“I have lived a thousand lives and I’ve loved a thousand loves. I’ve walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read.”

This was quoted very appropriately at one of our most recent silent book club meetings. It’s attributed to George R.R. Martin (he of A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones fame, among other accomplishments), although there are interesting variations from other sources, too.

Whoever said it and however they said it, exactly … well, we readers live it and love it.

We’re still in the early days of 2025, but already our group’s combined reading list is positively brimming! 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, fellow readers, always means a lot.

• The Lock Up by John Banville, narrated by John Lee (audiobook)
• The Hollow Beast by Christophe Bernard, translated by Lazer Lederhendler
• Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley
• Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau
• Murder at the Monastery by The Reverend Richard Coles
• The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis (aka Rowan Coleman)
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach, narrated by Helen Laser (audiobook)
• The Goat by Anne Fleming, narrated by Michelle Monteith (audiobook)
• Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
• The Midnight Hour by Elly Griffiths
• The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
• Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, narrated by Nadia Albina (audiobook)
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
• Orbital by Samantha Harvey
• Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
• Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (audiobook)
• Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
• Miss Austen by Gill Hornby, narrated by Juliet Stevenson (audiobook)
• The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• White Tears by Hari Kunzru
• The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
• Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell
• Out of the London Mist by Lyssa Medana
• All the Rage: Stories from the frontline of beauty by Virginia Nicholson
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (annotated)
• Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
• The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
• Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
• The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
• Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan
• After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
• Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
• Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
• I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land – A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith (audiobook)
• Your Absence is Darkness by Jon Kalman Stefansson, translated by Philip Roughton
• Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
• A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson
• How to Argue with a Meat Eater (and Win Every Time) by Ed Winters
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• My Stupid Intentions by Bernardo Zannoni

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.

• The Booker Prize offers simple tips for transforming reading into a rewarding resolution.
• “They are my retreats, my quiet energy-givers, my intellectual refuge.” Relish the poem So Many Books, So Little Time by Haki R. Madhubuti.
• Anne Carson’s recent essay on hands and handwriting is moving and wonderful to listen to and/or read.

Wasn’t that a fabulous book list? Well, all our group’s previous reports and book lists – equally fantastic – 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, thank you very much. (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.

We hope what we’re shared here can help you in living those many lives and loving those many loves!