Author Archives: bookgaga

Readers cheering on readers

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Long-time members know and new members swiftly intuit that our silent book club gatherings – virtually and in person – are safe and welcoming spaces for all readers. Those spaces aren’t only where we enthusiastically share our bookish pleasures, which often inspire others to venture beyond their usual subject matter, genres, formats and comfort zones. They’re also where we share reading challenges and even disappointments. It’s also, perhaps most importantly, where we know reading is meant to be joy, solace and revelation, never a frustration or – heaven forbid – a competition.

At the start of this new year, which is often the point at which readers and those whose reading has perhaps lapsed make resolutions, we’re cheering everyone on. Whatever the types and numbers of books you read this year or any year, what you’re achieving is excellent. If you need to be reminded of that, hang out with other readers and you’ll feel cheered on, bolstered and encouraged!

Silent book club member Amber's beautiful bookshelves, white shelves across two joining blue walls, books grouped colourfully, with a light green upholstered reading stool nearby

Silent book club members Jenn and Sven's stack of books sit on a white bedspread in front of a green cushion with a pattern of beautiful insects. Books include titles by Daphne du Maurier, Cormac McCarthy, China Mieville, Knut Hamsun and John Fowles.

Silent book club member Vicki (me) is visible on her computer screen, getting ready for a silent book club zoom meeting. Next to the computer is a dog calendar and some books, including Greenwood by Michael Christie, Service by Sarah Gilmartin, poetry collections by Jane Clarke, Lynn Tait and Alice Major, and poetry pamphlets from Opaat Press

Silent book club member Lisa's beautiful bookshelves, white shelves against a white wall, with a spider plant at one end. Next to the bookshelves are a bright window and a comfy dark leather armchair with cushions with bright floral patterns.

Wooden tables at East Toronto Coffee Co, covered with books by Naomi Klein, Alice Major, Sarah Gilmartin, Tess Gunty, Lisa Elliott, Jodi Picoult, Aravind Adiga, Thomas Mann and more. Readers hands and arms are visible, as are their eyeglasses, beverages and pastries sitting on the tables.

Wooden tables at East Toronto Coffee Co, covered with books by Naomi Klein, Alice Major, Sarah Gilmartin, Tess Gunty, Lisa Elliott, Jodi Picoult, Aravind Adiga, Thomas Mann and more. Readers hands and arms are visible, as are their eyeglasses, beverages and pastries sitting on the tables.

Wooden tables at East Toronto Coffee Co, covered with books by Naomi Klein, Alice Major, Sarah Gilmartin, Tess Gunty, Lisa Elliott, Jodi Picoult, Aravind Adiga, Thomas Mann and more. Readers hands and arms are visible, as are their eyeglasses, beverages and pastries sitting on the tables.

Heading into a fresh new year of amazing reading and discoveries, I can confidently continue to guarantee you’re going to love our group’s latest combined book list. This one gathers up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our January 2024 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.

Every title on our group’s lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful consideration. That’s encouragement for you and other readers checking out our reports and lists to consider it, too. Does that mean every 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 counts for a lot.


Here are 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.

When we mentioned last fall that the worldwide Silent Book Club network had just welcomed its 500th chapter … we didn’t know the incredible growth would continue into the new year. 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 top 600 chapters! It had around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.

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.

We did it on zoom. We did it in person. We celebrated our reading and we cheered each other on!

The sweet gift of bookish silence

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“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 …

Silent book club member Amber's stack of holiday-themed books, including A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. A Christmas tree and lights are visible, blurred, in the background.

Silent book club member Vicki (me) is visible on her computer screen, getting ready for a silent book club zoom meeting. Next to the computer is a dog calendar, coffee in a blue cup, and some books, including Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein, You Break It You Buy It by Lynn Tait and Sharp Notions, edited by Marita Dachsel and Nancy Lee

Silent book club meeting at Poured Coffee on Danforth Avenue in Toronto - tables on which books, pastries and coffee/beverages are visible, including Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring, You Break It You Buy It by Lynn Tait and more

Silent book club meeting at Poured Coffee on Danforth Avenue in Toronto - readers are sitting at tables near tall windows, engrossed in their books. Coffees, plates and more books are visible on the tables.

Wooden tables at East Toronto Coffee Co, covered with books by Michael Christie, Lynn Tait, Sheima Benembarek, Mark Beaumont, Thomas Mann and more

Wooden tables at East Toronto Coffee Co, covered with books by Michael Christie, Lynn Tait, Sheima Benembarek, Mark Beaumont, Thomas Mann and more - At the end of the table is a

A reader is engrossed in her reading at a silent book club meeting at East Toronto Coffee Co. A stack of books in front of her on the table includes Greenwood by Michael Christie.

