make you LOL” are the most memorable!
  • Humour that truly strikes a chord usually means you’ve recognized something or someone you know.
  • One reader observed during this discussion that the power of words to make us laugh, cry and more had him thinking about bibliotherapy, a therapeutic approach employing books and other forms of literature, typically alongside more traditional therapies, to support a patient’s mental health.

Here is the list of authors and specific titles that emerged from this discussion. Inclusion in this list doesn’t necessarily mean a recommendation, nor does it mean a particular work will connect with your funny bone. Inclusion on this list always means that our silent book club readers have devoted time and attention to a title, which means a lot.

Happy (in every sense of the word) reading!

The best kind of curated newsletter … is made up of book club friends

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Silent book club member Lisa PresnellThis month, we’re delighted to have silent book club member Lisa Presnell introduce our latest blog post. Lisa lives in Tennessee with her husband, two teenage boys, and also a dog, cat, and snake. She is a lifelong reader and book lover who tends to talk about books too much and has an embarrassing amount of books in her tbr pile. [Her silent book club friends do not see these as problems at all …]

Getting the chance to talk books with other book lovers is something that makes my heart happy. I had only recently learned about what a Silent Book Club is, so when I was invited to try the zoom SBC [for the Toronto, Canada chapter] I was excited, but wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. That being said, I was blown away with how much I instantly loved this little group of bookworms. While the idea of a traditional book club is to all read/discuss the same book, the concept of hearing others talk about what they have read over the past month is a different type of delight. I receive a couple of literary-type newsletters, and hearing this group talk feels like the best kind of curated newsletter. Since I am not in-person with these people, participating via zoom is the next best thing and I am so thankful to be a part of it. I only wish I had come across this group sooner, but I look forward to future meetings and maybe one day will get the chance to meet up in person.

Silent book club member Vicki (me) is visible on her computer screen, getting ready for a silent book club zoom meeting. Next to the computer is a dog calendar and some books, including works by Kirby, Matthew Tierney, Sarah Winman, Joan Didion, Anik See, Bradley Peters and Amanda Peters.

At East Toronto Coffee Co with books by Amanda Peters and Bradley Peters on the wooden table, along with lattes, cookie, bright green and purple hats, ready for silent book club meeting

At East Toronto Coffee Co with books by by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong, Maurice Vellekoop, Jennifer Ackerman, Marina Nemat, Amanda Peters, Bradley Peters, Andrey Kurkov and Jenny Erpenbeck on the wooden table

Silent book club member Jess reads at a table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Silent book club member Catherine reads at a table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Our group offers again this month a spectacular and wide-ranging combined book list. This list gathers up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our April 2024 meetings. The list each month reflects the reading of many of our members, so dedicated to the group that they regularly provide their reading lists even when they can’t attend a meeting. The titles featured in each of our reports encompass print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks.

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title, which means a lot.


How about some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

  • “You don’t have to finish a whole book in one go. There are no deadlines. And if you don’t like something, you can just drop it off. You can get recommendations from other people and other book lovers.” Silent Book Club London’s co-organizer gives several of the reasons why silent book clubs are so popular.
  • Congratulations to silent book club member Dawn who, starting in 2019, challenged herself to read all of the winners and then all of the shortlists for CBC’s Canada Reads. When she finished reading Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong at Saturday’s in-person silent book club meeting, she marked the 115th and final title on her list. What a challenge and what a reading accomplishment!

Want to check out our group’s previous reports and book lists? They’re right here, growing every month.

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. Last fall, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and last I heard, they’re past 700 chapters now. (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Book blurbs, and blurbing our book club

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This year, our silent book club is managing to have three gatherings a month, two virtual and one in-person. Our “go-round” virtual meeting keeps all of us up-to-date on the books delighting and/or challenging members. Our in-person meeting has a quick “go-round” to kick things off, and then we settle in with books and beverages for the bliss that is sharing silent reading together with bookish friends. The hustle and bustle of our lovely neighbourhood coffee shop (thank you, East Toronto Coffee Co!) becomes the warm soundtrack to each of the worlds we slip into …

We continue to devote a second virtual meeting every month to a bookish topic of discussion. The topic of this month’s themed discussion meeting was:

Book recommendations / endorsements on book covers – Do you pay attention to them? Do they influence your decision to read a book (or not)?

As always, the discussion was lively and had a great balance of the ways in which the brief statements or blurbs – sometimes just a word or two – on book covers and opening pages of books do or do not help to convince us to pick up particular books. The celebrity of an endorser might or might as easily not influence us. (Hmm, what’s in it for them, eh?) What if someone endorsing a book also appears in the author’s acknowledgements? What if someone appears to endorse lots and lots and lots of books?

