… the solitary pleasure of reading and the quiet magic of community

by Amber Daugherty

… and as 2026 gets warmed up (we hope – brrr!), we get to enjoy yet another guest introduction to our monthly blog post! Kind fellow readers, meet Amber Daugherty. Amber works in communications, teaches fitness classes and reads constantly somewhere in between. She’s drawn to stories, ideas and conversations that make people think a little differently. Big believer in community, curiosity and the magic of sitting quietly together with a book.

A year and a half ago, I found myself looking for new ways to feel rooted in my neighbourhood. Not networking. Not professional development. Just real, human connection close to home. Somewhere in that search, I stumbled across the idea of a Silent Book Club and felt immediately curious. When I realized there was a chapter meeting at a café just a five-minute walk from my house, it felt like the universe giving me a very gentle nudge.

I can’t make it every month, but every time I do, I’m reminded why this group is so special. There’s something quietly radical about gathering with strangers and neighbours, opening our books and simply being together. No pressure to perform. Just the shared understanding that reading, even when done alone, doesn’t have to be lonely. Sitting with other people absorbed in their own worlds somehow creates a connection that’s hard to describe but easy to feel.

Books have always been a significant part of my life. As a kid, I was proud of reading above my grade level, not because it meant anything impressive, but because books felt like portals. They took me to places I couldn’t imagine otherwise and introduced me to lives, emotions and perspectives far beyond my own. That sense of escape and expansion never really left me. Over time, reading became not just a habit, but a refuge. I’ll almost always choose a book over a movie, drawn to the slow immersion, the quiet intimacy, the way a story unfolds at its own pace.

What’s surprised me most in recent years, though, is how much reading has become a source of connection. I’m now part of several book clubs and each one offers something different. There’s joy in sharing recommendations, in hearing what moved someone or challenged them and in discovering books I never would have picked up on my own. Even when our tastes are wildly different, there’s something deeply bonding about talking through how a story landed, what we filtered through our own experiences and how a book left us changed, even in small ways.

I once read that fiction strengthens our empathy by allowing us to see the world through another person’s eyes. That idea has stayed with me. Reading is deeply personal, shaped by who we are and where we are in our lives, but talking about books opens that experience outward. I’ve seen it happen in unexpected places too. At a conference last year, a casual mention of having read A Court of Thorns and Roses instantly lit up the women around me. In seconds, strangers became allies, bonded by characters, plot twists and shared delight. It was joyful, surprising and a perfect reminder of how quickly books can bring people together.

At this point, reading has become a visible part of my life. I have over a thousand books in my house, shelves tucked into nearly every available space, and I carry a deep sense of gratitude for the worlds they’ve opened for me. But more than that, I’m grateful for the connections they’ve sparked. Silent Book Club is one of those rare spaces where both things are honoured: the solitary pleasure of reading and the quiet magic of community. And for me, that combination has made all the difference.

(Photos by Jennifer D. Foster)

Every title on our group’s always gloriously 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 a lot!

• Great Expectations by Kathy Acker
• The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (audiobook)
• Our Green Heart by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
• A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
• Thursdays in the Park by Hilary Boyd
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
• Murder Under the Mistletoe by The Reverend Richard Coles
• Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, narrated by Christine McMurdo-Wallis (audiobook)
• Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• The Widow by John Grisham
• Flight Paths – How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration by Rebecca Heisman
• Lucky Seed by Justinian Huang
• Daisy Miller by Henry James
• Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner
• Dressmakers of London by Julia Kelly
• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• Hospital of the Transfiguration by Stanislaw Lem
• Fatal by John Lescroart
• Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
• Fox by Joyce Carol Oates, narrated by Max Meyers, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Kirsten Potter, Fred Berman, Matt Godfrey, Gail Shalan, Rebecca Lowman, Rachel L Jacobs, Eunice Wong, Ina Barron (audiobook)
• The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
• In Search of Lost Time – Volume VI, Time Regained by Marcel Proust, translated by Andreas Mayor and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright
• Messy Cities – Why We Can’t Plan Everything, edited by Dylan Reid, Zahra Ebrahim, Leslie Woo, and John Lorinc
• A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell
• Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons
• The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons
• The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan, narrated by Emma Lowe (audiobook)
• The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
• The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
• The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
• In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• Dragon Ball Full Color Saiyan Arc, Volume 1 by Akira Toriyama
• Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals by Laurie Zaleski

We often have some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations to share. These are 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.

• More and more readers are joining book clubs, even on social media. Here’s how it’s keeping bookworms engaged! (via People Magazine)
• Here is an overview of how to regain the ability for Sustained Silent Reading.
• Bookmobiles are awesome. Here are Toronto’s two …
• New York Public Library celebrated Muslim American Heritage Month in January and is now celebrating 100 Black Voices: Schomburg Centennial Reading List.
• Check out the Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Special Video.

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 last October … and our chapter celebrated its 8th anniversary in early November.

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.

Happy and amazing reading in 2026, all!