Books from the Biblioasis Christmas Ghost Stories package are arranged on the branches of a Christmas tree

Silent book club member Anne-Louise's stack of books sit in front of a window with a green glass vase nearby, with a holiday card with a cartoon donkey sitting on top of the books. Books include titles by Penelope Fitzgerald, Ed Broadbent, Tom Rand and more.

Squizzey the bookish squirrel has a Santa hat and a holiday jumper on, and he's showing off some of silent book club member Kath's recent reading, including A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

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.

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 …

The power and glory of readers connecting … leaving this one wobbly with delight!

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Our end-of-month go-round/roundup meeting with our silent book stalwarts happened in two parts today.

First, we had a morning zoom meeting. That more-than-Brady-Bunch (if you know, you know) set of squares on the screen exuded the usual (because it’s always this way) and special (because it’s always that, too) warmth, connection and insight that our group of astute readers always offers.

Second, we had a small afternoon in-person meeting at a local (to east end Toronto) cafe. If you follow our group’s updates, you know that the start of our now six years as a silent book club group brimmed with wonderful in-person meetings supporting local businesses and locations. Like many, we pivoted to online during the pandemic and garnered great benefits from that, including new reading friends far away and opportunities for meetings devoted to discussions about books in addition to time allotted to just read. But that power and glory of readers just connecting and reading together … well, we recaptured a bit of that today.

… and it’s all left me, group organizer and awestruck fellow reader, wobbly with delight. So much so that I didn’t collect a lot of images and illustrations of the experience … although I do think the picture below of open books, rapt readers bent over them and sunlight streaming across coffee shop tables kind of says it all.

Many thanks to East Toronto Coffee Co for a lovely corner of their cozy cafe, in which we happily and gently restarted our in-person silent book club tradition. We look forward to returning there again very soon!

In addition to our monthly go-round meetings, we continue to devote a second meeting every month to a bookish topic of discussion. The topic of this month’s themed discussion meeting was:

Do author interviews (before? during? after? audio/video versus print?) affect how you feel about that author’s books?

The short answer is “Yes to all of the above”. The longer answer is, not surprisingly, richer and more nuanced. Sometimes interviews affect our feelings about an author’s books, for good or not-so-good, meaning it might turn one off from pursuing other works by that author. But then again, it depends on the type and quality of interview and how thorough and trustworthy the interviewer is. (Also not surprisingly, Eleanor Wachtel’s name came up more than once!)

Perfectly timed for our discussion of this topic was author Anne Michaels’ interview on CBC’s Q. In it, she remarks on why she is quite private about her own life, in part because she doesn’t want it to intrude upon or displace the reader’s experience of what she has written.

Two readers reading intently at sunstreaked tables at East Toronto Coffee Co

Sharp Notions essay collection and How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney sits on wooden table with a latte in a pink and white cup.

Books, coffee and pastries wonderfully strewn across a table at the East Toronto Coffee Co. Titles include How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Poking out of the books are bookmarks from Type Books, Book City, Biblioasis and the Toronto Public Library.

Silent book club member Vicki (that's me, with my signature messy hair and glasses), on screen getting ready for our zoom meeting, with books stacked next to my computer, including work by Zadie Smith, Marina Endicott, Ronna Bloom

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki - graphic novel with interesting illustrations on the cover sits on a black leather chair

Chicken Soup for the Soul - My Wonderful, Wacky Family by Amy Newmark - book with charming group of mongooses (mongeese?) on the cover, on a gray and beige textured background

You are going to love our group’s latest combined book list, with collects up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our November 2023 meeting. 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.


Here are 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.

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.

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.

As a silent book club group member, I am so many kinds of fortunate. Not only do I wish all readers all kinds of great reading, but I also wish you the blessing of a circle of great fellow readers – close at hand and in person, and far flung, virtual and just as connected – to make all of your reading experiences powerful and glorious.

A Masterclass in silent reading

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We’re very pleased to have Toronto silent book club member Tom Kennedy take over the “introduction to our latest meeting blog post” reins this month. Tom is Edmonton-born and raised in Toronto. He is a consultant. Tom loves sailing and squash and pretending to be a Michelin chef. Tom’s companion is a husky-mix named Aspen who takes him for unending walks around the countryside. With reading, Tom doesn’t have a favourite genre, but is constantly looking to inhabit meaningful, well-crafted storylines or experience emotionally complex events.

Toronto silent book club member Tom Kennedy

I propose we reclassify this humble book club into Non-Thesis MFA (Creative Writing) status. We exceed the criteria of several reputable entities, and I think are on our way to graduation.

We have accomplished educators from around the world, who come prepared to deliver important lessons. Professorial as they are chic, they are equipped with dramatic delivery and lessons in humility.

