The party scene in Miami is not just changing, it鈥檚 rewinding. In some cases, it鈥檚 going analog. The kids are turning to yoga, retro cameras and, at one local bookstore, silently reading with a group of strangers.
Since last June, in Coral Gables has opened its doors 鈥� once a month on Wednesdays 鈥� to those looking for a brief refuge from an often noisy, digital world. Instead of loud music, dark rooms and flashing lights, the store offers a quiet space with chairs, a carpet, some hummus and wine, and a collection of books at your disposal for at least an hour.
At the Books & Books Silent Reading Party, all are welcome. From fiction to romance to biographies, the reading party comes prepared with prompts for readers to share their responses to when the party ends.
Alyssa Exp贸sito is the social media manager at Books & Books and she is also the program coordinator for the Books & Books Literary Foundation. She said her goal with the promotion of the literary foundation is to not only get people into reading more, but to make reading 鈥渟exy and cool.鈥�
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鈥溾�奍n a loud city, and a robust city like Miami, that you're always consumed and kind of like bogged down by noise, 鈥� Exp贸sito said. 鈥淚 was like, what better place to reclaim your time than at a beautiful bookstore and just give yourself the permission to like, 鈥奷isconnect.鈥�
Disconnecting, she said, is not something that comes easy to everyone.
鈥淚 鈥妕ell people ... like any exercise, the more you do it, the better and stronger you become at it," Exp贸sito said in persuading people to join the reading party.
Exp贸sito spoke to SA国际传谋 only a few days before she ran the half-marathon at the .
'Reclaiming' your time
Exp贸sito said the reading party started last year when Books & Books participated in the 鈥淩ead 25鈥� day promoted by . It went from one day of reading as a group for 25 minutes to the silent reading parties.
Exp贸sito said she also gained inspiration from other reading parties she had seen online in San Francisco and like that started in New York.
The founder of Books & Books and the Books & Books Literary Foundation, Mitchell Kaplan, said he wants people to indulge in a good book and literary works鈥� and he wants people to do as many of these 鈥渞eclamation鈥� activities as possible.
鈥溾�奣hey should incorporate the reading, and they should run, and they should go to movies, and they should be in a book club and you should have dinners with your friends,鈥� Kaplan said. 鈥淲hat we need more now, more than anything else in life, given the world that we're in, is community.鈥�
That community Kaplan speaks of is kind of like a bubble. A bubble you create when you meaningfully engage with people in real life. He referred to the British novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan and his idea of how solitude is a luxury.
鈥溾�奝eople who are in their twenties and thirties now have no experience with being quiet, being where nobody can reach you, or being with a friend and creating that bubble,鈥� Kaplan said.
These bubbles, especially in a diverse city like Miami, can be so incredibly vibrant.
鈥溾�奍 think what's beautiful about the reading group is we invite people to bring their books in from whatever community they're in,鈥� Kaplan said.
Although the iconic Miami bookstore opened in 1982, the Books & Books Literary Foundation was founded just three years ago. Kaplan said it was created to continue much of the work that Books & Books has done as a store but to allow their goals of injecting literacy into communities and people to go beyond what the highs and lows of retail bookselling may confine them to.
These are all goals and dreams of the reading party. The people who attend the reading parties, however, are just as excited by the opportunity to read with new people as Exp贸sito and Kaplan would hope they鈥檇 be.
Party Time
On a recent Wednesday evening, a visitor can hear the clamor of customers milling about at Books & Books. The noise disappears as the reading party begins.
鈥溾�奣he reading party is actually a communal event that centers around literacy. It's low effort, come as you are, with or without a book,鈥� Exp贸sito explained as she hand-wrote signage for the reading party less than an hour before it began.
She said people can grab one of the many handwritten prompts as they come in and then write down what book they're reading. The prompts vary from 鈥淚s your book acting as a window or a mirror tonight?鈥� to 鈥淲hat moment so far feels like it was written for this exact version of you?鈥� and 鈥淲hat kind of reader are you tonight? Relaxed, stressed, or distracted?鈥� She said handwritten notes like these is something AI can鈥檛 do鈥� yet.
Before the reading party began, Ana Karla Tamayo sat patiently, reading as she waited for her cousin.
