Monthly Archives: October 2026

Bookmaxxing before it was a thing

Leave a reply

As SBC Toronto approaches its ninth anniversary, we contend that we’ve been bookmaxxing before it starting have its recent moment. Even while entranced by paper, electronic or audio works holding us in their spells, we are all and have always been decidedly “thoughtful, intelligent, well-versed and highly desirable” …

As usual, our zoom and in-person meetings this month provided not just updates on recent reading from all members, but included some interesting recurring themes:

  • Some members are revisiting books they read in high school, with mixed but interesting results.
  • One reader is inspiring others with her exploration of different books intertwined with the same story told from different perspectives. Her starting point was George Orwell’s 1984. See if you can find the other companion books from our monthly reading list.
  • All of our members remarked on their reading ups and downs. From month to month and book to book, their experiences range from “loved it” to “meh” to “tossed it over my shoulder” (aka POMS). It’s beyond nice to be able to share with fellow readers, isn’t it?

Long-time silent book club member Todd has given us the gift this month of some thought-provoking mini reviews. Enjoy!

  • On the Calculation of Volume (Book 1) by Solvej Balle and translated by Barbara J. Haveland. Wow – what a ride this was. Think of a more mundane version of Groundhog day set in France. It was interesting but apparently there are six more volumes (some as yet untranslated) which might be a bit much for me.
  • Coup de Grace by Sofia Ajram – This one’s a dark one. CW for suicide and a bit of gory stuff. This takes place in the Montreal Metro. Someone takes the metro trying to kill themselves but when they get off at a station it becomes an endless series of concrete rooms.
  • A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck – Another dark, bleak and liminal one. A man dies, ends up in hell but it’s not the usual image of it. It’s a massive library full of randomly generated books. He must find the book that tells the story of his life among mostly books filled with nonsense. There are other people there so there is some interaction with others, food is taken care of but there’s not much else to do short of search for your book or chat with others for eternity.
  • Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale – This one’s another similar to On the Calculation of Volume (Book 1) except in this one our main character, Cassandra, can rewind to get “do-overs” and learns a lot as she tries to make a relatively short period of time work better for her.
  • Life after Ambition – A Good Enough Memoir by Amil Niazi. It was described as “Amil Niazi explores what life looks like “post-ambition.” With sly humor and a deep literary sensibility, she interrogates her own evolving ambitions, and how they intersect with adulthood, motherhood, age, identity, class, and race, and how it has shaped her and a generation of Millennials. And, most importantly, now that she is “done with ambition”—what happens next?” It wasn’t really for me, though.

Once again, warmest thanks to our amazing in-person meeting venue, Sprouty Cafe! They offer us reader heaven on the second floor of their beautiful establishment.

Here are snapshots from our readers’ adventures in reading this month.

Silent book club member Kathryn's recent reading, including The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao, stacked on a sofa in front of a cushion with the caption 'Just One More Chapter ...' (Photo by Kathryn Eastman)

Silent book club member Jess is reading Margaret Atwood's memoir Book of Lives (Photo by Jess Bootsma)

Silent book club member Vicki (me) shows off her crocheted afghan with the embroidered panel that reads

Silent book club member Vicki (me) packs her Queen Books book bag with books by Donna Tartt, Kirby and Stuart Ross to take to a silent book club meeting (Photo by Vicki Ziegler)

Silent book club members reading on the 2nd floor of the Sprouty Cafe, with member Ruth holding her book in the foreground (Photo by Ruth Bartlett)

Silent book club member Ruth holds up her reading, A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Photo by Ruth Bartlett)

Group book pile at Sprouty Cafe - titles and publications include Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Kim by Rudyard Kipling, fairy by Kirby + more (Photo by Vicki Ziegler)

A poem from the collection The Sky is a Sky in the Sky by Stuart Ross (Photo by Vicki Ziegler)

Photo credits: Kathryn Eastman, Jess Bootsma, Vicki Ziegler, Ruth Bartlett

The group booklist is a dazzling thing of beauty again this month. Multiple readers from our group have typically given considered attention to each title appearing on our our lists of diverse and tempting reading. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended. However, rest assured that inclusion on our lists always means that our readers have devoted time and thought to each book, which counts for a great deal, we contend.


We regularly have extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations to share. 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.

  • Silent Book Club head office invites us to Generate Your Reading Session StoryStats and then crow about it on social media if you feel so inclined. But jeepers, don’t forget that reading is not a competition … er, right?
  • “There is a form of being together that feels as easy and spacious as being alone, when your experience is not crowded out or eclipsed by the presence of the other but deepened and magnified.” Hmm, what does that remind you of …? Ponder the pleasure of being left alone.
  • Can reading fiction actually make you happier? Yes, yes it can.

You can always find our previous reports and book lists right here!

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via the Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and since then, with continuing, breathtaking momentum, they now boast 2,278 chapters in 73 countries. (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) The SBC organization celebrated its 10th anniversary throughout October, 2025 … and our chapter will celebrate its 9th anniversary in early November, 2026.

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.

Keep maxxing your reading, in whatever form, till next we meet!