We study a range of periods, from prehistoric to Ancient Greece and Rome to 2050 Toronto. We exhaustively receive lectures on subjects from infants and children with their simple complexities and adult egos, from tribal leaders and heroes, to expansive adventurers. We have pondered the undead and have wondered at the dead’s current presence. The cultural diversity abounds, covered by our unwritten code of respect, with every race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and spirituality carefully considered. There are moments too where we appear to discuss beautiful nothings, posing as a verdant, peaceful vista in the countryside or solemn consideration of blurbs.

With our bi-monthly supplemental study groups we meet the 20-period 600-level credit requirement for training in research methodologies and scholarship assessment. I find the coursework challenging and rewarding, thanks to preparation.

Our monthly lessons consist of crisp thoughtful journeys through dozens of “new” books, which become recommendations and harsh critique too. Sometimes it is as valuable to eviscerate the fish as it is to enjoy the canape.

As a Degree Program I will not speak of the cumbersome student debt necessary to keep up with the program, except to say regardless of recent interest rate activity, the education has been immensely worth it. Let’s call it priceless.

The point I’m making is that I know I’m learning when I absorb our sessions. This sensation keeps beating quite a while after meetings end. I look at text, whether newspaper, a blog, a cookbook, or a new read I’m diving headfirst into – and I have this energy. Every couple of weeks, it’s wonderful to see the emotions and familiarity of our teachers … er, clubmates!

Some more of silent book club member Emily's gorgeous new bookshelves

Some of silent book club member Emily's gorgeous new bookshelves

Silent book club member Kristina's wonderful bookshelves

Some of silent book club member Lyla's recent readings, including a short story collection by Kate Atkinson

Silent book club member Vicki on-screen, getting ready for a zoom meeting, with a stack of books, including The Fraud by Zadie Smith, next to her computer

Here is our group’s latest combined book list, gathering up books mentioned and discussed by the end of our October 2023 meeting. 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.

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.

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.

If you’re in our silent book club group, if you’re in a silent book club group elsewhere in the world, if you’re in any kind of a book club, if you’re a book club unto yourself … or hey, if you’re thinking about starting a book club to welcome more readers into your reading life … however you celebrate books and reading … Happy reading!!!

Happy 500th chapter worldwide, Silent Book Club!

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Congratulations to the Silent Book Club organization – a worldwide bookish phenomenon that means so much to readers here in east end Toronto – on hitting the impressive milestone of 500 chapters! Here’s the announcement.

Silent Book Club celebrating 500 chapters!

Our chapter’s first meeting with 4 attendees was in 2017 (yes, it’s our 6th anniversary!) At that time, I think there were around 50-60 chapters worldwide.

Table, books, coffee and readers' legs and shoes visible at first Toronto silent book club meeting

In 2019, our Toronto chapter teamed up with Silent Book Club co-founder Guinevere de la Mare to do a bunch of CBC Radio interviews extolling the virtues of this approach to book clubs and reading. At that time, I believe we were telling interviewers that there were around 75 SBC chapters worldwide.

Silent book club meeting with attendees, books, coffee and bookstore dog peeking over table, with bookshelves in background

Our Silent Book Club group has gathered in local parks …

Silent book club members in folding chairs, reading in Stephenson Park under a beautiful sky

… gathered virtually during the pandemic, and kept up the zoom format for flexibility, convenience and because new members joined our group from around the world. (As Kathyrn Eastman will confirm, the eastern edge of Toronto now extends all the way to Wales!)

Silent book club zoom meeting

Our Silent Book Club group continues to meet for special bookish experiences, including our wonderful visits to Great Escape Bookstore.

Silent book club meeting at The Great Escape bookstore

500 chapters worldwide, all gathering in different ways, numbers of readers and settings, means that more and more readers are enjoying a kind of bookish fellowship that has come to mean a lot to many of us!

Silent book club group as perpetual motion great reading machine

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On the verge of its sixth anniversary (yes!), our silent book club group does this amazing and wonderful thing more and more, with every meeting. One by one, as readers share updates on their recent reading, almost to a person, that recent reading includes a recommendation from another reader in the group. And that recommendation blossoms into other discoveries. And then the reader that offered that recommendation reveals that the previous reader inspired them with recommendations (backatcha!), and then that recommendation led down other intriguing paths, either deeper into a particular subject or an author’s body of work … and on and on it goes, around our virtual silent book club table. And it’s connected and enmeshed but, importantly, not spinning in on itself (meaning we’d all eventually be reading the same book, like, er, the kinds of book clubs we left to join this group …) It keeps spinning larger and larger concentric circles, drops on a pond that extend further and further out. It’s perpetually in motion in fascinating ways that has this reader looking forward to how it will all keep spinning when next we meet.