鈥溾�奍 think it's very easy to pick up your phone for entertainment, but we forget that books are entertainment as well,鈥� Tamayo said. 鈥淲e can decide what genre we want or what topic we want to learn more about or where we want to escape to.鈥�
Tamayo said she is a therapist and that group events like this are similar to 鈥渂ody doubling.鈥� Body doubling is a productivity strategy used by people with ADHD or ADD to finish possibly annoying tasks by simply having another person beside them. The body double doesn鈥檛 have to be helping with the activity like cleaning or doing homework, but their mere presence helps the individual remain focused.
鈥溾�奍t's like, 鈥榦h, okay, gotta lock in and do this,鈥欌�� Tamayo said.
On this Wednesday night in January, she was locking in specifically on her book of choice, You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. She said it鈥檚 interesting not only for her, but also for her clients to learn more about how people can change and help themselves.
Around 8 p.m. Exp贸sito turned to the colony of eager readers and set the expectations for the next hour.
鈥淲hat we do is we read in companionable silence for 30 to 45 minutes as a way to reclaim our time in an age where we are so addicted to this screen," she said as she pointed at her phone.
Before pointing out where the wine and snacks are and directions to the bathroom, Exp贸sito was not remiss in mentioning, 鈥溾�妛hat you guys are doing is sexy, it's subversive, it's political. So thank you again for coming.鈥�
She also reminded people to get tickets for the free raffle. The winner would get a gift card to the store.
You could stand up and move around, but Exp贸sito encouraged and reminded people that the goal was to focus and create a reading environment. About 10 minutes into the party, pure silence blanketed the room. The settling of chairs subsided, people shifted into comfortable postures, some laid out on the carpet. Every now and then people would stand, or onlookers would walk in and out, but for 40 minutes there was a reading party raging and things were getting literary.
Laura Diaz and Gaylene Diaz, who are not related, were among those with their noses buried in a book. Gaylene was the winner of the $20 gift card raffle and said she would buy the book she had started reading there that night, Hamnet. Laura had raised her hand to share her prompt answer, but didn鈥檛 get picked on. She told SA国际传谋 what it was.
鈥溾�奍f your dating style or experience were a genre, which would it be?鈥� she said. 鈥溾�奍 feel like the obvious on the nose would be romance. But dating in Miami, it's more like existential horror, right?鈥�
Her friend since high school chimed in.
鈥淧sychological thriller,鈥� Gaylene Diaz said.
Laura Diaz said she was reading The Count of Monte Cristo for the second time. They both shared what they gained from their first time at the reading party.
鈥溾�奍 got a lot of reading done,鈥� Laura Diaz said. 鈥淚t was nice to, like, sit with a bunch of people reading as well. 鈥楥ause sometimes you come to Books & Books, and other people are doing other stuff, so they're just hanging out, but it was like, it's like, nice silence.鈥�
Gaylene said she had a similar gratifying experience, one very close to what Exp贸sito said was the goal.
鈥溾�奍t was grounding,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel like it's so corny to say it in this day and age where you're like, everyone's so glued to their phones and doom scrolling is a thing, but it's, it's nice to take the time and dedicate, like everybody dedicated, to the same thing, being present.鈥�
The takeaways
After around 40 minutes, the timer went off. Exp贸sito thanked the group and encouraged people to share their responses to the prompts they had collected earlier.
One person was reading Next to Heaven by James Frey, another was reading Always Been You by Lily Miller, while another was reading The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science by Dava Sobel.
Many lingered after and chatted about their books. The crowd slowly dispersed. Laura Diaz and Gaylene Diaz told SA国际传谋 that aside from free yoga and movies when possible, the reading party is something they plan on attending again to help achieve their goal of disconnecting and feeling more connected.
Exp贸sito said she wants every reading part to achieve one goal.
鈥溾�奍 really want people to leave here knowing what a human experience is,鈥� she said before the party began. 鈥淭hat's imperfect, and that is sometimes incomplete, and that's sometimes with scratches and stuff, but also I think it provides a little bit more intimacy, right?鈥�
That night, Exp贸sito was reading Screen People: How We Entertained Ourselves Into a State of Emergency by Megan Garber. She said reading and interacting with people in real life is a kind of beauty and experience you just can鈥檛 get from a screen or imitate with AI.
鈥淏ecause it is imperfect,鈥� she said.
You can sign up to attend the next Books & Books Silent Reading Party on Wednesday, Feb. 18 .
