As I’ve said before, not everyone makes it to every book club meeting, every month. But the book beat goes on, and individual members and the group as a whole keeps it going, pretty much every month of the year – now going on eight years straight!

Without further ado, here are some images from our group’s July gatherings, followed by another gorgeous combined reading list from the group.

Photo credits: Jess Bootsma, Jennifer D. Foster

Every title on our group’s generous lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title considered 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 thought to a title – and that counts for so very much.

• How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann
• Saltwater by Jessica Andrews
• If I Knew Then: Finding Wisdom in Failure and Power in Aging by Jann Arden
• The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
• Death in Diamonds by S.J. Bennett
• Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel, narrated by Cassandra Campbell (audiobook)
• Last Look by Charles Burns
• Black Hole by Charles Burns
• Final Cut by Charles Burns
• What is History, Now? Helen Carr and Susan Lipscomb
• Not My Type by E. Jean Carroll
• The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
• Monica by Daniel Clowes
• The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns
• The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall by Charis Cotter
• Recipe for a Good Life by Lesley Crewe
• Turncoat by Aaron Elkins
• Fire in The Stars by Barbara Fradkin
• Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
• The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs
• The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh
• Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – A Sortabiography by Eric Idle
• Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, narrated by Jeff Woodman (audiobook)
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
• Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir by Cyndi Lauper with Jancee Dunn
• Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li
• Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
• Human Nature by Kate Marvel
• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
• The Road to Goderich by Linda McQuaig
• Rag Pickers by Blaine Newton
• Death in Focus by Anne Perry
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest
• In Search of Lost Time Volume I – Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright
• Don’t Let Me Be Lonely – An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
• The Village Newcomers by Rebecca Shaw
• On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
• The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel by Reshonda Tate
• White Walls: Collected Stories by Tatyana Tolstaya
• Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

Our group’s previous reports and book lists never take the month off, either – they’re 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 closer and closer to 2,000 chapters … (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) And oh, SBC will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall!

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 combinations) 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 reading till next we meet … or don’t, but that’s OK, too.