The clock strikes 3 p.m. one day a month and the people will stop what they are doing, open their laptops, join a Zoom meeting, and just read the book they have to hand together with the others.

Throughout the hour, no one says a thing.

This event is called Baca Bareng (reading together), a gathering organized by the Indonesian Silent Book Club community, a movement that originated in the United States. But unlike many other book clubs or gatherings, its participants get together to just read—no discussions whatsoever about the books they bring.

“I’ve enjoyed reading books ever since I was little,” graduate student Pradita “Dita” Artha told The Jakarta Post on Mar. 5. “But these last couple of years, my interest and desire to read hasn’t been as great as it used to be,” Dita added.

And so, stumbling upon this atypical book reading club on social media, she joined the February session on Zoom, intending to read just a couple of pages of Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen that she had put off for a while.

After an hour passed, she realized she had read over 70 pages.

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