Another silent book club zoom meeting popped up last week and it was, as it always is, a warm and joyous thing. (Well, not too warm. In fact, it was also pretty cool.)

We’ve all developed coping mechanisms and methods of resilience to get through the particular demands and challenges of the last couple of years, haven’t we? We’ve often turned to the comfort of the predictable and familiar routines, leavened from time to time with measures of spontaneity and surprise.

That describes well how our silent book club group members have gathered, largely virtually, since early 2020. We settled pretty quickly and adaptably in a twice-monthly pattern: one predictably scheduled Saturday morning zoom (and occasional careful in-person) meeting, and one not-so-predictably anticipated weekday evening meeting, deemed a “pop-up” meeting only announced shortly before its date.

Not surprisingly, the more predictably scheduled meeting typically welcomes more attendees. The more spur-of-the-moment meeting, less so in terms of numbers, is decidedly not lesser in terms of liveliness and range of discussion. At our latest meeting, for example, my comments on the brisk essay/review The Worst Truth by John Metcalf (Biblioasis) has us all sharing thoughts on what constitutes a Canadian “classic” work, maybe even questioning what we previously revered.

The alternating rhythms of routine and surprise – in our meetings and our reading – have served us all well.

Our latest combined book list gathers the recent reading of many of our members, whether they are in attendance or not. 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). As I observed in another recent report from our group, any title on any of our group’s lists means that at least one (often more) readers have given that title some consideration – and that is enough, to my mind, to say that another reader reading our reports and lists might consider it, too.

• Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
• Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
• That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story by Huda Fahmy
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, narrated by Miranda Raison (audiobook)
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
• The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths
• The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
• Wake by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez
• Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident and Capable Children by Angela J. Hanscom
• Sapiens: A Graphic History – Volume 1 – The Birth of Humankind by Yuval N. Harari
• Pandora’s Jar Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes
• Bad Actors by Mick Herron
• The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys, narrated by Morag Sims
  (audiobook)
• Tokyo Ghoul Vol 1-2 by Sui Ishida
• Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
• Mariana by Susanna Kearsley, narrated by Carolyn Bonnyman (audiobook)
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• Blue Portugal and Other Essays by Theresa Kishkan/li>
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, narrated by Matilda Novak (audiobook)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
• Rehearsals for Living by Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
• Poguemahone by Patrick McCabe
• Denial by Beverley McLachlin
• The Worst Truth by John Metcalf
• Redefine Realness by Janet Mock (audiobook)
• Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara (audiobook)
• State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton, narrated by Joan Allen (audiobook)
• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
• Small Bodies of Water by Nina Mingya Powles
• The Maid by Nita Prose
• Wanderland by Jini Reddy
• Children of My Heart by Gabrielle Roy, translated by Alan Brown
• You Look Like a Thing and I Love You – How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place by Janelle Shane
• Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast by Samanth Subramanian
• A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
• The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
• Grilling the Subject by Daryl Wood Gerber
• City of Incident – A Novel in Twelve Parts by Annie Zaidi

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. Here are the latest:

• Perhaps we’re a bit biased, but we think silent book club groups and meetings and reading lists are good for what ails you when you’re in a reading slump. But if you need a few more tips, here are some from the Washington Post.
• Some of us did not know that cozy mysteries are a thing. Not only do we know that now, but we’re totally up on cozy mysteries by themes. You will be amazed!
• In Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, the English writer, broadcaster, classicist, and comedian takes a fresh look at the ancient world, creating stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

Our previous silent book club reports (for online and in-person meetings) and book lists are always available for you to enjoy and get some reading inspiration 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 or modified schedules, 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.

May your reading afford you the perfect balance of routine and surprise, comfort and spontaneity you so desire!