“Now I know the truth: what matters is what you experience while reading, the states of feeling that the story evokes, the questions that rise to your mind, rather than the fictional events described.”

from The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez. Copyright © 2023 / quoted by Christian Bauman (@baumansbrain on Twitter) as his December 31, 2023 #SundaySentence

Part of what I experience while reading is not on the page proper. It’s the company of who I am reading with, and their subtle but powerful presence as they focus on the words in front of them, imbues the words in front of me with an incomparable glow. The silence belies the states of feeling we’ve immersed ourselves in, the worlds and minds in which we’re blissfully venturing, possibly but willingly lost. The company of readers – the people we love and the people with whom we share this love – is a rare, rich and utterly special fellowship.

We enjoyed five silent book club meetings this month: three virtual meet-ups between the east end and midtown Toronto groups (where the online boundaries extend to Wales, New Jersey and Edmonton), and two in-person gatherings at a couple of lovely Danforth coffee shops. Those last two meetings in particular reminded me potently of the importance of that companionable silence.

So, I’m not going to ramble on as I usually do in these blog posts. The silence says it all …

Once again, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to love our group’s latest combined book list, collecting up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our December 2023 meetings. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members, so dedicated to the group that they regularly provide their reading lists even when they can’t attend a 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 (but usually more) readers have given that title some consideration. That’s encouragement for you and other readers checking out our reports and lists to consider it, too. Is that a recommendation? It might be, but not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that a title has been given thoughtful consideration and attention by our readers, which you can be assured counts for a lot.

• Africa Solo by Mark Beaumont
• Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
• Biblioasis Christmas Ghost Stories
• This Road I Ride: Sometimes It Takes Losing Everything to Find Yourself by Juliana Buhring
• Finna (LitenVerse, #1) by Nino Cipri
• Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
• Other Ways to Win: A competitive cyclist’s reflections on success by Lee Craigie
• The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
• Sharp Notions, edited by Marita Dachsel and Nancy Lee
• The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, narrated by Adjoa Andoh (audiobook)
• Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, narrated by Julie Teal (audiobook)
• The Breaking Point by Daphne DuMaurier
• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez
• How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
• The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler
• Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• Water Always Wins by Erica Gies
• The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths, narrated by Jane McDowell (audiobook)
• Face It by Debbie Harry
• Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring
• Wellness by Nathan Hill
• The Future of Us by Jay Ingram
• You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
• The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun, narrated by Greta Jung (audiobook)
• Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby, narrated by Lisa Larsen (audiobook)
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
• Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
• Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
• Close to Home by Michael Magee
• This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian
• Remainder by Tom McCarthy
• Paradais by Fernanda Melchor
• Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
• A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
• Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah
• Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp, translated by Jo Heinrich
• The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
• Pageboy by Elliot Page (audiobook)
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, narrated by Meryl Streep (audiobook)
• The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin
• Beaverland by Leila Philip
• A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym, narrated by Mary Sarah (audiobook)
• The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken
• Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated by Julia Whelan (audiobook)
• Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney, narrated by Xe Sands (audiobook)
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• In the Country of Others by Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor, narrated by Lara Sawalha (audiobook)
• Valley of the Birdtail: an Indian reserve, a white town, and the road to reconciliation by Andrew Michael Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sandersonn, narrated by Greg Rogers (audiobook)
• You Break It You Buy It by Lynn Tait
• The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor
• Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi
• A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
• Starlight by Richard Wagamese, narrated by Wesley French (audiobook)
• All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
• I Am a Truck by Michelle Winters
• Agatha Christie – A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley

Did we mention that the worldwide Silent Book Club network recently welcomed its 500th chapter?!? It had around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.

When Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich graciously hosted a couple of virtual meet-ups for club organizers around the world (I joined a meeting that spanned the US, and included representation from Canada, South Africa, Finland and more), they revealed that in fact, the SBC explosion continues and they now are closer to 600 chapters!

You can always find our previous reports and book lists right here, growing every month.

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. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

Happy New Year, dearest readers – the readers we are, the readers we know, the readers we don’t yet know, all of you out there, reading silently …