Sound of Silence

Coffee beans rattling around in their containers, the low rumble of an espresso machine hard at work, order after order being placed, chairs gently scraping the floor: mid-morning on a typical Sunday, hotspots like Bitty & Beau’s Coffee on New Centre Drive are anything but noiseless.

And yet, it’s one of several locales around town that now regularly host Wilmington’s most voracious readers for what may just be the quietest trend out there.

Today, more than five hundred chapters of Silent Book Club are spread across fifty countries, and all of them are organized and led by local volunteers.

NANCY SMITH (above), ILM Silent Book Club’s organizer who also works as data manager for Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, first heard about this new sensation bringing readers together through social media. The first meeting was held in May of last year, with about fifteen people in attendance. Since then, local membership has grown to the point that as many as fifty members might show up to planned meetings and activities, and the group’s Facebook page has more than 2,000 followers. During the week, one might find club members convening in a corner of New Hanover County Library or chatting about their latest literary obsessions at Azalea Station. But weekend get-togethers are usually reserved for Bitty & Beau’s Coffee – just as it’s been since that first meetup.

“As an introverted extrovert, Silent Book Club is a dream come true. It gives me the perfect opportunity to be social with like-minded people, but on my own terms,” says HEATHER ROONAN, a member of the Wilmington chapter of Silent Book Club and a content manager for GigSalad. “And I think that’s true for a lot of readers. It’s great seeing people connect and share this love of reading we all have.”

The idea may sound like a walking contradiction given the quintessential image of book clubs, where outspoken bibliophiles hold spirited debates over the designated book of the week in someone’s living room. However, members of ILM Silent Book Club are free to read whatever they like and can choose whether or not to open up a group discussion about it at the meetings.

“Socializing with new people can be hard, but having common ground to talk about helps bridge the gap,” says OLIVIA DREWRY, a nurse and another member of ILM Silent Book Club. “There’s no pressure since there’s no assigned reading, so hanging out with this group is easy and delightful.”

Drewry also says she’s noticed that this unique take on book clubs welcomes fans of all genres to come together and talk about whatever they’re currently reading, which in turn introduces others to authors and series they might not have found out about during solo perusals of bookstore shelves or online bookshops.

And they don’t necessarily have to go it alone; members are free to partner up or form their own small groups to dive into something new together. Thanks to the digital age and social media, extending the discussions beyond in-person meetings is easier than ever.

“We will sometimes host ‘buddy reads’ where members can choose to join our buddy read and talk about it as we read along, but it’s also not required to be part of the group. This is where our Instagram comes in handy,” Smith says, “because we can have a group chat on there where you can send hidden messages until you click on them, and it’ll reveal what it says. Especially for those, like me, who always want to vent or rant when we get to a good part!”

While she does want the club to remain focused on its original purpose – reading and other “bookish” things – Smith does keep an ear to the ground for larger events she can share with current club members, like those offered by branches of the county library.

She is hopeful that, in time, ILM Silent Book Club can partner with more local businesses and diversify its activities somewhat to include related interests such as book edge spraying, sip-and-paint events, and book-themed arts and crafts like what she and some of her fellow members put together last holiday season.

“A small group of us got together over the Christmas season and made some DIY ornaments,” she says. “I hope to do some fundraising so that we can host a larger-sized event for something like it for the 2024 season and provide the materials to do it.”

To learn more about the club and find out when the next meeting is, visit ILM Silent Book Club’s Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/ilmsilentbookclub or Instagram account @ilmsilentbookclub.

To view more of photographer Terah Hoobler’s work, go to terahhoobler.com.

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