A different happy hour: pizza, books and introverts

Published 1:30 am Thursday, September 4, 2025

EVERETT — When Lyndsay Bryson moved from Spokane to Everett in 2022, she wondered how to go about making new friends. Her job as a dog trainer wasn’t yielding any human friendships.

That winter, she went to West Seattle’s Silent Book Club: a gathering of people reading different books, to themselves, in the same space. The West Seattle chapter is so popular that it runs about a dozen simultaneous events to accommodate the hundreds of readers it attracts.

“It was fun, but it was also just like, ‘I’m feeling a little out of my depth here.’ So I didn’t go back,” she said.

Instead, in March 2023, she created the Everett chapter of the Silent Book Club, joining 1,500 volunteer-run chapters in over 50 countries.

Before you swipe left on the idea, consider the possibilities.

You can go with friends or make new ones with a great opener: “What book are you reading?” You can chat, and if you run out of things to say, you can pick up your book (like you said you would) and read.

Silent Book Club is a form of “parallel play,” sharing time with someone but not sharing an activity. It’s where individuality and connection meet without compromise. It’s happy hour for introverts.

It can also be a page-turner for local businesses. Book clubs often meet mid-week, bringing needed revenue to restaurants and businesses on otherwise slow nights. The events are free to attend, but it’s common courtesy to order food or drinks. Bryson said her book clubs usually draw 20 to 30 participants, with 40 being the most she has ever hosted.

Artisans Books and Coffee welcomed the club’s first meeting. Ever since, its first event of the month is always 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the first Thursday at the cafe on 1802 Hewitt Ave.

At an event earlier this year, a line wound through the cafe. Bryson had to frantically message the coffee store’s owner, Judi Ramsey.

“I’m like, ‘we have a huge line and your bartender looks overwhelmed and I’m tempted to go offer to help her but it’s probably not legal,’” Bryson recalled. “And (Ramsey) comes bustling back in about 10 minutes later and helps her deal with it.”

Later, Ramsey texted Bryson to share that the evening’s buzz was a blessing during an otherwise slow month.

Everett’s second monthly Silent Book Club event is held the third Wednesday of the month at locations such as Visible Coffee Roasters, Jetty Bar & Grille or The Ice Cream Bar.

The club gathered downtown at Brooklyn Bros. Pizzeria on the corner of Hewitt and Lombard avenues.

One of the first to arrive was Julz North, who has moved 11 times in the last decade due to her husband’s military career. Working remotely also made it harder to start over and rebuild her social circle. After the second book club gathering, North was hooked: “Now I’m really glad that we’re not moving and that we’re here. I can have something like this, that doesn’t change.”

“You can’t leave now,” Bryson told her. “You’re locked in. It’s official, if you attend more than five book club meetings, you can never move.”

North is part of the core group of eight silent book club loyalists that has emerged as pages have been turned. This inner group calls themselves the “book club club.” Because nothing is sacred and rules are meant to be broken, they have at times met with the purpose to discuss one specific book.

But it’s the silent book club that helped lower the stakes, Bryson said.

“Going into an unknown book club, you don’t know the people you’re reading with and so you don’t know how the things you say are going to be received,” she said. “Now that I’m familiar with these people, I know that they probably won’t judge me for anything that I talk about during the book club.”

They refer to Bryson as their ‘fearless leader,’ though she doesn’t endorse that title.

That’s not to say newcomers aren’t welcome. Unlike other book clubs, Bryson prefers not to be too strict about the “silent” part.

“Some of the other book clubs in the area are pretty strict about that. They’ll be like: ‘All right, time to read,’ and have someone announce it,” she said.

She relies on polite peer pressure. “I am non-confrontational. So if you want to talk, as long as you’re not being absolutely loud, go for it. ”

To Bryson, calling out a participant would defeat the purpose. “I don’t want to get after anyone for coming here and finding a connection because that’s what I wanted, right?”

Contact writer Aina de Lapparent Alvarez at aina.delapparent.alvarez@gmail.com.

IF YOU GO:

Silent Book Club, Everett: instagram.com/silentbookclubeverett

Sound and Summit

This story originally appeared in Sound & Summit magazine, The Daily Herald’s quarterly publication. Explore Snohomish and Island counties with each issue. Subscribe and receive four issues for $18. Call 425-339-3200 or go to soundsummitmagazine.com