In addition to our monthly go-round (spinning!) meetings, we continue to devote a second meeting every month to a bookish topic of discussion. The topic of this month’s themed discussion meeting was:

Looking things up while you’re reading – If you encounter a reference or word or something you don’t recognize while you’re reading – and it’s not explained or discernible from the text – do you stop and look it up or do you keep going with the flow of what you’re reading?

While fairly evenly divided between stopping to look things up (even risking getting distracted by invariable online rabbit holes) and going with the flow, the assembled readers for this discussion learned a lot from those on one or the other side of this dilemma. Thoughts and revelations included:

  • One reader who goes with the flow marks pages with scraps of paper that she circles back to later to look things up.
  • The group debated whether or not cryptic words that one has to look up could or should be “solved” by the writer by either employing simpler prose or incorporating obvious clues, descriptions or explanations. In other words, should the text be self-contained and explanatory?
  • Some readers confessed to being made to feel lazy if they just forged ahead and didn’t either stop at the time or look things up later. Others suggested a bit of mistrust of the author if things weren’t fully explained in context.
  • Footnotes … ah, yes … the pros, the cons, even the quirky delights of …

Silent book club member Anne-Louise's recent and current reading, including 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph, Truth Telling by Michelle Good and The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman e-book, accompanied by a white polar bear toy wearing an orange ribbon and holding a plush pumpkin (Photo by Anne-Louise Gould)

Silent book club member Vicki (that's me, with my signature messy hair and glasses), on screen getting ready for our zoom meeting, with books stacked next to my computer

Here is our group’s latest combined book list, gathering up books mentioned and discussed at our end of September 2023 meeting. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members. Many 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.


Here are 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.

  • Last month, I blended the poetry works I read for the 2023 Sealey Challenge (reading 31 works in 31 days) into our group’s combined reading list. I’ve since created a separate blog post of my Sealey Challenge reading here.
  • “Something happened when we shifted to digital formats that created a loss of rights for readers. Pulling back the curtain on the evolution of ebooks offers some clarity to how the shift to digital left ownership behind in the analog world.” Read more in The Anti-Ownership Ebook Economy.
  • Did we mention footnotes? Poet Ross Gay praises them!
  • The reader who discussed the book Reimagining Chinatown: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction, edited by Linda Zhang at today’s meeting also recommended the documentary Big Fight in Little Chinatown as an interesting complement to the book.
  • Another group member strongly recommends the Read the North Podcast. Season 1 is an engaging history of (mostly Toronto focused) CanLit.

Looking back almost six years,here’s a report from the very first meeting of the east end Toronto silent book club group.

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.

And if you explore some of the books here or on our other combined lists, our group will help you and your reading friends to keep that perpetual motion great reading machine rolling on and on and on …

The flood of poetry that was The Sealey Challenge 2023

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The Sealey Challenge describes itself as “a community challenge to read one book of poetry a day for the month of august”. The community is one of readers, writers/poets, publishers, booksellers and the poetry-curious. Since its inception in 2017, championed by US poet Nicole Sealey, it was always an online entity, since it was built not just on reader participation, but on boosting the challenge with the hashtag #TheSealeyChallenge. As such, that social media foundation means that it is inherently an international – albeit perhaps somewhat rarified – phenomenon.

I’ve been a steadfast reader of poetry long before then, but I joined the challenge in 2020 … why? To be honest, I don’t fully recall in what would have been the first six months of the pandemic, right? It might have been filling some time-related and other voids at a time when those of us who read a lot thought reading more more more would be a twisted upside to the many pandemic downsides … and then discovered “reading just [didnt’] feel the same or offer the same solace and escape as it did before the world changed as it did.” Whatever the reason, I did it, found it indeed challenging and a unique reading experience of the kind of works I read but seemed to read differently when it wasn’t compressed into 31 days.

I’ve risen to The Sealey Challenge every year since, so 2023 was my fourth year. Here is not all but most of what made up this year’s breathtaking poetry rush …

Poetry books (approximately 25-30) laid out in a tiled fashion on a wooden floor - including works by Kim Fahner, Ronna Bloom, Margaret Atwood/Charles Pachter, Amanda Earl and many more

(Some books are not part of the group photo because, for the first time this year, I included audiobooks on my reading list.)

On the eve of this year’s challenge, I tweeted (yes, like many, I still tweet, not x/post/whatever) that I was feeling exhilarated, a bit full and a touch weary – but oh, the poetry had challenged and delighted me again this year! I remarked that I’d read some great collections that I will be happily revisiting.

