A silent book club meets monthly at the Coolidge Corner branch of the Brookline Public Library. Photo courtesy of the Brookline Public Library.
Bring any book you want to this book club.
There are no assigned chapters, no fishbowl discussions – just readers enjoying one another’s silent company, lost in their own books.
Here, reading is a social activity – but not one where there’s pressure to share your thoughts on your reading, said Brookline resident Kaarkuzhali Krishnamurthy, founder of the group and one of seven people who attended its monthly meeting Thursday night in the Coolidge Corner library.
“We often think of reading as a solitary thing that we do, and it doesn’t have to be that,” said Krishnamurthy, who goes by her middle name, Babu. “We’re all looking for new ways to make connections.”
The group’s meetings are modeled after those of Silent Book Club, an organization with chapters worldwide. Krishnamurthy said she’s applying to become an official chapter – until then, they’re calling themselves the Silent Book Group.
Krishnamurthy started the group in September as a way to create a natural opportunity for people to meet other readers. Loneliness, she said, is not uncommon, especially for adults, who might not have as many built-in opportunities for community as children or students.
“You have your work friends, you may have friends left over from college, but new opportunities to meet people can be limited,” Krishnamurthy said. “I welcome this as a chance not only to meet people whose just natural paths through life wouldn’t necessarily cross mine, but also as an opportunity to meet people at different stages of their life.”
There is power, Krishnamurthy said, in simply being with others.
“It’s not dissimilar to when people go to coffee shops to write, or to do personal activities, but to do it in the company of others,” said Krishnamurthy, who was reading “Three Junes” by Julia Glass.
The group meets on the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Coolidge Corner branch of the Public Library of Brookline. The meetings, which are free to attend, start with half an hour of snacks and conversation, before a silent hour of reading.
“You don’t have to have access to reading materials on your own,” Krishnamurthy said. “You could pick something up at the library as you come downstairs.”
Shannon McDonald, supervisor of the Coolidge Corner braanch, said it’s nice the book club is at the library rather than at a coffee shop or bookstore.
“Libraries are the ultimate ‘third place,’” McDonald said, referring to a term in sociology meaning a place other than work or home. “Public libraries are one of the few places where anyone can come in, and there’s no expectation they spend money.”
McDonald said programs like this at the library allow people to meet.
“We’ve got a small group of regulars,” said McDonald, who ws reading “The Ballad of Never After” by Stephanie Garber. “It’s so nice to check in with everyone each month.”
Brookline resident Peggy Morrison, who attended a meeting for the first time Thursday, said she loved the idea of a silent book club.
“Nobody’s going to say we need to discuss,” said Morrison, who was reading a book written by her son. “Everyone has what they want to read.”
For Krishnamurthy, the meetings are strangely rejuvenating – like a retreat, she said.
“I feel like in all the other aspects of my world, I’m just so acutely aware of time,” said Krishnamurthy, who is a neurologist, bioethicist, and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “Here, it’s just so relaxing. This, to me, is like more than a spa. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this getting a pedicure.”
The book club meetings allow her to honor the act of reading, Krishnamurthy said, simply by making time for it.
“It’s not reading as an afterthought,” she said. “It’s purposeful. You’re there for exactly that reason, and no other.”