Toronto silent book club member (times two!) Beth Gordon offers this wonderful introduction to our latest silent book club meeting report. Lifelong reader, long-time book club aficionado, it is no surprise that she indefatigably attends and organizes multiple sbc meetings, for which we are all very grateful!

I’ve always been a big reader and dedicated member of book clubs. With other demands on my time, I gradually became less enamoured of reading “what everybody else wanted to read”, so when Vicki invited me to a Silent Book Club meeting, I was intrigued enough to make the 45-minute trip to her neighbourhood on a Saturday morning. What I found at Press Books was a friendly and welcoming group of random people, some previously known to Vicki and Jo, and some who had discovered it in other ways.

At about the same time, another book club which I had joined about 20 years ago was ending, largely for logistical reasons. Inspired by my experiences at the East End SBC, I suggested to some of the members that we start a Silent Book Club in Midtown Toronto. Because it was being held in a private space, my condo dining room, I didn’t really publicize it, but there’s been good cross-pollination with the East End group and we have a healthy membership. I have noticed that it doesn’t matter how many people show up – we always manage to talk for at least an hour.

One of the benefits of having to switch to online meetings, of course, has been that geography has not been as much of a factor. A friend from Vancouver now joins us when she can, and one of the chief players in the previous book group can now join us as well, since she doesn’t have to travel. What hasn’t changed is the sense of community present in each meeting, and since there are fewer opportunities to meet in person, I think we’re all a bit more flexible about social chat as opposed to “sticking to business”.

There are many articles online about Silent Book Club which describe it as “a book club for introverts” because of the communal silent reading aspect. You’d have to ask an introvert if that rings true for them, but I respectfully disagree with that limiting description. The discussions at the beginning of each meeting are lively and opinionated, and have introduced me to a variety of books that I would likely never have found if left to my own devices. And speaking of devices, there is very much a live and let live atmosphere as to how we all consume our reading material. I am an ebook devotee, because I don’t like to leave home without a book and it’s much more convenient to have one on my phone. Others are fiercely loyal to their paper books, and several are audiobook devotees. Although I prefer to read with my eyes, I’ve swung towards audiobooks as walking companions during COVID lockdowns. I probably wouldn’t have gotten there as fast without the recommendations of my fellow SBC members. The debate rages about whether one is obligated to actually finish a book once started, but opinions may be changing as we all cope with “lockdown brain”.

So I’m grateful to Vicki for telling me about Silent Book Clubs and inviting me to join her SBC community. It has definitely enriched my life over the past couple of years, and has been a big part of my social life lately. Now that the weather is warming up, I’m hoping that safe meetings in the park will soon be an option again.

Once again, our latest combined reading list brims over with variety, diversity and range. The titles featured in each of our reports combine print and digital versions of books, along with audiobooks (which are indicated separately, with narrator/performer information where possible).

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
• Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry (audiobook)
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• 50 Toronto Hidden Gems & Curiosities edited by Matthew Blackett and Dylan Reid
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
• Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
• the debt by Andreae Callanan
• If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
• If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino (audiobook)
• Against Amazon – Seven Arguments / One Manifesto by Jorge Carrion, translated by Peter Bush
• The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
• Sweet Potato Soul by Jenné Clairborne
• How To Fake A Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial by Darryl Cunningham
• South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion
• Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori
• A Bite of the Apple – A Life with Books, Writers and Virago by Lennie Goodings
• The End of Me by John Gould
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• The Humans by Matt Haig
• Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks (audiobook)
• Thomas Hardy Selected Stories, chosen and introduced by John Wain
• Mind Hacking – How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days by John Hargrave
• Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
• Rabbit Foot Bill by Helen Humphreys
• Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston, narrated by Aunjanue Ellis (audiobook)
• John Crow’s Devil by Marlon James
• The Summer Book by Tove Janssen
• Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
• The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque (audiobook)
• Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell
• The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt
• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (audiobook)
• Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid
• Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan, narrated by Juliet Stevenson (audiobook)
• Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri
• The Country Of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman
• Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O’Farrell
• The Switch by Beth O’Leary (audiobook)
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
• Toronto’s Ravines and Urban Forests: Their Natural Heritage and Local History by Jason Ramsay-Brown
• When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid, narrated by Tom Picasso (audiobook)
• Free Range Chickens by Simon Rich
• Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan (audiobook)
• Bina by Anakana Schofield (audiobook)
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Inspector Maigret Omnibus by Georges Simenon
• Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
• Aristocrats and Archaeologists, An Edwardian Journey on the Nile by Toby Wilkinson and Julian Platt

More book-related articles, resources, recommendations and more were offered by our members and/or came up during this meeting’s discussions and chat, including:

• One member’s reading this past month included The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll. This led to an enthusiastic side discussion in the meeting chat about the joys and benefits of the Bullet Journal system, described in more detail here.
• Some of our members are reading and praising Nomadland by Jessica Bruder. The Oscar-nominated movie of the same name is an excellent companion to the book. Real-life nomad Bob Wells, who appears as himself in the movie, was interviewed recently on CBC Radio’s The Current.

Boost your reading with fodder from our previous silent book club meeting reports (online and in-person incarnations) and book lists – you’ll find them 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 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.

Stay safe, stay well, keep your spirits up … and keep reading!