Anything you read for the first time during The Sealey Challenge that sparks your interest, you’re likely going to need to revisit to give it your full attention and assessment. (Well, if something is patently off-putting in one way or another, maybe not …) All four years I’ve done the challenge, I kept up but found the pace of 31 works in 31 days to be demanding. Even if your reading strategy includes pacing yourself with some shorter works – chapbooks and selections from literary journals spliced in between full poetry collections that could range from an average of 60 to over 100 pages – and even if you’re a regular and experienced poetry reader, that’s a rich and full plate to consume in a comparatively short period of time. The words, the text formats and layouts, the subject matter, the layers of reference and meaning, the richness of how things are structured and textured and formally constructed (or not) and orchestrated – it’s all going to demand a lot of you. If you averaged it out as, say, 70 pages per day for 31 days: that’s 2,170 pages of what could be wonderful, possibly unpleasant or bewildering at times, regularly emotionally taxing, intoxicating and cumulatively overloading stuff.

Under these conditions, I didn’t think it was fair or really possible to attempt to review any of these works – although I admire those challenge participants who did, in mini or even full reviews. I do think it would be fair to say I derived something from every single work I read, though – from snippets of startling wordplay or imagery to overall themes, concepts or subject matter that were arresting.

I note that I’ve been pretty consistent in several respects over the four years I’ve completed The Sealey Challenge:

  • Full collections vs chapbooks/journals/smaller works – 23/8 this year, compared to the same in 2022, 24/7 in 2021 and 25/6 in 2020.
  • Canadian works – 24/31 this year, compared to the same in 2022, 25/31 in 2021 and 22/31 in 2020.
  • Rereads – 9 this year, compared to 8 in 2022, 5 in 2021 and 6 in 2020.
  • Audiobooks – This is the first year I included audiobooks in the mix. I enjoyed four, three of which were read by the poets and one by a narrator/voice actor.

And with that, here is my 2023 reading list from the Sealey Challenge, including links to more information, images from some of the social media posts (posted completely to Twitter, Mastodon and Bluesky, partially to Spoutible and periodically to Instagram), and links to the full posts on Twitter, which included poetry excerpts.

1/31: Trouble by Amanda Earl (2022 Hem Press) (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Trouble by Amanda Earl, held up amidst pink echinacea

2/31: Local Interest by Emily Hasler (2023 Pavilion Poetry / Liverpool University Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Local Interest by Emily Hasler, held up in the dark with a small reading light

3/31: The Built Environment by Emily Hasler (2018 Pavilion Poetry / Liverpool University Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Built Environment by Emily Hasler, on a table with a notebook with an ornate green cover

4/31: Cosmic Horror by James Knight (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Cosmic Horror by James Knight

5/31: Xanax Cowboy by Hannah Green (2023 House of Anansi Press) Read the full post here.

Xanax Cowboy by Hannah Green, with bright yellow cover, held up amidst equally bright blackeyed susans

6/31: Boat by Lisa Robertson (2022 Coach House Books) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Boat by Lisa Robertson, held up near a red brick pillar and some white rose of sharon blossoms

7/31: Selections from Cincinnati Review (Spring 2023), including Allison Adair, Brittany Cavallaro, Dean Rader, Jiewan Yang + more Read the full post here.

Literary journal Cincinnati Review, with colourful cover, sits in my lap as Airedales Mavis and Tilly look on

8/31: An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo (2019 WW Norton) Read the full post here.

9/31: There’s More by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work There's More by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike sits on a table with a notebook with an ornate green cover, a black pen and a small piece of red brick

10/31: Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner (2022 Frontenac House) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner, held above a mossy, rocky bank looking down toward water, with my bare feet visible, echoing bare feet on the book cover

11/31: Quarrels by Eve Joseph (2018 Anvil Press) Read the full post here.

12/31: Who is Your Mercy Contact? by Ronna Bloom (2022 espresso/paperplates books) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Who is Your Mercy Contact? by Ronna Bloom, with a bright green cover, on a bright green counter top with a notebook with an ornate green cover, with my feet in green sandals visible

13/31: Purge Fluid by Ivy Allsop (2022 Hem Press) Read the full post here.

14/31: Beasts of the Sea by Kate Sutherland (2018 knife fork book) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Beasts of the Sea by Kate Sutherland, with a bright blue cover, next to a blue drinking glass filled with water

15/31: Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (2022 Penguin Audio) Read the full post here.

