This month, we’re delighted to have silent book club member Lisa Presnell introduce our latest blog post. Lisa lives in Tennessee with her husband, two teenage boys, and also a dog, cat, and snake. She is a lifelong reader and book lover who tends to talk about books too much and has an embarrassing amount of books in her tbr pile. [Her silent book club friends do not see these as problems at all …]

Getting the chance to talk books with other book lovers is something that makes my heart happy. I had only recently learned about what a Silent Book Club is, so when I was invited to try the zoom SBC [for the Toronto, Canada chapter] I was excited, but wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. That being said, I was blown away with how much I instantly loved this little group of bookworms. While the idea of a traditional book club is to all read/discuss the same book, the concept of hearing others talk about what they have read over the past month is a different type of delight. I receive a couple of literary-type newsletters, and hearing this group talk feels like the best kind of curated newsletter. Since I am not in-person with these people, participating via zoom is the next best thing and I am so thankful to be a part of it. I only wish I had come across this group sooner, but I look forward to future meetings and maybe one day will get the chance to meet up in person.

Our group offers again this month a spectacular and wide-ranging combined book list. This list gathers up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our April 2024 meetings. The list each month 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.

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. Does that mean every work on our lists is expressly recommended? Not exactly or necessarily. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and attention to a title, which means a lot.

• What An Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman
• The Damnation Game by Clive Barker
• Ducks: two years in the oil sands by Kate Beaton
• Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur, narrated by Lauren Sweet (audiobook)
• Anna O by Matthew Blake
• Wimmera by Mark Brandi
• Five-Part Invention by Andrea J. Buchanan, narrated by Elizabeth Wiley, Jayme Mattler, Susan Hanfield, Jackie Meloche, Jane Oppenheimer (audiobook)
• A Country Doctor’s Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
• Likes by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
• Greenwood by Michael Christie
• 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton (audiobook)
• Rainy Day by Norma Cole
• A Death in the Parish by The Reverend Richard Coles
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr
• Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue, narrated by Shiromi Arserio (audiobook)
• Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
• The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society by Christine Estima
• Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans
• Ask the Dust by John Fante
• The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein
• The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
• The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher
• Fi: a memoir by Alexandra Fuller
• The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, narrated by Miranda Raison (audiobook)
• The Brighton Mysteries by Elly Griffiths
• The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
• The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
• Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
• Nasty, Brutish, and Short: adventures in philosophy with kids by Scott Hershovitz (audiobook)
• Bury the Lead by Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (audiobook)
• Love Language by Nasser Hussain
• Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, narrated by Rosalyn Landor (audiobook)
• I Was a Child by Bruce Eric Kaplan
• If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
• Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
• She by Kirby
• Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, translated by Boris Dralyuk
• An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas
• No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara
• Murder in the Valleys by Pippa McCathie, narrated by Gwen Watson (audiobook)
• The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell
• Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah, narrated by Jan Kamar (audiobook)
• Prisoner of Tehran: a memoir by Marina Nemat
• The Vikings by Neil Oliver
• Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo, narrated by Sara Powell (audiobook)
• Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim by Patricia Park
• Sonnets from a Cell by Bradley Peters
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
• Imagine Wanting Only This by Kirsten Radtke
• The Caretaker by Ron Rash
• One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash
• In the Valley by Ron Rash
• Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
• The Gown by Jennifer Robson
• Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson
• Cabin Fever by Anik See
• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
• Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor
• Lossless by Matthew Tierney
• I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop
• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (audiobook)
• A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman
• Minister Without Portfolio by Michael Winter
• Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, narrated by Catherine Ho (audiobook)

How about some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations? 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.

• “You don’t have to finish a whole book in one go. There are no deadlines. And if you don’t like something, you can just drop it off. You can get recommendations from other people and other book lovers.” Silent Book Club London’s co-organizer gives several of the reasons why silent book clubs are so popular.
• Congratulations to silent book club member Dawn who, starting in 2019, challenged herself to read all of the winners and then all of the shortlists for CBC’s Canada Reads. When she finished reading Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong at Saturday’s in-person silent book club meeting, she marked the 115th and final title on her list. What a challenge and what a reading accomplishment!

Want to check out our group’s previous reports and book lists? They’re 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 the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. Last fall, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and last I heard, they’re past 700 chapters now. (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) 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.