Enjoying the peace and quiet at Origin Coffee during the Silent Book Club. (Provided photo — Diane Chase)

I’ve been part of a book club for years. The people in my group are some of my closest friends. The “book club” has evolved from reading assigned books to making book suggestions to the occasional dance party and cocktail mixology experiments. We can take a hiatus and then come back together and bond over a love for reading. My husband has been bold enough to ask if we read books — the audacity.

There is speculation about the origin of the first book clubs. Books became more readily available with the invention of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century, making them more affordable. Mass book production helped to increase literacy rates, giving people access to libraries and allowing people to read for business and pleasure. People meeting to discuss sermons and Bible study groups have been documented since the 1600s. Parisian salons and intellectual organizations took off in popularity, mainly allowing women a place to discuss poetry, art and literature.

For the past two years, Origin Coffee Co. (both Saranac Lake and Lake Placid locations) has joined with local booksellers, Lake Placid’s The Bookstore Plus and Saranac Lake’s The Book Nook, to bring the monthly Silent Book Club meetings to the area. Started in San Francisco in 2012, the Silent Book Club movement now has over 1,500 chapters in 54 countries worldwide, led by volunteers. The local SaraPlacid chapter meets on the third Wednesday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m., alternating between the two coffee shop locations. The book club is a no-pressure option for readers and a chance to meet other book lovers.

We all have busy lives, and if reading more books is on the “to-do” list, then coming to a monthly Silent Book Club may be the answer. The only rules are to pre-register and to read in silence. If you have a busy household and a busy life, which means you have a life, I suggest you gift yourself an hour of silent reading with a group of like-minded people. These people don’t want to talk with, at or around you. They want to sit quietly and read. We all have our various reasons for being there. Food/beverages are available for purchase, and there is a bulletin board where participants can share reading suggestions. In the warmer weather, the Silent Book Club has met outside, allowing for larger attendance.

Years ago, my book club stopped following the assigned reading format. Not everyone liked the choices, and buying books people didn’t want or weren’t interested in reading gets expensive. We chose to bring books we were reading and share books we were finished with to provide a wider range of material. The wonderful thing about any club is that the group can decide on the format and rules.

The next SaraPlacid Silent Book Club is May 21 at Origin Coffee in Saranac Lake. The link to register is https://lu.ma/saraplacidsbc. Enjoy reading!