16/31: Selvage by Kate Siklosi (2023 Invisible Publishing) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Selvage by Kate Siklosi open to a page with an interesting illustration, with trees in the background and a lake with a small island visible further away

17/31: Dreams and Journeys by Frederick McDonald (2022 Harbour Publishing) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Dreams and Journeys by Frederick McDonald, with colourful painting of Indigenous patriarch on cover

18/31: The Pet Radish, Shrunken by Pearl Pirie (2015 Bookhug Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Pet Radish, Shrunken by Pearl Pirie, sitting on a patterned blue plate

19/31: Monitoring Station by Sonja Ruth Greckol (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Monitoring Station by Sonja Ruth Greckol, held up against a car dashboard as trees and a cell tower are visible through the car window

20/31: Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa (2019 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa sits on a desk in front of a pile of other poetry works

21/31: Some States by Tom Snarsky (2023 Ghost City Press) Read the full post here.

22/31: Indie Rock by Joe Bishop (2023 University of Alberta Press) Read the full post here.

Handwritten selection from poetry work Indie Rock by Joe Bishop

23/31: Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill (2022 Gaspereau Press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill with notebook with an ornate green cover

24/31: Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith (2023 Frontenac House) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Among the Untamed by dee Hobsbawn-Smith sits on a blue table next to a plant with multicoloured leaves

25/31: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (1998 / 2016 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

26/31: The Art of Plumbing by Brecken Hancock (2013 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Art of Plumbing by Brecken Hancock, perched amidst some old pipes

27/31: Ossuaries by Dionne Brand (2010 McClelland & Stewart) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Ossuaries by Dionne Brand, book and audiobook

28/31: Lime Kiln Quay Road by Ben Ladouceur (2014 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Handwritten transcription from poetry work Lime Kiln Quay Road by Ben Ladouceur

29/31: The Broken Ark – A Book of Beasts poems chosen by Michael Ondaatje, drawings by Tony Urquhart (1971 Oberon Press) Read the full post here.

Selection from poetry work The Broken Ark - A Book of Beasts poems chosen by Michael Ondaatje, drawings by Tony Urquhart, held open near a green vegetable garden

30/31: Good People by Gwendolyn Guth (2010 above/ground press) Read the full post here.

Poetry work Good People by Gwendolyn Guth, sitting on colourful crocheted swath

31/31: The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood & Charles Pachter (1997 Macfarlane Walter & Ross) Read the full post here.

Poetry work The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood & Charles Pachter, open to colourful poetry selection

Am I already planning my 2024 reading for The Sealey Challenge? Of course I am!

A gathering of readers, like a grove of trees

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My silent book club friends can rest assured I’m paying close and avid attention when I chair our meetings each month (and by “chair”, I mean simply introduce each reader and then sit back and enjoy the insights and delights each one has to share). But sometimes reader’s book summaries and comments will set my mind down interesting paths, as was the case here:

“In Finding the Mother Tree, ecologist Suzanne Simard explains her decades-long research on the relationships among trees in the forests of British Columbia. Simard shows that the long-held “competition” model of forest ecology is inaccurate, and that instead the major dynamic among plant life in forests is cooperation and interdependence. She has discovered that trees in a forest are interconnected — they communicate and share resources through a complex underground network of fungi.”
(summarized in ShortForm)

Book cover for Finding the Mother Treeby Suzanne SimardAs wonderful in many ways as traditional book clubs (everyone reading and discussing the same book together) can be, this consideration of how trees may be interconnected immediately made me think of our silent book club orchard? copse? grove? differs from such groups in equally wonderful ways. Every month for close to six years now, I come away from every meeting and every scan of our combined reading list having learned, been nurtured, been challenged in good ways, had gates flung open, feeling throughout that my enrichment has been in concert with, not in competition with, my fellow readers.

Those I’ve spoken to about joining or starting their own silent book club groups often mention disenchantment with traditional book clubs that does sound like perverse forms of competition: that certain members always get to take the lead in selecting the reading, that getting through the reading is sometimes an unpleasant endurance race, that some readers’ interpretations of the assigned reading “wins” over others’. No, not all single book clubs are like that, but the complaints are a recurring theme that you won’t find with silent book club groups.

So as not to get too proud of how great a silent book club group can be … well, that such a group’s nurturing and “biodiversity” can be described with an analogy related to fungi will surely keep us all humble.

The question that kicked off this month’s themed discussion meeting was:

Do you keep track of your reading? If so, do you use a journal, spreadsheet, Goodreads or something else? If not, why not? Do you also keep track of recommendations / what you plan to read next?

Our conversation touched on lots of great ideas and options, including:

Silent book club member Vicki (that's me, with my signature rumpled curly hair and glasses), on screen getting ready for our zoom meeting, with books stacked next to my computer (including my Sealey Challenge poetry collections and the novel The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne) with Airedale puppy Mavis sitting under the desk. More books and a painting of our other Airedale, Tilly, are visible in the background.

