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Silent Book Club January 7, 2025

Silent Book Club
Parallel Play Is Not Just for Toddlers

Let me introduce you to my new favorite social activity: the Silent Book Club.

It’s such an amazing concept for us introverts, the ones who aren’t anti-social, but who prefer parallel play to yapping and quiet to noise. Here’s the concept. Like minded people get together in a coffee shop or similar place. We spend the first few minutes introducing ourselves (or not) and talking about whatever. Then, we spend an hour reading. Quietly. Reading can be turning the pages of a book, swiping the screen of a device, or listening to an audiobook. We each read whatever we feel like reading, and if we want, we can switch books midstream.

When the hour is up, we can talk about what we read, or we can go home.

If you’re not the kind of person to whom this immediately appeals, you might be wondering what, exactly, the point of this is. Why go somewhere to not talk to people and do something you can do at home?

There are several very good reasons.

  • One, I won’t read for an hour at home, despite the fact that reading is one of my great pleasures. At home, laundry and dishes yell at me. There are toilets to clean and dogs to walk. My husband sees my quiet presence as an opportunity to tell me urgent things[1] like the strategic necessity of the Panama Canal and why the guy behind him in line at the drug store was a jerk.
  • Two, there’s something about being in the company of people who are doing something I like doing. It makes me feel seen, like I’m not just that nerdy little loner, but like there’s a whole community of people who enjoy the same thing. And obviously there are: there are whole stores dedicated to selling the equipment.
  • Three, I get to see what everyone is reading and what they think about it. I’m an omnivore when it comes to literature. I will read anything that is written well. Fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, romance, science fiction, whatever. It’s an opportunity to learn about people and cultures and ideas that aren’t mine.
  • Four, I get to be social without draining my social batteries. Being an introvert in an extroverted world is hard. Hold on. Let me lean on the whine on that word a little longer: haaaaaaaaaard. Waah. Society expects me to be social and go out and do things, but I have a job, and the social interaction required to do business is about all I can take in any given day. I need at least one weekend day to recover. Silent Book Club allows me to get my social fix without further depleting my reserves. I’m not a loser—look! I went out and did something! On a Wednesday, even!

I learned about Silent Book Club when someone I was talking to at a conference told me about it. It sounded fabulous and I thought, surely there is nothing like that around me. The town I live in is not known for its literary interest. We have, at last count, eight chicken restaurants and six auto parts stores, and zero bookstores. But I Googled “Silent Book Club” and darned if there isn’t one just a few miles away. I’m addicted. Try it.

It takes a lot to get me out of the house, especially after work and after dark. But I leave the house for this. That’s a big deal.


[1] Insert sarcasm font.

Buy my book, Devil’s Defense and/or find me on Substack.

Silent Book Club

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Lori Duff

Lori B. Duff is an award-winning author who practices law on the side.  Her latest book, "If You Did What I Asked in the First Place" was awarded the Gold Medal for humor in the Foreword INDIES awards in 2019. You can follow her on Twitter at @LoriBDuff and on Facebook. For more blogs written by Lori, click here. For more information about Lori in general, click here. If you want Lori to do your writing for you, click here. If you want Lori to help you market your book, click here.

Silent Book Club January 7, 2025

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