Are you a reader who likes meeting new people? Try Milwaukee’s Silent Book Club!

Silent book clubs are popping up worldwide — including right here in Milwaukee. But what are they? WUWM’s Xcaret Nuñez and Maayan Silver stopped by a silent book club in Bay View’s Component Brewing Company to find out.  

Upon walking into the brewery, we find bartenders slinging snifters filled with IPAs and lagers to people sitting and talking on tall, orange barstools. Garage punk music lilts in the background.

But taking a closer look, we see a smattering of others silently reading, spaced around the room. Some have their eyes buried in e-books, while others are reading paperbacks and hardcovers.

Many of them are strangers, and like Tim Sentz and Jacob Anderson, they’re each reading something different.

“I’m reading Moby Dick,” says Sentz, while Anderson points out he’s reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler.

They’re sitting at the same long wooden table and trying to figure out whether they’ve met before.

“Were you reading The Silmarillion last time?” Anderson asks.

“Yeah, I was,” Sentz says.

“All right, I thought so,” Anderson says.

“So yeah, we did meet the first time I came,” Sentz says.

A silent book club gives readers a chance to be social, but it unfolds a bit differently than in a traditional book club.

First of all, you don’t have to read the same book. Silent book clubs also happen in a public place, instead of someone’s home — think coffee shop or bar.

The first hour usually involves solo reading of a book of your choosing. The second part of the night is when you vibe with other readers.

“We generally — and this isn’t really structured, it’s just kind of how it happens — just ask each other, ‘What are you reading?’” says Sentz. “And we present a book, and generally, people kind of chime in if they’ve heard of it or if they’ve read it.”

The whole meeting usually lasts about two hours and takes place once a month, usually on Tuesdays, at various locations. And you can join in on any part or all of it, says Meredith Klusman, the curator of Milwaukee’s Silent Book Club chapter.

“This takes that pressure away — it allows people the freedom to come and read the whole time, and nobody’s gonna bat an eye at you,” explains Klusman. “You can come and read for five minutes and then be like, ‘I’m not feeling it today. I just want to hang out and talk.’ And people will absolutely jive into that, too. Because the core for me, at least, is to create those connections, especially as a transplant to Milwaukee. That’s really what drove me to want to do it in the first place.”

Klusman’s Milwaukee chapter isn’t alone. Silent book clubs are popping up everywhere. According to the Silent Book Club website, there are over 1,400 chapters in 54 countries. Klusman says she got the idea from TikTok and started Milwaukee’s first chapter in the summer of 2023.

Even though Klusman’s Facebook group has over 900 members, she says she doesn’t promote the club at all online beyond the page.

“I made the page and sent it to my five cousins that live in Milwaukee, and was like, ‘All right,’ and I’m assuming that other people saw the social media posts that I saw on TikTok or whatever, and were like, ‘Hey, let’s check it out.’”

Anderson, one of the readers who showed up tonight, says he appreciates turning reading from something you do by yourself to something social. “So people who are willing to go and read a book in public silently are usually like-minded people.”

He says he also just likes to experience new things. “Sometimes days can blend together. They don’t when I do a Silent Book Club day.”

As the first hour of reading winds down, more people join Anderson, Sentz and Klusman at the table to discuss their books. One person is reading Sherlock Holmes, which sparks some conversation.

Klusman, the organizer, says the community aspect of the club is important to her, especially during the times we’re living in. “I feel like the world can be a very divisive place, especially within the last couple of years. I feel like as much as we try to move with empathy and embrace uniqueness and diversity, that’s very clearly not the MO of everybody in the world. So it’s really important to me to foster an environment that’s inclusive of everyone.”

Thankfully, to no one’s surprise, readers make wonderful customers, according to Component Brewing bartender Casey Sams. He’s all for normalizing reading at a bar—or in any public place, really. And he has something to say to anyone who thinks it may be “weird” to do so.

“Well, first of all, book readers are not weirdos. Let’s make sure we let everyone know that.” But he adds that he’s especially supportive of the segment of the night where people get together to discuss what they’re reading. “Because how I might interpret what I’m reading could be totally different than what you’re interpreting. And we are able to get some good conversations, maybe you learn something new.”

As the vibe at Component Brewing Company shifts from punk rock silent reading to its themed trivia night, Klusman starts thinking about the next Silent Book Club meeting. She says anyone is welcome to come turn the page with them, or with the second chapter of the club that recently opened up in the Milwaukee area. It’s a moment to drink, read and be social.

You can visit the Milwaukee Silent Book Club’s Facebook page to learn more about this chapter.

This post was originally published on here