Enjoying a mini holiday away from the holidays with a bonus silent book club gathering

The holiday season is meant to bring us peace and joy. Here’s hoping that been largely fulfilled so far, but of course the season can be fraught, too. I hope this bonus silent book club in the midst of the season brought some peace where other aspects of the holidays perhaps demanded too much or did not meet expectations. The warm conversation and the relaxed faces bent over books and reading devices suggest this extra gathering was most beneficial.

With pending new year’s resolutions on some minds, some titles discussed and read today are perhaps inspirational fodder, everything from 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food and Zero Waste to My Year of Living Spiritually and The Art of Living.

One silent book club member finished her year having completed a long term goal to read all of the CBC Canada Reads winning books. Well done!

Our silent book club members regularly inspire and challenge each other every month, in a variety of ways. Last month, I mentioned that I was rereading a favourite novel, which encouraged other members to revisit old favourites this month.

So devoted are our regular silent book club members that one of them emailed in a report of what she was reading while she was in the midst of her holiday travels. It was great to have her virtually at the table and to be able to picture her reading her book on a train travelling through mountains on the U.S. west coast as we gathered in our beloved coffee shop/bookstore in east end Toronto.

The following is this gathering’s gorgeous cascade of bookish delights. This list, presented after every gathering, is not only a service to everyone who attends in person, but it’s meant to extend what we share at each meeting to a virtual network of fellow readers – so enjoy! Each title links to additional information about the book, either from the publisher, from articles about the book or author, or from generally positive and/or constructive reviews.

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As always, you can catch up on our previous silent book club meeting reports and book lists here.

We’re pleased and honoured to have been interviewed about the silent book club concept and how to start a club of one’s own.

San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich were most recently featured in a wonderful piece on the NPR web site (yes, National Public Radio, thank you very much!). Extensive and enthusiastic coverage silent book club coverage includes this piece in the February 2019 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, describing the club’s genesis and extolling its virtues as the concept and clubs spread worldwide.

Our dear friends at Press books. coffee. vinyl. thanked us with holiday greetings (and chocolate!) for continuing to make them our bookish and comfy home away from home for all our silent book club meetings.

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There is no place we’d rather be, Press! (We suspect our perfect silent book club setting is the envy of other groups …) Thank you!

If you’ve so far enjoyed the silent book club experience virtually, might you resolve in the new year to experience it firsthand? 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. If you’re interested in starting your own silent book club or are in the Toronto area and perhaps interested in checking ours out, check out the resources on the Silent Book Club web site, or please feel free to contact me for more information.

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