Triad City Beat | At Greensboro’s Silent Book Club, stress-free reading is the goal

Featured Photo: María Perdomo started the Greensboro chapter of the Silent Book Club in 2023 with her friend. (courtesy photo)

Tucked away in the back half of Scuppernong Books in downtown Greensboro, two members of a unique book club ponder how a ghost might read a book: all at once or by flipping through pages one at a time? Another pair discusses the length of their Goodreads “to-read” lists.

Customers of the bookstore browse the “used” sections surrounding the perimeter and ask the group of readers how the Silent Book Club works.

What makes Silent Book Club different from other clubs is that members read different books according to their tastes and at their own pace. There is no set schedule to read a certain number of books or questions to discuss.

On a recent Sunday, a dozen members sit in a circle around chairs and introduce themselves by listing the books they have brought to read. Their tastes range from Critical Digital Pedagogy: A Collection has Yellow wallpaper has The Greatest Beer Tour Ever.

One participant presents a book he brought last time, but decides halfway through his presentation that he would rather crochet. Some participants bring Kindles or audiobooks.

Then the group begins an hour of silent reading.

María Perdomo founded and organized the first meeting of the Greensboro chapter of the Silent Book Club with her friend Eddison Wilkinson in November 2019 after hearing about the idea on NPR. She had moved back to Greensboro and wanted to find a community.

“It’s really important to me to take the pressure off of reading,” Perdomo says. “You have to dismantle a little bit of what we think about reading.”

Guinevere de la Mare and Laura Gluhanich of San Francisco created the concept in 2012 after discovering they enjoyed reading with others but didn’t like the pressure of book clubs. Since then, book club chapters have sprung up all over the world.

After suspending the club during the pandemic, Perdomo relaunched the book club in March 2023, this time on her own.

One of the great things about the Silent Book Club is how easily it can be customized based on the city it’s taking place in.

Consistency has been the best strategy for the Greensboro chapter, Perdomo says. That includes meetings at Scuppernong Books every second Sunday of the month from noon to 2 p.m. The space works well because it’s quiet enough for members to focus, but busy enough with customers that book club conversations don’t get distracting.

Elizabeth Lantzas recently moved to Greensboro and wanted to find a community that shared her interests.

“It seemed like a good way to do it without pressure,” Lantzas says.

Members comment on how they feel when they get an hour of uninterrupted reading, Perdomo says.

“Whether you’re a parent or have a busy schedule, a lot of people feel a sense of relief when they can do this and commit to it,” Perdomo says.

Accountability is another aspect of the book club that participants find helpful.

“Some people might think that reading with a group of strangers is really weird. I think it offers an element of accountability that is really important,” Perdomo says.

For example, when she starts looking at her phone, she feels the need to return to reading and being present with the group through the informal accountability they have to each other.

Perdomo says there’s pressure on social media to read quickly, which makes some readers feel incompetent, she adds. Instead, Perdomo tries to reframe some of the language used to describe reading in a more positive way. If a participant describes themselves as a slow reader because they come back to book club with the same book from last month, she does her best to correct the situation on the spot.

“It prevents us from enjoying literature, from reading and talking about books. You don’t have to be a certain type of person to read a book, share it and enjoy it,” Perdomo says.

She thinks that’s what makes this book club different from others.

“I’m really trying to make it so that we can say, ‘It’s okay if it took you a year to read this book. We don’t think badly of you, as long as you enjoyed it,'” Perdomo says.

Kim Mercer attended three meetings.

“Reading is a solitary activity, and yet we’re all book readers here,” Mercer says. “It can be hard to find that community, and this is a way to find camaraderie even though it’s a solitary activity.”

The Silent Book Club meets every second Sunday of the month from noon to 2pm at Scuppernong Books. The next one will be on July 14th. Stay up to date at scuppernongbooks.com or on Instagram @silentbookclubgso.