At any rate, the topic inspired me to ask our members how they would blurb our silent book club group. Here’s a selection of their fine, pithy and eminently trustworthy statements:

“Our silent book club is a platform for book lovers to share what they choose about what they read. Our group of readers engages in thoughtful dialogue inspired by thematic elements, aesthetics, and the diverse insights contributed by our members. One activity we share is reading alongside fellow readers, cherishing our books alone, together.”
– Tom

“Silent Book Club: A virtual meeting space where a diverse collection of people share their even more diverse book recommendations.”
– Sven

“Silent Book Club: Quietly expanding your TBR list.”
– Jenn E

“A delightful mix of other worlds made known through the words of fellow bookworms.”
– Lisa

“Silent book club – where you’re guaranteed to find a book to keep you reading past 50 pages! ;)”
– Jenn C

“Bountiful book buddies!”
– Anne-Louise

Silent book club member Amanda's books - including works by Catherine Leroux, Jack Kerouac, Maggie O'Farrell and more [Photo by Amanda]

Front of the East Toronto Coffee Co coffee shop, where we hold our Toronto silent book club in-person meetings - The windows are decorated with bright line drawings of flowers and a pink bench is visible near the main door

Silent book club member Catherine, wearing a red Dr Pepper sweatshirt, reads at a table at East Toronto Coffee Co - Coffee cups and plates and a bookmark are visible on the table.

Silent book club member Estelle reads at a table at East Toronto Coffee Co - Coffee cups and a sign indicating the table is reserved for the book club are visible on the table.

Silent book club member Tom is engrossed in his reading on a tablet, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

At East Toronto Coffee Co with books by Norma Cole, Joan Didion and Elena Ferrante on the wooden table, along with latte and cookie, ready for silent book club meeting

Needless to say, but I’ll say it again because I’m always delighted to say it: you’re going to love our group’s latest combined book list, and titles on it are going to call out to you – guaranteed! This list gathers up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our March to early April 2024 meetings. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members, so dedicated to the group that they regularly provide their reading lists even when they can’t attend a meeting. The titles featured in each of our reports encompass print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks.

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title, which means a lot.


Want some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

You can always find our previous reports and book lists right here, growing every month.

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. Last fall, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and they’re well past 600 chapters now. (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

“Beautiful!” “Entrancing!” “Vital!” “Satisfying!” However you would sum it up, wishing you blurb-worthy reading till next we meet!

The intertwined branches, roots, vines of our reading

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The whole premise of silent book club gatherings is based on readers reading what they want to read, versus a book club dictating what everyone will read together). An interesting development in our group is that titles are making repeat appearances, a natural progression from a group of readers coming to know each other and respect each other’s recommendations. Further, some readers are having or suggesting side discussions to – wait for it – just discuss one title and delve into it more deeply. Oh my! Just like a traditional book club, eh?

I’m a reader, not a writer, so maybe I don’t have the gifts to express this precisely, but I wonder if we’re coming full circle in some ways because we’re coming to the same books through developing trust, not imposing taste. Over time – our group is over six years old now, with many long-time members – that trust has been nurtured both virtually and again, gradually, in person. Does it make some sense, perhaps, that our individual branches, roots and vines are intertwining? Just a thought …

In addition to our monthly go-round meetings, we continue to devote a second meeting every month to a bookish topic of discussion. The topic of this month’s themed discussion meeting was:

* Reading challenges – do you take them up? Do reading challenges – presented by libraries, Goodreads, events like Canada Reads, or ones you and your fellow readers make up yourselves – spark and inspire your reading, take you in new directions, etc.?

One of our regular members is all about the challenges … so we were very disappointed when she couldn’t make it to the meeting. Wherever she was that evening, her ears must have been burning, though, because we referenced and praised her commitment to challenges throughout the discussion. Coming a distant second to that member’s dedication is my own taking up of the Sealey Challenge (a community challenge to read a work of poetry every day for the month of August) for the last three years. Beyond that, our group agreed that apart from awards longlists and shortlists and the like, our greatest inspirations come from … book clubs like ours, and fellow readers such as the ones with which we surround ourselves.

Silent book club member Lori's books - including works by Carlo Rovelli, Kate Bowler and Shohini Ghose - are gently accompanied by a beautiful teddy bear, all curled up in a cozy chair [Photo by Lori]

Silent book club member Vicki (me) is visible on her computer screen, getting ready for a silent book club zoom meeting. Next to the computer is a dog calendar and some books, including works by Canisia Lubrin, Stephanie Burt, Colm Toibin, Naomi Klein, Danila Botha and Ivana Sajko, translated by Mima Simic

Silent book club member Lisa's lovely, cozy reading chair, with black and white floral upholstery, a quilt, soft cushions and stacks of books on a side table and footstool, next to a bright window [Photo by Lisa]

Silent book club member Ruth's reading - The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan - sits on a wooden table with a colourful bookmark with complimentary words on it [Photo by Ruth]

Wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co, with

A silent book club reader engrossed in her reading, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

A silent book club reader engrossed in her reading, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

A silent book club reader engrossed in her reading, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

A silent book club reader engrossed in her reading, sitting at a wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co

Wooden table at East Toronto Coffee Co, with

As always, I can confidently predict you’re going to love our group’s latest combined book list and will find more than one book that will pique your interest. This list gathers up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our February 2024 meetings. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members, so dedicated to the group that they regularly provide their reading lists even when they can’t attend a meeting. The titles featured in each of our reports encompass print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks.

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. That’s encouragement for you and other readers checking out our reports and lists to consider it, too. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title, which means a lot.