Monthly Archives: October 2020

Going anywhere and everywhere with our books, while being anywhere and everywhere with our fellow booklovers

We all know what can happen with the best laid plans, don’t we? What we pondered at length last month with respect to resuming some semblance of in-person silent book club meetings was done so seasoned with the generous grains of salt we’ve learned to wield with all plans made during a pandemic.

Fortunately, not all best laid plans automatically go awry, either. We didn’t get to meet as we’d anticipated, but we did get to meet in ways we’ve come to expect and enjoy … and in ways we didn’t quite expect that we enjoyed immensely. This picture says it all.

Silent book club in the park

Yes, we did get to gather in the park again – bundled up and expecting it might be brisk, and being blessed with a moderate, sunny, downright lovely afternoon. And no, we didn’t get to gather at our local venue, Press, but several of us stopped there before the park meeting for takeout hot beverages. While we sat in the park with the sun beaming down – which was splendid to share with neighbours walking dogs, exercising and playing ultimate frisbee, tennis and ping pong, and more – I imagined that same sunshine streaming through the windows of the rest of our group’s homes, where those not joining us in the park were observing their respective hours of silent reading.

Silent book club member's books

Silent book club member's books

Silent book club member's books

Silent book club member's books

Silent book club in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Silent book club member in the park

Any chance Mother Nature could gift us one more such golden day in November …? We came away hoping and planning our bookish plans for next month.

Between our zoom and park meetings, we’ve amassed another gorgeously overflowing list of books. The titles featured in each report combine print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks (which are indicated separately).

We continue to share our group’s successes and delights with readers around the world.

Silent book clubs are showing that reading alone, together, is good for us
by Kasia Delgado, iNews UK
September 29, 2020

We’re entering month 7 of the global pandemic and reflecting on how it has changed us. #silentbookclub looks different now. In Torino and Toronto (pictured) readers gather in person, outside, safely distanced, with masks.
from Silent Book Club on Instagram
September 28, 2020

Our previous silent book club meeting reports (online and in-person incarnations) and book lists are here.

You can also check out links to articles, CBC Radio 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 silent book clubs 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. Some clubs are currently on haitus, but many are running virtual meetings in different formats. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

A silent book club meeting with friends and neighbours, held at and in support of a local business exemplifies exactly the kinds of freedoms we are foregoing now to get through these unsettled and unsettling times … and is where we’re all going to want to be when we get through this. Read well where you are now, gather in the ways that are safe and make most sense, including virtually. Be well and let books buoy your spirits, make our ever changing and challenging circumstances more tolerable, and make the time pass swiftly.