Booklovers gathering in the glow … of one last, cozy zoom campfire for the year

Sometimes, gathering around a zoom screen can be just like gathering around a warm fire in good company. We managed one last pop-up meeting of our silent book club last night, and that’s exactly how it felt. As always, my tbr list expanded, as did my heart!

We’re all briskly ushering the year that was out the door, aren’t we? What I won’t usher out or sweep under the rug is that we all managed to forge new ways to connect through this year’s challenges. Our silent book club went from in-person meetings in a local book/record/coffee shop and a few gatherings in a nearby park to regular zoom meetings and some physically distanced gatherings in that same park – and it all remained vital and sustaining, if not more so. While in some ways our worlds grew dramatically smaller, books and book friends helped us to continue to explore and travel through it all. Our virtual meetings allowed us to fling open new doors, such that Toronto city limits now encompass Wales – imagine that!

Our past meeting / book reports chronicle not just our reading, but our reading challenges. Those challenges, of course, are just a reflection of the broader challenges we and our communities grappled with throughout the year. At the same time, I’m grateful and imagine many of my fellow booklovers are that our reading, our meetings and our connections were some respite from the frustrations and despair.

Book picks from Squizzey and Kath

Book picks from Vicki

Book picks from Rosanne

Even though we fit this meeting in a mere two weeks after our last one, many of our members got in solid and extensive reading, thanks to extra quiet time, thoughtful gifts and newly minted Jólabókaflóð traditions. So, we have yet another generous combined reading list to share. As always, the titles featured in each of our reports combine print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks (which are indicated separately).

One of our members revealed that she found some of her recent reading from the NPR Book Concierge and she recommended checking it out.

Our silent book club chapter celebrated its third anniversary this past autumn. Our group co-founder Jo paid lovely tribute.

As always, our previous silent book club meeting reports (online and in-person incarnations) and book lists are here.

You can also check out links to articles, CBC Radio 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. Some clubs are currently on haitus, but many are running virtual meetings in different formats. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

It’s possible things are going to get darker for a time. We can light our way and our spirits for now with reading and continued connections to our fellow readers. One of my very thoughtful silent book club friends put this in the envelope with her holiday greetings …

The Gifts of Reading

… and I’m going to carefully pass it along, like a torch, to another friend in books. Let’s encourage each other to keep those candles and torches and campfires ablaze.

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