Out, About: Shhh! A quiet space to read with friends

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We’ve been talking a lot about the heat lately. Being from South Florida — and having Puerto Rico in my blood — I don’t notice it all that much outside of the sad fact that I can’t pull my comforter up to my chin comfortably at night this time of year.

I feel it the most, though, on the weekends. There’s always a friend who wants to sit on the patio for brunch, even while the rest of the group is shooting (sweaty) daggers for the whole meal when they get their way. Heading to the pool now requires baby sunscreen (for its higher SPF) to protect my already tanner-than-usual summer skin. And you know it’s gotten unbearable when even ice cream needs to be an indoor activity because it’ll melt too quickly to eat outside.

But the real thing I miss most as every summer becomes the newly hottest one of our lives is the ability to sit outside in the sun and read. Once a favorite July pastime for me, it’s become more like a late September venture.

But sitting at home to read is isolating. And reading at a cafe is distracting. So how do I body double my way into achieving my Goodreads annual book count? Enter Silent Book Club Nashville.

A novel experience

I know what you may be thinking: “Rachel, what about my free will?” (Or maybe I’m just projecting my own thoughts about the traditional book club.)

The good news is this book club is always reading your pick — no assigned title.

You bring whatever book you’d like to the specified location of the month, and then you sit there, reading, for a structured amount of time in blissful silence. For me, it brings me back to the D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) days at Florida schools during what I now realize were the final teacher planning days of the school year.

You get to hang out with your friends, order drinks and chat a bit while folks arrive, and then everyone turns to the material they’ve brought for a while. There’s a pause midway for some conversation and a “book stack” pic of all the spines lined up to compare and recommend to other readers in the book club’s online audience.

The group had been meeting once a month, but has grown to twice lately. The next one is coming up at Urban Cowboy Public House in East on Tuesday night from 6 to 8 p.m. While there’s no formal registration to join this book club, you should register (for free!) at the event-specific link here — so the organizers can get a headcount.

Hope to see some of you there!