The first 30 minutes of a Silent Book Club are just like traditional reading groups — filled with greetings and announcements. Food and drinks. Members of the Silent Book Club Sarpy enjoy their books at Soaring Wings Vineyard.
“My goal is to fill their space with readers,” Molly Boukal said. Then the books come out. “It’s pin-drop silent for an hour,” Jessica Freedman said.
There’s no discussion of an assigned book at these events. It’s reader’s choice, whether it be a novel, a college textbook or the Department of Motor Vehicles handbook. Some catch up on traditional book club homework.
Molly Boukal, leader of the Silent Book Club Sarpy , calls it an hour of self-care. “It’s to me a perfect book club,” she said. “I don’t have to read anything in particular.
I can bring what I want to read.” People are also reading..
. The clubs have been a big success. The Sarpy group has more than 600 followers on its Facebook page.
Freedman said she’s had as many as 350 people attend Omaha chapter events . Hanna Pinneo runs a Lincoln, Nebraska, club , which has been around for years and meets every other Sunday. Freedman used her advice to open an Omaha chapter last fall and helped Boukal start in April.
There are more than 1,000 chapters worldwide. The Omaha Public Library is joining the fun, starting a version of its own called “out and about reading parties.” Not everyone is comfortable at a traditional book club, said Courtni Kopietz, marketing manage.