Even the smallest of our zoom gatherings cast an intense glow as we gather from our reading chairs, home offices, bedrooms, cottages, condo balconies and more. Not only do they warm our very close here’s and now’s, but those beams carom around the world, bounce back and connect us in marvellous, often revelatory ways.

Here’s an example of that wonderful caroming effect from our latest meeting:

1. Silent book club member in Wales describes and recommends The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley, a historical novel set in Peru.
2. Silent book club member in Canada duly notes, obtains and reads recommended book, falls in love, pursues the author’s other works.
3. Silent book club member in Canada remarks on amazing book to daughter, who responds “I’ve been telling you to read this!”
4. Silent book club member in Canada recounts this during zoom meeting while …
5. Silent book club member’s daughter is texting her from Peru …!
6. Silent book club member in Wales, also on zoom call, is thoroughly delighted.
7. Other silent book club members (and now you, reading this blog post, scanning down to the book list) add this book to their tbr lists.

Of course, the fact that the Silent Book Club movement boasts 300+ chapters around the world means that these moments of bookish connection are happening all over the globe. Because many of these clubs have gone from local to hybrid/online events, inviting booklovers to “visit” meetings in other countries, means the effect is blossoming everywhere – and readers, authors and publishers all benefit.

As always, our latest combined book list reflects the reading of many of our members, whether or not they attended the meeting. The titles featured in each of our reports encompass print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks. Any title on any of our group’s lists means that at least one (often more) readers have given that title some consideration. That is encouragement, I’d say, for other readers reading our reports and lists to consider it, too. Is that a recommendation? Not exactly or necessarily, but it means a title has been given attention and thought, which counts for a lot.

• Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
• The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan, narrated by Leila Buck (audiobook)
• Burning Questions (Essays and Occasional Pieces 2004 to 2021) by Margaret Atwood
• The Winners by Fredrik Backman, narrated by Marin Ireland (audiobook)
• The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey
• Seven Steeples Sara Baume
• A Month in the Country by JL Carr
• A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, narrated by Fenella Woolgar (audiobook)
• The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen, narrated by David Duchovny/Ethan Herschenfeld (audiobook)
• Care Of by Ivan Coyote
• Haven by Emma Donoghue
• Haven by Emma Donoghue, narrated by Adrian Kelly (audiobook)
• The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
• Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, narrated by Feodor Chin (audiobook)
• The Many Daughters of Afong Moy: A Novel by Jamie Ford
• The South Westerlies by Jane Fraser
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
• The Amateurs by Liz Harmer, narrated by Stacey DePass (audiobook)
• A Mind to Murder by PD James
• Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner, narrated by Juliet Stevenson (audiobook)
• Dubliners by James Joyce
• Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, narrated by Aiden Kelly (audiobook)
• The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
• The Whole Singing Ocean by Jessica Moore
• Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (audiobook)
• Pursuit by Joyce Carol Oates, narrated by Andi Arndt (audiobook)
• The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
• Orpheus Builds a Girl by Heather Parry
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
• The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated Alma Cuervo/Robin Miles/Julia Whelen (audiobook)
• The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, full cast BBC production (audiobook)
• Spine Poems: An Eclectic Collection of Found Verse for Book Lovers by Annette Dauphin Simon
• Lucky by Marissa Stapley, narrated by Soneela Nankani (audiobook)
• Double Blind by Edward St Aubyn, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch (audiobook)
• The Admiral’s Wife by MK Tod
• Vinegar Girl: the Taming of the Shrew retold by Anne Tyler
• Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler, narrated by Andrew Macleod (audiobook)
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Places Lost – In Search of Newfoundland’s Resettled Communities by Scott Walden
• Crying in H Mart: a memoir by Michelle Zauner
• Red Clocks by Leni Zumas, narrated Erin Bennett/Karissa Vacker (audiobook)

Here are some additional book-related articles, resources, news, recommendations and more. These items and tidbits are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

• Our silent book club member from Jersey City recommends this Virtual Poetry Reading replay from the Brooklyn Book Festival, featuring Kaveh Akbar, Victoria Chang and Warsan Shire.
• I spent a good chunk of my time chatting with Amanda Earl on the The Small Machine Talks podcast rhapsodizing about silent book clubs.
• Many of our silent book club readers are fans of author Peter Robinson, particularly his crime series featuring Inspector Alan Banks. Robinson passed away at the age of 72 earlier this month after a brief illness. The Globe and Mail and The Guardian offered fine tributes.

Our previous reports and book lists are always available to inform, delight, inspire and to your tbr pile … 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 carefully running in-person gatherings again. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Sending beams of book love your way, as always …