silentbookclubTO

"... maybe they could pack me up in a satin comforter and put me eternally to rest in Barbie's dream house." #SundaySentence (2/2) from A Place For People Like Us by Danila Botha (@Guernica_Ed) open-book.ca/News/Danila-Bo…

"I felt like a doll, which I knew was the only way to get through this. Pretend that I was pliable because I was made of plastic, let everyone dress me up and tell me exactly what to say, and at the end of the night ..." #SundaySentence (1/2) by Danila Botha (@Guernica_Ed)

Yeah, well, I'm coming home from a fantastic poetry reading at 8 pm on this particular Tuesday ...

"The novel is our great, communal dream, the place that reveals what composite creatures we really are, what tangles of invention, what repositories for one another’s needs and fears." #SundaySentence A Novel to Revive the Novel by @parul_sehgal (@NYTMag) nytimes.com/2026/04/03/mag…

"He lived on a jungle plot that had a resident toad - large and warty, the kind you could lick for hallucinogenic effects ..." #SundaySentence 1/2 from The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (2025 @KnopfCa) calirb.com/the-loneliness…

Mostly I write fiction, which requires the slow composting of life before it becomes usable material, and I have no notion at the time what might or might not break down into fiction possibility. JULIAN BARNES, Departure(s) #SundaySentence

Opposing views, comfortably expressed ... Our @silentbookclub members are cordial and respectful, but we're also not afraid to convey our opinions about books and authors. Learn more (+ deeee-lish reading list!) from our Toronto #SilentBookClub group: bookgagabooks.ca/2026/03/29/opp…

"The past buries the past and must end in silence, but it can be a conscious silence that rests open-eyed" — Iris Murdoch, "The Sea, The Sea" #SundaySentence

"'Just look at this divine peace,' Babita said accusingly, because she was jealous of this peace, even though she knew that to be jealous of peace destroys the peace." #SundaySentence The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (2025 Knopf Canada) thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-lib…

"Lately, I've been having dreams Crazy dreams I can't explain A woman standing in a field of flowers And a screaming locomotive train" #TodaysPoem #poetry Train Dreams by @NickCave & @Bryce_Dessner (2025) genius.com/Nick-cave-trai…

I scurried along to the launch of a new literary magazine for Wales and beyond on Wednesday. Here's my write-up: #ReadingWales26 : Folding Rock 4 launch @FoldingRockMag @GriffinBooksUK nutpress.co.uk/2026/03/readin…

#FridayReads #WeekendReads * Two Songs by Russell Thornton (@Harbour_Publish) harbourpublishing.com/products/97819… and * The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (@KnopfCa) npr.org/2025/10/03/nx-…

"You can be thrilled by all the things that are happening and horrified by all the things that should be happening but aren’t." #SundaySentence by Rebecca Solnit in The @NYTimes Magazine nytimes.com/2026/03/07/mag…

I have many, many, many complaints about social media, but the flip side is this: A reader enjoys a book published more than 40 years ago and shares how much he enjoyed it. Expressed a desire to talk about it with others and laments he's the only person he knows who has read it. And now he's received a personal thanks from the author and received an outpouring of kindness as other fans have stepped forward, eager to talk. It's a beautiful thing to witness, and something that would have been as good as impossible even 20 years ago.

"Because when someone betrays their spouse, they also betray their daughter and the small life of the house: the trustful dog, the cat with the attitude of a movie star ..." (1/2) #SundaySentence from The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai nytimes.com/2025/09/14/boo…

"Books only have two smells. The smell of a new book, which is good, and the smell of an old book, which is even better." Ray Bradbury Good night

When necessary, do you POMS a book? ... Find out by reading the latest report (including another fantabulous reading list!) from our east end Toronto #SilentBookClub group: bookgagabooks.ca/2026/03/03/whe…

"He has no evidence that a stoned person is intrinsically more entertaining than a non-stoned person." #SundaySentence from TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker (2025 @GrantaBooks) spectator.com/article/lives-…

I looked out my window and the terrace was covered in a blue-white sleep of snow. SEBASTIAN BARRY, Elsewhere: The Adventures of Belemus (1985) #SundaySentence

"Smoking is a condensed and bastardised form of fire-watching." #SundaySentence from Tony Interruptor by Nicola Barker (2025 Granta) theguardian.com/books/2025/aug…