I came away from another set of warm, welcoming and elucidating silent book club meetings this past weekend … with head, heart and to be read list brimming!

As readers share their delights and challenges during our zoom and in-person gatherings every month, I always discern interesting recurring themes. This time, there was an undercurrent of mild disappointment with each reader’s perceived amount and pace of reading since we last gathered. And then every reader reported on numbers of books and pages read that surely would make any reader proud … really.

My reaction? Just as every read in our group is legitimate in every way, the pace at which every reader reads is also just right, whatever that pace and volume of books and pages that represents from month to month. If you’ve read more of or less of or differently than you did the last time you took note … well, it’s all good. That you’re reading is the essential constant. The rest might be interesting to record or monitor – on Goodreads, in a book diary, in a text file, whatever – but it need not be a competition, with other readers or even with yourself.

Your reaction?

Photo credits: Jennifer D. Foster, Helen Gunnarsson, Vicki Ziegler

Every title on our group’s always brimming lists means that at least one (usually more) readers have given that title thoughtful 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 consideration to a title – and that counts for so very much.

• Martyr by Kaveh Akbar, narrated by Arian Moayed (audiobook)
• There is No Blue by Martha Baillie (audiobook)
• Dream When You’re Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
• In a Riptide by Ronna Bloom
• Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
• The Solitary Friend by Gail Bowen
• The Elements by John Boyne
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks, narrated by James Fouhey, Lisa Flanagan, Graham Halstead, Katherine Littrell, Michael Obiora (audiobook)
• American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
• The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves
• Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
• Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess
• Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis with art by Darick Robertson
• A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
• The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by Matt Eversmann and James Patterson
• Being a Beast by Charles Foster
• Burst Your Bubble! Outsmart the Algorithms and See What You’re Missing by Joyce Grant
• The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
• The Murder of Mr Wickham by Claudia Gray
• The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray
• The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• Awake by Jen Hatmaker (audiobook)
• Killing Stella by Marlen Haushofer, translated by Shaun Whiteside
• That Librarian by Amanda Jones
• Rebel with a Clause by Ellen Jovin
• The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
• We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
• The Chain of Chance by Stanislaw Lem, translated by Louis Iribarne
• Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
• The Housemaid is Watching trilogy by Freida McFadden
• The Tenant by Freida McFadden
• The Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
• Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Black Wolf by Louise Penny, narrated by Jean Brassard (audiobook)
• Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan
• Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter
• The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, narrated by Lauren Ambrose (audiobook)
• The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose, narrated by Lauren Ambrose (audiobook)
• In Search of Lost Time Volume IV, Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright
• 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing by David A. Robertson
• Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
• Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser, translated by Hildegarde Serle
• A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
• Country Wives by Rebecca Shaw
• Walking with Beth – Conversations with My Hundred-Year-Old Friend by Merilyn Simonds
• The Great Hippopotamus Hotel by Alexander McCall Smith, narrated by Bianca Amato (audiobook)
• In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith, narrated by Bianca Amato (audiobook)
• The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St Clair
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, narrated by Dylan Baker (audiobook)
• Rosewater by Tade Thompson
• The Rosewater Insurrection and The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson
• The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
• Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte, narrated by multiple readers (audiobook)
• A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler, narrated by J. Smith-Cameron (audiobook)
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Labrador Skies by Kayla Williams

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 Silent Book Club 10th Anniversary this fall culminated in a very special meeting on the Today Show’s Read With Jenna:

• “If you, too, yearn for a way out of the despair and disconnection that is the zeitgeist of our time, let me suggest a tried and true remedy: join a book club.”
• Author Barbara Kingsolver lays the foundation for women in Appalachia to beat addiction.

Our group’s previous reports and book lists are always available 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 October … and our chapter celebrates its 8th anniversary ths month, thank you very much!

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.

However much and frequently you’re doing it, relish every moment you get to read!