As the cold and darkness have descended, the stalwart readers of our silent book club groups have turned in particular earnest to books to warm and brighten the way through … And yes, I said “groups” because between two meetings this past month – one virtual and one in-person – we had representation from all of midtown, east end and west end Toronto and also Mississauga, all neighbourhoods that have groups and venues in their locales. It’s wonderful how these groups intersect – and our reading and reading lists are the better for it.

While group members shared as generously as ever about the books they were reading and how those books were (or sometimes were not) enjoyable and worthwhile experiences, one observation stood out for me as I moderated the group. One reader remarked that sometimes the best book in certain circumstances is one that satisfies enough without demanding too much attention. For example, a book that does not compel you to stay up late reading is sometimes OK: “I never felt a need to read another chapter.”

Hmm, what do you think?

One group member shared from further afar than usual. She was not able to attend in person, but she sent pictures of her reading on Hawaiian beaches, as well of the crew library of the Battleship Missouri, a Pearl Harbor historic site.

No sooner do we finish the year just past with a bountiful reading list … than we kick off the new, shiny year with yet another astonishing combined reading list from the members of our steadfast silent book club group. Every title on our group’s generous lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title considered attention. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended, of course. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and thought to a title – and that, dear readers, always means a lot.

• Three Plays by Edward Albee: The Death of Bessie Smith, The Sandbox, The American Dream
• Dancing with Diana by Anne Allan
• An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler, narrated by Lynne Thigpen (audiobook)
• Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
• The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
• The Librarianist by Patrick de Witt
• Attic by Katherine Dunn
• Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy by Jessica Fern
• Bystander Society: Conformity and Complicity in Nazi Germany by Mary Fulbrook
• Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution – The Complete Guide to Raising the Perfect Pet with Love by Zak George and Dina Roth Port
• The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin
• The Venetian Sanctuary by Philip Gwynne Jones
• Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, narrated by Nadia Albina (audiobook)
• Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
• Blue Giant Volumes 1-2 by Shinichi Ishizuka
• Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
• Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok
• The Kamogawa Food Detective by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
• The Wall Between by Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson
• The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz, narrated by Julia Whelan (audiobook)
• The Vixen Amber Halloway by Carol LaHines
• School For Love by Olivia Manning
• Proof by Beverley McLachlin
• The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
• BUtterfield 8 by John O’Hara
• The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
• A Gaze Hound That Hunteth By the Eye by V. Penelope Pelizzon
• A Question of Betrayal by Anne Perry
• The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• American Pastoral by Philip Roth
• A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
• Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
• Table for Two by Amor Towles
• Butter by Asako Yuzuki, narrated by Hanako Footman (audiobook)

Here are some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations, items and tidbits that 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.

• “In the end, it falls to readers to recognize what is happening and to seek out books from publishers that are genuinely interested in transcendent, creative work.” Where the Big Five publishers have undermined literary fiction, serious readers can and should expand their tastes to smaller presses if they haven’t already.
• I suspect many silent book club members and readers of these blog posts are librocubicularists!
• A recommended companion to Blue Giant Volumes 1-2 by Shinichi Ishizuka is the movie version.
• Explore NYPL’s Best Books of 2024 lists.

This year and every year, our group’s previous reports and book lists are always 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 the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with continuing and astonishing momentum, they are now boasting over 1,500 chapters!!! (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.

Our group is clearly well equipped with good reading and listening to get through the colder, darker months of this new year. If what we’re shared here can help you too – well, all the better!