Three years ago, on 02/02/2020, this very newsletter welcomed the 200th chapter to Silent Book Club. No one could have guessed what was in store when we signed off that celebratory email with a cheerful greeting:
We hope that your 2020 will be filled with books and friends and time to enjoy them both.
Books? Sure. Friends? Nope. Time? Too much or, tragically for too many, too little. No one “enjoyed” much of anything in 2020. And the concept of time itself vanished in 2021 and 2022 (honestly still not sure what happened when during those endless months of lockdowns and quarantines).
But through it all, Silent Book Club quietly persevered. Chapters went online, went on hiatus, or moved to new towns with their organizers. Members kept meeting (sometimes outdoors in the snow), kept reading, and kept finding comfort in our community of kindred readers.
In the first few weeks of 2023, we’ve noticed a resurgence of dormant chapters coming back to life. Like snowdrops peeking through the forest floor at the earliest sign of spring, familiar names and faces (Oakland! Torino!) are cropping up in our organizer forums and social feeds. Since January 1st, we’ve added 24 new chapters to the map, from the Big Island to New Orleans to Finland.
One of my personal resolutions this year is to exercise my atrophied social skills. I’ve never been an extrovert, but after three years of working from my bedroom and bouncing around in a very small bubble, I crave the company of others. I want to smash all the screens, burn down the internet, and build strong ties with real people in real life.
If you’re feeling the same, maybe this is the year to finally join (or start!) a Silent Book Club in your town. We’re up to 280 chapters worldwide and growing more each day. We have no idea where this year will take us, and we certainly won’t jinx it with predictions or plans, but it’s off to a good start so far.
Books we loved this month
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, by Franny Choi
Alive at the End of the World, by Saeed Jones
Orwell’s Roses, by Rebecca Solnit
The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston
Bookmarks
Book-related links and other good stuff online
How to make and keep your New Year’s reading resolutions The Globe and Mail
What are your reading goals for 2023? The New York Times
Hey Florida, let librarians do their damn jobs The Washington Post
School librarians vilified as the “arm of Satan” in book banning wars LA Times
How Barnes & Noble escaped certain death The New York Times
Who wins literary prizes? Spoiler alert: it’s rigged LA Review of Books
A new Jesmyn Ward book is coming this fall! Literary Hub
Debunking myths about fatness The Maris Review Podcast
The anti-bucket list: Books I won’t read The New York Times
The lucrative business of book styling Literary Hub
The secret lives of words The New York Times
SBC in the news
The happy blur of another year (2022) in reading bookgaga
The coolest clubs in the Bay Area are book clubs (paywall) The Mercury News
New Year, new you: 10 clubs in Bengaluru you can join in 2023 The Hindu
Love to read? Here's a guide to finding the perfect Kansas City book club KCUR
Mendadak Klub Buku, Silent Book Club Ala Mojokerto Radar Mojokerto
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