Particularly warm kudos are in order this month to the silent book club members who made it through the February cold and over the snowy, slippery streets to our bookish oasis. Some have been contending with the colds, flus and other ailments of the season, and all have been contending with the ever-changing and treacherous weather and how it permeates everyone’s moods, energy and ambition.

As we were settling around our table (so nicely adorned now with a “Reserved For Book Club” sign – thanks, Press!), removing coats and scarves and layers, setting out our books, beverages and treats, an interesting thing happened. Our normally book-focused chit-chat strayed – innocuously at first – into the seemingly unavoidable state of the world today, including commentary on the latest shenanigans coming from the country to our south (aka the elephant next to which Canada sleeps). Suddenly, we seemed to realize we did not want to stray down that path – and we rapidly got back on the intended path. The refreshingly robust manner in which our group resisted – stayed true to what the group is about – did my heart and brain immense good. I hope the readers around the table with me today felt the same way.

I realize that by using the term “chit-chat”, I’ve possibly belittled what this group has come to mean to me. Our discussions are anything but inconsequential or unimportant. By sharing with open minds and hearts and without judgement the words and ideas that interest, inspire, challenge and comfort us, we’re doing something truly essential. We are taking time away from our daily demands to do that, and we’re stepping away from the newsfeeds and discourse that often inflame more than they inform. I would not call this practice a form of avoidance. On the contrary, I would assert that we’ve not only found a potent curative in this quiet fellowship, but we’ve found a very practical way to mentally and emotionally recharge before heading back into the fray.

We were not long into the “what I’ve been reading lately” portion of today’s gathering when it dawned on all of us that there was a consistent thread of darkness wending through all the reading choices we seem to be making in recent weeks. By the third or fourth mention of “post-apocalyptic”, we were conjecturing whether this was a collective response to the weather, our health, the state of the world … Whatever the cause, I think it made us aware that we all seek comfort, insight and diversion in interesting ways … and, we might all want to calibrate the brightness and lightness levels on our reading. Can’t hurt, eh.

Here, as usual, is the book list which sums up all the titles presented and discussed within the group. Each reader offers capsule reviews – positive or negative, always constructive. Our list as I present it here has no rating system, just a link to either publisher information or generally positive reviews or informational pieces. The list is not inherently a list of recommendations, just a record of what we discussed. The list continues to reflect a diverse and vibrant range of subjects and genres that might spark the interest of anyone keeping up with our club.

• Purple Hibicus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
• The Survivalist Series by A. American
• One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
• When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
• The Boat People by Sharon Bala
• Burying Ariel by Gail Bowen
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Milkman by Anna Burns
• The Art of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960 by Dan Callahan
• Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie
• Foreign Babes in Beijing – Behind the Scenes of a New China by Rachel DeWoskin
• Heartbreaker by Claudia Dey
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
• A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
• Woods Cop Mysteries by Joseph Heywood
• Machine Without Horses by Helen Humphreys
• Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles
• The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King
• Independent People by Halldor Laxness
• OBITS. by tess liem
• The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
• Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean
• 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson
• Tell – poems for a girlhood by Soraya Peerbaye
• Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
• The Long Take by Robin Robertson
• Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
• The Strange by Jérôme Ruillier, translated by Helge Dascher
• Martin John by Anakana Schofield
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
• Take Us to Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor
• Women Talking by Miriam Toews
• Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• A Brief History of the Amazons : Women Warriors in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde
• Positive by David Wellington
• Educated by Tara Westover
• Reproduction by Ian Williams

After our hour of silent reading, we wrapped up today’s meeting with something new. Some members read aloud brief selections from their recent reading. Today’s selections included poems from 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson and Tell – poems for a girlhood by Soraya Peerbaye, a poem found online with no author attribution about the allures of Africa, and the opening lines of the introduction to A Brief History of the Amazons : Women Warriors in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde. It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes an occasional or regular feature of our gatherings.

As always, you can enjoy our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

Our silent book club was included in a late 2018 feature about silent book clubs in the international news publication The Christian Science Monitor. Enjoy the article here. San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich are featured in the February 2019 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, describing the club’s genesis and extolling its virtues (if we haven’t done that enough here!) as the concept and clubs spread worldwide.

If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, please feel free to contact me for more information.