Our silent book club gatherings are always sunny, online and in person. (This month’s in-person was definitely April showers-y, but all readers arrived toting umbrellas and suitably protected reading material and devices.*) The glow of book enthusiasms and insights warmly shared, and the delighted faces and cordial presence of fellow readers brightens every month. ‘Nuff said!

* … and this month’s in-person gathering was at a new-to-our-group location, Paper Route Cafe in east end Toronto. We gathered around a lovely table in the bright front window (yes, even bright on a rainy day!), with delicious snacks and beverages, for a most memorable meeting. Highly recommended … and we’ll be back!

(Photos by Jennifer D. Foster, Sue Reynolds and Vicki Ziegler)

Usually more than one reader has given considered attention to each title appearing on our monthly group list of varied and wide-ranging reading. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended. However, rest assured that inclusion on our lists always means that our readers have devoted time and thought to each book – and that counts for so much!

• The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd
• An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by Cesar Aira
• Ship of Dreams by Donna Jones Alward
• When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward
• Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: an annotated edition, edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks
• Unapologetic Aging – How to Mend and Nourish your Relationship with Your Body by Deb Benfield
• A Place For People Like Us by Danila Botha
• All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley
• March by Geraldine Brooks
• Definitely Thriving by Kerry Clare
• Your Favorite Scary Movie by Ashley Cullins
• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
• Famesick by Lena Dunham
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• Famous Last Words by Timothy Findley
• Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
• The Humans by Matt Haig
• Weyward by Emilia Hart
• Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
• Marijuana: The Unbiased Truth about the World’s Most Popular Weed by Kevin P Hill
• Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
• Confederates in the Attic – Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz
• Smoke in the Glass by Chris Humphreys
• The Resistance Painter by Kath Jonathan
• The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
• A Litter of Bones by JD Kirk, narrated by Angus King (audiobook)
• Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty
• Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan
• Whidbey by T Kira Madden
• Liberty Street by Heather Marshall, narrated by Hailey Gillis and Alison Deon (audiobook)
• Want to Know a Secret? by Freida McFadden
• Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
• The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn
• Recitatif by Toni Morrison, narrated by Bahni Turpin and Zadie Smith (audiobook)
• Love and Death in a Hot Country by Shiva Naipaul
• Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
• Curious Species: How Animals Made Natural History by Whitney Barlow Robles
• Once and Again by Rebecca Serle
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
• The Fix by Mia Sheridan
• The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman, narrated by Noah Taylor (audiobook)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
• Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
• Two Songs: Selected Poems 2000–2025 by Russell Thornton
• The Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope
• Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
• Hop, Step and Jump by Winifred Watson
• Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
• The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, narrated by Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace and Nick Biadon (audiobook)
• The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros

We often have extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations to share. 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.

• We all extend warmest best wishes to SBC cofounder Laura Gluhanich … on her next chapter!
• Toronto’s Queen Books offers a variety of inhouse book club meetups, including SLOW BURN: a quiet book club.
• Is reading your favourite hobby? A new era of book clubs is reshaping how we read.

Our group’s previous reports and book lists are always waiting for you … 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, breathtaking momentum, they now boast almost 2,000 chapters … (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) The SBC organization celebrated its 10th anniversary throughout last October … and our chapter celebrated its 8th anniversary in early November.

You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is different in size, format (in-person, virtual or hybrid) 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.

Through rain, snow, sleet, hail, heatwaves, anything weather-y you can throw at us … we’ll be reading!