Sshhh! We’re Reading!
A “silent book club”? What?
The first Silent Book group was started in 2012 by two friends in San Franciso who loved to read and considered themselves introverts. Annoyed by assigned book club readings, they opted to meet in a bar.
“I wished that I had a book club where basically there was no assigned reading but you could just show up, hang out with your friends, talk about what you were reading and then just sort of read your book with no pressure,” founder Guinevere de la Mare told NPR.
It’s “Introvert Happy Hour,” with 2,000 chapters and a million readers in 60 countries, now including Eureka.
Arcata librarian Susan Parsons and I started talking about this craze last fall. I started posting about it on Instagram and the library created a flyer, “Alone Together” — which is the truth, as we read next to someone we may or may not know for one delicious and silent hour.
Nine readers showed for our first meeting at Dick Taylor Chocolates on Labor Day last Fall. Dave Ryan came on his bike because his wife said he had to. He has come back each month and brought a fellow rider with him last month. His goal is to get his biking friends to ride over for a cup of hot chocolate, read, and then turn around and ride back home.
It’s wonderful to sit uninterrupted for an hour and read — an amazing gift. I am sure others feel the same. I love hot chocolate, too, so meeting at Dick Taylor is a perfect combination.
Sue McIntrye, owner of Belle Starr, says she enjoys this time before her store opens. Another gal who can’t come regularly until she retires stops by to get coffee before work. And Kim Ryan, head of the Friends of Arcata Library, now joins her husband (but she doesn’t ride her bike).
At our first meeting, I was almost finished reading Edward Rutherford’s “Paris: The Novel” (800 pages!) for my regular book group. I was so happy to turn the last page as the clock struck 10:30.
Plus, it’s a joy spending comfortable time with other readers — about 13 each month — who are willing to be quiet and just read for an hour.
Grab your book and join us on Monday, March 2, and every first Monday of the month at Dick Taylor Chocolates, 333 1st St., Eureka, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. for hot chocolate and a quiet, no-pressure hour with friends. Sshhh! We’re reading.
Alex Stillman reads in Arcata — and anywhere else she can.
