# Silence please: how book clubs without the chat help focus the mind

## Body

Silent Book Club is growing in popularity in Melbourne as an antidote to the social pressure of group discussions.

It’s commuter hour on a late-summer morning and the sun is still stretching through the leafy canopy of Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. In the cool, concrete sanctuary of MPavilion – the city’s annual architecture installation/event space/public shelter – a small group of people sit reading. Some recline on beanbags, some perch on stools; others lean against the fluted concrete wall, breeze running through their hair. For close to an hour, nobody speaks; they just read.

This is Silent Book Club, where there is no required book list, no entry fee, no organised discussion. Just reading, quietly, in company.

Last month, research commissioned by Australia Reads showed that more than half of Australians want to read more than they actually do, but even very engaged readers struggle to make enough time for it – particularly those who work full-time. It doesn’t bode well for recreational reading that many also said finding motivation for it was more difficult than scrolling through social media or watching television – even when they said they read for leisure and pleasure.

Bennett says many of the Melbourne participants are keen readers but busy people, and Silent Book Club allows them to ensure they prioritise a reading habit among other competing tasks. It seems likely, too, that for those struggling with motivation, it may function like body-doubling – a tactic used by some people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to accomplish tasks they find difficult by having a second person working alongside them, as a kind of social scaffolding.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

Or, as library goers call it, The Reading Room.

### Guardian Pick

I think that's a stock photo, but it is rather patronising to imply (if that be the implication, and if not, I apologise) that men don't "do" books anymore.

Or, as library goers call it, The Reading Room.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

### Guardian Pick

The most peaceful pleasant room for me to read in is definitely one with no one else in it. But I guess this could be a calm social zone for the easily-distracted. The intention is kind.

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