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On the bright side... 

On the bright side... 
There's a LOT we could say about 2020, but we thought we'd wrap up the year on a positive note. With Silent Book Club chapters around the world shifting to online meetups during the pandemic, we've been able to make global connections that we never would have dreamed of when we started reading in a wine bar with a couple of friends in 2012. Continue reading

How to #Bookstagram Like a Boss

How to #Bookstagram Like a Boss

 

I love reading, but sometimes I want to zone out and just scroll through pretty pictures on Instagram. I love keeping up with my friends, hearting all the babies, and marveling at the world travelers in my feed.

Whenever I need a shot of inspiration, I browse through what's new in the #bookstagram community. I find it soothing to bask in the beauty of books, and I've discovered some amazing photographers there (@chloeferres, @obviousstate, and @booksugar are a few of my faves).

I wish I was as talented a photographer as I am a reader (I'm a master book devourer, y'all), but I won't let my amateur eye and beat-up iPhone 5 stop me from doing my part to share the #booklove. For me, the key to a great bookstagram post is the story behind the photo. Just like a good novel, it needs character, maybe some backstory, or even a plot twist. I mean, anyone can post a book stack with a Harry Potter bobblehead. I want to peer into the worlds of other readers, have them take me on an adventure through books.

The best bookstagrams are the ones that spark your imagination and make you want to know more. The ones that make you laugh out loud or cheer or think to yourself, Yes. THIS. You can find tons of articles out there about gaining followers. But I'll take a narrative over a hashtag strategy any day. 

Here are just a few of the stories behind @silentbookclub's recent posts. Hope you enjoy!

It's self-care Saturday! Turn off your screens and pick up a book. You'll feel so much better, promise. ❤️📚

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One of my all-time favorite shelf-talkers, and one of SBC's most-liked photos of all time. I wish I could take credit for the quote, but this gem is courtesy of the cheeky booksellers at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco.

 

Rainforest, coffee, book. #whereiread

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Last month, I went on vacation with my family to the Big Island of Hawaii. Our rental house in Volcano had an underground lava tube in the yard that you could peer into. As I was drinking my coffee and reading one morning, steam was coming out of the cave, which made for a pretty epic hashtag string: #whereIread #activevolcano. 

 

Just chilling under the chandeliers, reading books and listening to some Daft Punk muzak. AS YOU DO at #silentbookclub

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This is how we SBC in San Francisco. Sometimes there is a piano player in the hotel lounge, but this month there was ambient music... and it kind of jammed. I told my husband about the Daft Punk muzak when I got home, he went down a deep internet hole trying to find it. Sadly he did not succeed. Well played, Palace Hotel. Keep us coming back for more... 

 

 

I love doing activities while I hang out with friends. Maybe it stemmed from being a girl scout as a kid, but I'm a big fan of clubs. In addition to being the founder of Silent Book Club, I'm also a member of Ladies Drawing Night SF, a group that gets together once a month to draw (and drink and snack and socialize). This month's meeting coincided with an activist campaign I was working on with the American Library Association, so I experimented with some hand lettering and watercolor. Looking at it now, that book stack really could use a shadow. 

 

Exit through the bookstore... @thelastbookstorela

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I discovered The Last Bookstore on Instagram a couple years ago when my publishing friends started posting photos from there whenever they traveled to LA. I finally got to visit it myself earlier this year. I was only in LA for the day, and I made a pilgrimage stop on the way from the airport to my event. As I was browsing in the kids section, I realized that Christian Bale was standing about six feet to my left with his toddler. But only a moment earlier I had discovered an entire shelf of The Girls of Canby Hall, and I decided I was more interested in reliving middle school so I went back to my browsing. 

 

 

Unfortunately, that means you get to see this instead of a picture of Christian Bale. #sorrynotsorry

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SBC is coming to town

SBC is coming to town

This has been a big week for us here at Silent Book Club. We announced the launch of three (!) new chapters in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Jacksonville, and we joined forces with Silent Reading Party PDX to connect book lovers in Portland, OR. 

And we're only just getting started. Our goal is to make Silent Book Club a global community, bringing readers together in cafés and bars all over the world. We believe in the power of books to transform a public space into a zone of tranquility. Where laptops and phones are replaced by paperbacks and ereaders. Where the ever-present pings of work email are silenced, if only for an hour or two. Where being alone together means engaging in a communal activity, not sacrificing real life relationships for the dopamine hit of social media. Where no one needs wifi.

Silent Book Club is about being present, rediscovering the restorative power of single-tasking, and carving out space in our busy lives to simply read for pleasure. Enough with the always-on. We choose off. We choose books.

We've been floored by the outpouring of enthusiasm for Silent Book Club. New SBC chapters are in the works for Seattle, Vancouver, San Diego, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Stay tuned for dates and locations.

Ready to join us? We're here to help you start a Silent Book Club in your town. Anyone can do it, and everyone is welcome. Just drop us a line.

Silent Book Club

Read the announcement here, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get event invites, book recommendations, and news delivered right to your inbox.

 

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Read it Forward

Read it Forward

We're super excited to be teaming up with Read it Forward, an online community for readers created by Crown Publishing Group. Read it Forward publishes essays, book recommendations, interviews with authors, and more.

We kicked off our partnership with a story about how Silent Book Club might save your life, and once a month, we'll be sharing reading recommendations in their What We're Reading newsletter. You can find our first batch of book recs here, or sign up on Read it Forward to get the next installment delivered to your inbox. 

P.S. While you're poking around the site, don't miss their Book Club Appetizer podcast. The Spotify playlist they created for this episode is fierce.

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