Inhabiting other lives to understand our own … oh, the things we learn at silent book club

Last month, we presented our silent book club report and reading list with pictures of our meeting participants holding up the books they were reading and discussing. We rather liked that way of showing off our reading, so we’ve decided to do it again this month. As one participant emphasized, we wanted to show booklovers “cradling” their book treasures – holding them gently, delicately, protectively, like cradling an infant. Isn’t that a rather lovely, evocative and accurate way of capturing how we care for books and what they can mean to us?

Silent book club participant holds the book Rasputin by Douglas Smith

No matter the composition of a particular silent book club gathering – there are unique alchemies in the different combinations of regular, occasional and new readers coming from different experiences and perspectives – each gathering seems to collectively speak to interesting recurring themes. In this month’s meetings, we touched time and again on how books allow us to immerse ourselves in the lives of others, ultimately allowing us to better understand both others and ourselves. (AbeBooks states it plainly and beautifully here.)

The following list encompasses books discussed with passion, read with joy and touted with enthusiasm over two meetings this Family Day long weekend. We present this list after every month’s gathering or gatherings, not only as a service to everyone who attends in person, but to extend what we share at each meeting to a virtual network of fellow readers. We invite you to explore the lists and pursue the books. Each title links to additional information about the book, either from the publisher, from articles about the book or author, or from generally positive and/or constructive reviews.

Silent book club participant holds the book Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Silent book club participant holds Kindle showing Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Silent book club participant holds the book The Stand by Stephen King

Silent book club participant holds books Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust and The Innocents by Michael Crummey

Silent book club participant holds the book After the Falls by Catherine Gildiner

Silent book club participant holds books by Trevor Noah, Dr. Neal Barnard and Francois Cantu

Silent book club participant holds the books Calypso by David Sedaris and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Silent book club participant holds the books Smorgasbord by Johanna Kindvall and A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

Silent book club participant holds the books Dominoes at the Crossroads by Kaie Kellough and Arias by Sharon Olds

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

We’re pleased and honoured to have been interviewed about the silent book club concept and how to start a club of one’s own.

San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich were most recently featured in a wonderful piece on the NPR web site (yes, National Public Radio, thank you very much!). Extensive and enthusiastic coverage silent book club coverage includes this piece in the February 2019 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, describing the club’s genesis and extolling its virtues as the concept and clubs spread worldwide.

If you’ve so far enjoyed the silent book club experience virtually, are you tempted to experience it firsthand? Via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site, you can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, check out the resources on the Silent Book Club web site, or please feel free to contact me for more information.

2 thoughts on “Inhabiting other lives to understand our own … oh, the things we learn at silent book club

  1. Beth Gordon

    In addition to brilliantly encapsulating the spirit of our meetings, this post makes me sorry I only came to one of the two!

    Reply
    1. bookgaga Post author

      I wish we could be at all of each other’s silent book club meetings! They are such wonderful, energizing, inspiring gatherings.

      Reply

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