Atlanta’s Silent Book Club chapter brings together readers, accountability, and camaraderie
Atlanta Magazine, 5/10/2024
Stumbling upon a Silent Book Club event might seem unnerving without context, but the meetup is an increasingly popular way for people to read, socialize, and explore Atlanta.
theSkimm With Silent Book Club Co-founder Laura Gluhanich
Insidehook, 1/27/24
What is a silent book club? An introverted book lover's paradise, that's what Cincinnati Enquirer, 6/28/22
Get Together (podcast) by People & Company, 6/22/2020
Silent Book Club offers a space to dispense the small talk, a relief to many introverts. In our conversation with Laura Gluhanich, the co-founder of Silent Book Club, we dive into the importance of creating a welcoming space in all senses of the word, both physically and online.
The Silent Book Club, a global meet-up for introverts, now connects them remotely
Los Angeles Times, 4/10/2020
Silent book clubs have sought to do away with everything irksome about book clubs while retaining the sense of community, the love of books and in some cases the alcohol. The “silent” part refers only to the dedicated reading time (usually an hour). There’s conversation — a sharing of notes on individual reads rather than one assigned book — at beginning and end of each meeting. Or, in the past several weeks, a virtual meeting.
Psychology Today, 1/27/20
From hieroglyphs to emoji, non-verbal means of communication have been used for millennia, but a new slate of products and services are now taking non-verbal to the extreme with a focus on fostering intimacy.
How two women quietly reading books in an SF bar started an introvert revolutionSF Gate, 1/7/20
Silent Book Club, otherwise known as "Introvert Happy Hour," started in San Francisco in 2012 with two friends reading together in a bar. Now, it has grown to 180 chapters across the world in 20 different countries.
The Times of India, 10/10/19
Imagine being at a bar where you are served a glass of red wine along with a book. Or a café where you sample the latest Tom Clancy thriller while sipping a hot cappuccino.Sounds too good to be true? Welcome to the ‘silent’ book club.
The Times UK, 8/22/2019
It’s a book club, but not as we know it. Members arrive with their carefully chosen tome, turn to a page and . . . just read. They don’t discuss the plot or characters and they certainly don’t serve drinks or supper to a roomful of bibliophiles.
NPR, 8/12/2019
Individuals from all walks of life join together at Silent Book Clubs around the world to socialize, meet new people and trade book recommendations. When the bell rings, it's reading time, and people can read whatever they like, as long as it's in silence.
Shelf Help
Women's Health, July/August 2019 (print edition only)
New rule: Burying your nose is a good read is the healthiest thing you can do while sitting down. Tell your friends you'll meet them for yoga...but first, Kafka.
Introverted bookworms and a novel idea
CBC Radio, 5/22/2019
Afternoon Drive host Chris dela Torre finds out why Canadians are organizing Silent Book Clubs with a co-founder of the club, Guinevere (Harrison) de la Mare.
Toronto's Silent Book Club offers an alternative for introverted bookworms
CBC, 3/17/2019
Vicki Ziegler has never been on the same page with traditional book club members. The stresses associated with meetings — hosting, finishing a book on time and sharing reviews on the chosen title with others — discouraged the Toronto bookworm from joining a club. "It's a bit of a monoculture — everybody's reading the same book and talking about just one book," she told CBC Toronto.
How reading can make you happier and less stressed and depressed
South China Morning Post, 3/11/2019
Research has found that those who read regularly have higher levels of self-esteem and were better at coping with challenges. Readers says there is a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-worth when finishing a book.
Silent Book Club Is SoulCycle for Shy People
IndyWeek, 3/6/2019
I love reading, and I hate sharing in small-group settings. A traditional book club, where you discuss an assigned book, merges the joy of literacy with the specter of clammy conversation. For me, it holds no appeal.
O, Oprah Magazine, 1/9/2019
People sometimes ask me, “Why would I leave my house to read?” I say: Sometimes you want to share the same space with like-minded people, to be in the world but carving out time for you.
Witty banter optional: The no-pressure, no-homework book club
The Christian Science Monitor, 12/17/2018
The solitary act of reading becomes more social – and maybe a little more competitive – at a typical book club. Here’s a middle-ground idea for the shy or introverted and homework-averse.
Reading in Tandem: Silent Book Club is making noise in Birmingham
b-metro, 4/2/2018
The internet has really done a number on the social bonds that hold society together. Today you have to make an effort to engage with people face to face. We should be doing everything we can to encourage folks to hang out in real life. Silent Book Club is a non-threatening way for a lot of people to do that.
Connections through reading and coffee
The Free Press, 3/26/2018
Reading has become my primary way to stay sane during this unsettling time when the reigning administration is so incredibly toxic, and SBC is this incredible connection to people who are so thoughtful and aware.
Silent Book Clubs are like 'cocktail hour for introverts'
Essential Baby, 1/15/2018
A common lamentation of avid readers, like me and my colleague, is that along with hot cups of coffee and sleep-ins, motherhood also means saying goodbye to long afternoons curled up with a novel, as the relentless demands of caring for young children take priority. But, as it turns out, there might be a solution.
Silent Book Club gathers primarily to read own selections, not discuss
The Columbus Dispatch, 11/27/2017
Unlike virtually every other book club — whether of the wine-and-cheese variety or the deeply intellectual — the Silent Book Club involves no “homework,” no discussion questions and no pressure to sound intelligent. Instead, club participants gather on the second Tuesday of the month to read selections of their own choosing by themselves.
Lit Hub, 8/16/17
The premise for this book club is simple. It’s a gathering of people who go out to a public space for the purpose of reading together. Unlike traditional book clubs, there are no mandatory reading selections, and nobody facilitates a discussion. Think of it as cocktail hour for introverts.
Why Silent Reading Club is quietly popular among book readers in LA and Orange County
Los Angeles Daily News, 7/7/2017
Silent reading time, that familiar school activity in so many classrooms, has grown up. And despite — or because of — all the distractions of modern life, it’s becoming a newly popular one.
Guinevere de la Mare and the Silent Book Club
The Secret Library Podcast, 4/13/2017
On the perils of calling yourself a writer, the early days of social media for book publishers, and how to start your own chapter of the Silent Book Club so that you, too can read peacefully out in the world.
Poets & Writers Magazine, Jan/Feb 2017
Here’s how it works: A group of friends and strangers meet at a bar or library or café once a month and read together. They don’t read the same book. They’re not even expected to discuss what they’re reading. All they do is read, in a shared space, together, as a community.
Why a Silent Book Club Might Save Your Life
Read it Forward, 2016
Once a month, a group of friends meet up at a bar after work. We sink into leather couches, we order drinks, and we pull out our books. There’s chatter about who’s reading what, author recommendations mix with gossip, and a few books swap hands. As conversation dies down, we put our phones away and begin to read.