Silent book club member Sue reads Affinity by Sarah Waters, holding the book up to hide her face

While away running a weekend marathon, silent book club members Jenn and Sven spotted a Little Free Library box on the running/hiking trail. The LFL is nestled amidst trees.

Silent book club member Dawn, with shoulder length silver hair and handsome reading glasses, wearing a green hoodie, gestures ruefully with two books on the white table before her: Snacking Cakes and Breaking Up With Sugar

Here is our group’s latest combined book list (it’s breathtaking!), gathering up books mentioned and discussed at our end of August meeting. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members. Many 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 often 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 counts for a lot.


Here are 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.

  • Blended in to our combined reading list this month is one reader’s (er, my) list of Sealey Challenge selections – a challenge to read 31 poetry works in the 31 days of August – completed so far. When the challenge is over, I’ll post that list separately, in the order in which the works were read.
  • The SciFri Book Club, from Science Friday
  • Gamify Your Reading With This Readathon Board Game! (from Book Riot)
  • Books & Boba – An Asian American Book Club & Podcast – Books & Boba is a book club and podcast dedicated to spotlighting books written by authors of Asian descent. Every month, hosts Marvin Yueh and Reera Yoo pick a book by an Asian or Asian American author to read and discuss on the podcast. In addition to book discussions, they also interview authors and cover publishing news, including book deals and new releases.
  • 2022 Recipients of The Dragon Award – The award is described as following: “In a world of the ordinary, the Dragon is most astonishing. Its heart burns with determination and desire as it soars from page to canvas to screen. The Dragon’s inner fire elevates it above the mundane, and once released, inspires respect and awe from all who witness its greatness.”
  • Manga of the Month, from Reverse Thieves, a site that delves deep into character- and story-focused analysis of anime and manga, and sometimes look at the fandoms that surround those hobbies as well.
  • Hip-Hop Books for Adults from The New York Public Library – As part of hip-hop’s 50 year anniversary,NYPL’s recommended reads for all ages that explore the influence and impact of hip-hop, including memoirs by landmark artists, explorations of fashion, fiction inspired by hip-hop culture, and more

Our previous reports and book lists are always available 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.

Wishing you and the grove of readers around you – in person and virtually – all the literary sunshine, shade, precipitation and nutrition you need to thrive!

Where are here and there … when you’re reading and when you’re with fellow readers?

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I’m guessing our sense of place – both collective and individual – has changed significantly in very recent years. Where we are when we are here, when we are meeting, when we are with someone and so on has sharp new meanings when coupled with how we resorted to social media platforms or different renditions of virtual connection to stay in contact (one definition of contact, anyhow) when we were not able to be in physical proximity or contact. I won’t fill this blog post with too many meandering thoughts about what we might still be going through with respect to connecting or not connecting and what that means, because I do want to get to the latest brimming and delicious book list our group has amassed. But here are some questions and thoughts that popped up for me as I was prepping this month’s silent book club report:

  • When we meet virtually with fellow readers, even if most of those gathering are within walking distance of each other, is someone zooming with us from across a border or an ocean here with us? (The edges of east end Toronto extend here and here, so my answer is a hearty “yes!”)
  • When we meet in person on a patio, in a park or in a coffee shop with fellow readers from the neighbourhood, is the here that location or is the here the places we inhabit in our books once we’re reading silently together?
  • When we are reading by ourselves in our living room or on our balcony or porch or cottage dock, are we there with our other fellow readers, too … while we’re here wherever our books have taken us, as well as here in a comfy reading spot?

In some ways, maybe it’s neither here nor there, eh? We’re blessed to be able to read, we’re fortunate to have access to many ways to read, we’re privileged (in all good senses of that word that remain) to read what we want to read when we want to read it – and to lend our voices on behalf of those being deprived of that right.

Here (see what I did there?) are some of the places our readers and their books were this past month:

Silent book club member Philippa visited the Grolier Poetry Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts
(Here’s an interesting piece from The Paris Review in 2013 on this destination literary landmark.)

Silent book club member Philippa visiting the Grolier Poetry Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts - Elegantly bespectacled and wearing a green-gray blazer and white and green scarf, Philippa gestures to the book table beside her. She is surrounded by tall bookshelves and pictures of poets on the walls.

