The Fireside Room at The Sorrento Hotel in Seattle hosts a reading party once a month, and apparently the event is always packed.
The Silent Reading Party takes place on the first Wednesday of every month. Unlike other book clubs, no one talks publicly or reads aloud. Instead the bar is full of readers quietly sitting by the fire and reading on their own.
The Stranger has more about the scene on a recent night:
You can read whatever you want, and it runs the gamut. Two reading parties ago, a business lawyer next to me was reading that day’s New York Times. An art critic was reading A Brief History of Curating by Hans Ulrich Obrist. A singer/performer/musician was reading Moby-Dick. A furniture maker was readingWhere We Live Now: An Annotated Reader, edited by Matthew Stadler. Charles Mudede was reading Walter Benjamin, possibly for the billionth time. An investigative journalist was reading Robert Greenfield’s Exile on Main St., about the Rolling Stones recording Exile on Main St.