As we’ve kvelled in the introduction to many a report here, our virtual silent book club gatherings have been a vital lifeline and inspiration for many of us throughout the pandemic. (You can read the many ways we’ve waxed poetic and – well, not prosaic exactly, but whatever is the equivalent in prose – here.)

Not only are we a collegial and bonded group of readers and friends, but are we ever a trusted recommendation engine on overdrive! It’s fair to say that most of us depart these meetings seeking out new titles via our favourite booksellers and libraries. In fact, some of us are making purchases and putting holds on books during meetings, thank you very much. And as our enthusiasm spills out to social media and offline discussions with family and friends, the bookish love continues, we know for a fact.

Bearing in mind that global supply chain issues exacerbated by the pandemic are also affecting books, we agreed at our latest meeting that we needed to get our holiday book purchasing done, well, yesterday …!

Without further ado – time’s a-wasting! – here’s our latest combined reading list. The titles featured in each of our reports combine print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks (which are indicated separately, with narrator/performer information where possible).

• Mr. Cadmus by Peter Ackroyd
• Postbox Kashmir: Two Lives in Letters by Divya Arya
• Eating India: An Odyssey into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices by Chitrita Banerji
• Toby’s Room by Pat Barker, narrated by Juliet Prague, Kieran Bew, Finlay Robertson (audiobook)
• Stop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back by Gary John Bishop
• Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life by Gary John Bishop
• Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs
• An Image in the Lake by Gail Bowen
• How to Be Happy Though Human by Kate Camp
• The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, narrated by Sian Phillips (audiobook)
• The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves, narrated by Jack Holden (audiobook)
• The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
• What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
• Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann
• Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
• Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan
• Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
• The Sandman by Neil Gaiman (audiobook)
• Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
• Poetry is Queer by Kirby
• Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar
• Silverview by John Le Carre
• Luster by Raven Leilani (audiobook)
• The Tinder Sonnets by Jennifer LoveGrove
• The Coward by Jarred McGinnis
• Shaheen Bagh: A Graphic Recollection by Ita Mehrotra
• Best Canadian Stories 2017, edited by John Metcalf
• Rizzio by Denise Mina (audiobook)
• No Man’s Land by Wendy Moore
• A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa
• The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
• Rise & Shine, Benedict Stone by Phaedra Patrick, narrated by James Langton (audiobook)
• State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton
• Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher, narrated by Jilly Bond (audiobook)
• Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
• Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
• Ghostbuster’s Daughter: Life with My Dad, Harold Ramis by Violet Ramis Stiel
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwab, narrated by Julia Whelan (audiobook)
• Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
• A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth
• The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, narrated by Tom Burke and Indira Varma (audiobook)
• Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, narrated by Kimberly Farr (audiobook)
• A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews, narrated by Susanna Fournier (audiobook)
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
• Unreconciled by Jesse Wente
• Still Life by Sarah Winman
• Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

More book-related articles, resources, news, recommendations and more are often inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat, including:

• Senior Reading Raccoons is a book recommendation Facebook group enthusiastically touted by one of our silent book club members.
• The Decameron Project short story collection by The New York Times is inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s “The Decameron”, written as the plague ravaged Florence in the 14th century. This project offers stories capturing this pandemic’s moments, featuring authors including Margaret Atwood, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Colm Toibin, Mona Awad, Rachel Kushner, Esi Edugyan and more.

Our previous silent book club meeting reports (online and in-person incarnations) and book lists are always available right here for your enjoyment and edification, not to mention gift-giving ideas – even gifts for yourself, of course! New discoveries, old favourites and more – we guarantee there’s something amongst our reports that will keep your reading appetite fueled.

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 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 hiatus, but many are running virtual meetings in different formats, and some are re-emerging carefully with in-person gatherings. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Stay safe and stay well, and keep your reading supply chain flowing!