“I don’t want to be in 2022, so I’m glad to be in [this book’s] time period instead.”

“[This protagonist’s] life has its problems, but I’m glad to be in hers rather than mine for a bit.”

Somber as those comments might sound, that we could speak them in a warm, safe virtual gathering with bookish friends is immense comfort. This same gathering had a strong undercurrent of giggles running through it, too, you know – teed off by one reader’s disappointing encounter with a sci-fi work’s harsh treatment of a character’s orifices. (We kid you not.) So yes, our meetings run the same rollercoasterish waves that the news, the pandemic and life in general do, but we wouldn’t miss their companionship, humour and solace for the world.

Even when they can’t attend, because they’re double booked on zoom or zoom fatigued, our silent book club members faithfully share what they’ve been reading lately, so we can always provide a generous reading list with each meeting. 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).

• Home of the Floating Lily by Silmy Abdullah
• What Stars Are Made Of by Sarah Allen
• Strange Things by Margaret Atwood
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith, narrated by Marin Ireland (audiobook)
• It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
• Alma Cogan by Gordon Burn
• Incontinent on the Continent by Jane Christmas
• Before She was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney
• Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
• The Lie by Helen Dunmoor
• Hell Light Flesh by Klara du Plessis
• phases by h. duxbury
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
• Twelve Nights by Urs Faes
• The Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant
• Matrix by Lauren Groff
• The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
• The Appeal by Janice Hallett
• Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway
• A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
• The Empty Greatcoat by Rebecca F. John
• Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
• Eat or We Both Starve by Victoria Kennefick
• House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, narrated by Daniel Henning (audiobook)
• The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
• Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee
• The Premonition: a pandemic story by Michael Lewis
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
• Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier
• The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin
• Dog Songs by Mary Oliver (audiobook)
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Run by Ann Patchett
• The Madness of Crowds: A Novel by Louise Penny
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, narrated by Jayne Entwistle (audiobook)
• Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Death in Ten Minutes by Fern Riddell
• Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson
• Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford, narrated by Imogen Church (audiobook)
• Threadneedle by Cari Thomas
• I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Undersong by Kathleen Winter
• Pride by Ibi Zoboi, narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo (audiobook)

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:

• Olga Tokarczuk presents her latest, The Books of Jacob, with translator Jennifer Croft on February 19th. Register for tickets for this online event here.
• Replay this year’s Martin Luther King Jr celebration reading.
• NYC School Students Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. with words and art.
• The Center for Book Arts promotes active explorations of artistic practices related to the book as an art object. Check out their online classes.
• The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) Virtual Book Club kicks off another year of online book club events, facilitated by author and award-winning educator Catherine Graham and featuring author guest appearances. Check out the lively 2022 schedule here.

Our previous silent book club meeting reports (online and in-person incarnations) and book lists are always waiting for you to read and enjoy them 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 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.

Keep reading. Just keep reading.