Bookshelves of Canadian poetry at the Grolier Poetry Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts

More bookshelves at the Grolier Poetry Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the tail of a beagle visible in the bottom righthand corner of the picture

Books arranged on a desk, with a Snoopy mug, including Dearly by Margaret Atwood, Emma by Alexander McCall Smith and more

Silent book club member Mary's beagle Abby guards Mary's stack of books, including The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Silent book club member Kathryn (at the Wales side of east end Toronto) stacks her books in a chair with a cushion with the caption

New Zealand silent book club member Marilyn's books are stacked on the seat of a lovely red/pink chair with a red and gold multi-hued cushion. Books include Wild Honey - Reading New Zealand Women's Poetry by Paula Green

Sometimes other activities – like piloting an inflatable loon on a northern Ontario lake – distract one from proper cottaging activities like reading. But then again, with a beverage holder and some way to protect one’s books or reading devices from the water, an inflatable loon on a northern Ontario lake would be as dreamy a reading place as a hammock … just sayin’ …

Silent book club member Vicki, wearing swim trunks, a life vest, a green neon Tilley hat and wielding a canoe paddle, rides an inflatable loon on a northern Ontario lake

Silent book club member Vicki leans back in an inflatable loon, wearing a life vest, a green neon Tilley hat and sunglasses, contemplating how to read in such a comfy setting

Here (yes, here) is our group’s latest combined book list, gathering up books mentioned and discussed at our end of July meeting. Each list reflects the reading of many of our members. Many 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 often 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. (This is rare, but a reader confided this month that one of the titles on this list offered one of their worst reading experiences ever …) That said, that same title might be one of your best reading experiences – who knows? Inclusion on this list always means that a title has been given thoughtful consideration and attention by our readers, which counts for a lot.

Some other silent book club and reading items of interest …

  • Here’s what looks like a wonderful there for silent book club members in New Zealand to meet!
  • A reader in Seattle has the broader silent book club network abuzz, thanks to her excited discovery and effusive praise of the silent (maybe not so silent?) book club experience.

    Silent Book Club “head office” offers an email listserv for those who organize and manage sbc chapters around the world, and that community is talking up a storm about the wave of interest and influx of new member requests that @hellomandyo’s video has generated. (Yes, we’ve welcomed lots of new inquiries, too – and look forward to meeting some new readers in the months ahead!) Some chapters run significantly higher capacity events than others (more on that another day), and some chapters are still virtual versus in-person, so how one engages with each group is different. I imagine the delight in reading, reading together and sharing reading delights with other readers, as captured by @hellomandyo, is consistent across all chapters around the world!

Our previous reports and book lists are always available to interest and amaze, not to mention threatening to send your tbr pile toppling! The reports and lists are always 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.

Here, there and everywhere, we hope your reading nurtures head and heart!

When our reading choices surprise us

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This month’s “go round” silent book club meeting offered up another intriguing recurring observation. Almost to a person, each reader reported that something about their recent reading surprised them – mostly pleasantly, but not always.

Do we / should we always go into our reading with expectations? If so, are those expectations set by our previous experiences with that author or publisher, by awards conferred or good reviews garnered that suggest a certain standard or quality to the work, by recommendations from trusted sources (such as a really great group of book club members?) Or, might we head into the pages of a particular book with lowered expectations because you don’t trust the recommendation or recommendations, but feel obliged to read the book for some reason? And then – oh my! – the reading experience is better than you expected?

Do obligatory reads take the joy out of the reading experience … even if there’s the chance the book you really didn’t want to read might reward your efforts? Is it even possible to open (or start playing/streaming) any book with truly no expectations?

That recurring comment or allusion, and the cascade of questions it provokes, just might become the topic for further discussion at our next themed discussion meeting. That’s what happened last month, when the amusing and enigmatic title Duck Eats Yeast, Quacks, Explodes; Man Loses Eye led to a discussion of how sometimes an alluring title, an enchanting book cover design, or a wonderfully tactile, well-constructed book object draws us in to, perhaps, an enchanting reading experience …

I was so absorbed in this latest discussion (we’ve scheduled them mid-month every month since the start of this year) that I didn’t keep complete notes, but some observations and examples jumped out of what little I did scribble down:

Piles of silent book club member Emily's books, including Come As You Are by Dr Emily Nagoski

Silent book club member Kathryn concentrated on one book for a month-long read-along: The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

An adorably scruffy kitten curls up atop a shelf of lovingly dog-eared (see what I did there?) books - picture provided by silent book club member Lyla

Silent book club member Vicki is on her computer screen, getting ready for the zoom meeting, with her books piled by the computer keyboard, including the new Lucinda Williams memoir

Here is our group’s latest, always tempting and yes, often surprising combined book list, gathering up books mentioned and discussed at our end of June meeting, plus some mentioned in passing during our mid-month themed discussion. (You are probably going to have to click on every link to check each book’s cover!) Each list reflects the reading of many of our members. Many 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 often 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. It always means that a title has been given thoughtful consideration and attention by our readers, which counts for a lot.

Here are some additional book-related articles, resources, news, recommendations and more. 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.

Our previous reports and book lists are always available to surprise, delight, captivate, challenge and add to your tbr pile. They’re always 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.

We hope your reading is surprising you in good ways every day!