Los Alamos library hosts outdoor Silent Book Club at Ashley Pond Park

Ashley Pond Park is set to host one of Los Alamos Public Library’s lowest-pressure social events: a free Silent Book Club gathering on Wednesday, June 17, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the Central Avenue side of the park. The format is built for people who want company without the usual obligations of a book club. Bring a book, a journal or another quiet activity, spread out on a picnic blanket, and settle in for an hour of reading or crafting before an informal conversation about books and stories.

The event is open to adults and teens, and younger independent readers can join if they are comfortable with the format. Brown-bag dinner and snacks are welcome, making it easy to stop by after work or between summer errands. Library staff will have reading suggestions and extra books on hand for anyone who comes empty-handed or decides to stay longer than planned. Ten book-themed tote bags will be raffled off, giving both regular attendees and first-timers a small incentive to show up.

The program has local roots, not just a borrowed name. It was started by Aimée Doiron, the library specialist for adult programs, and it became an official chapter of Silent Book Club, a worldwide network that says it has 2,000 chapters in more than 60 countries and traces its beginnings to 2012. Senior Librarian Eva Jacobson said the idea grew out of a formative experience in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she watched people reading side by side in a park and wanted to recreate that feeling at Ashley Pond.

Los Alamos Public Library has found that Silent Book Club works as a regular program because it offers community connection without requiring a assigned title. The library has described it as “Happy Hour for Introverts,” a tag that fits the simple structure: come as you are, read quietly, and talk only if you want to. The library’s adult-programs page says the club normally meets every first and third Wednesday of the month, and the event calendar says the third-Wednesday session is usually held in Mesa Public Library’s upper-level rotunda.

The Ashley Pond gathering is a special summer variation on that routine, and it fits a park already used for major public programming, including the summer concert series. County officials said in May that temporary jersey barriers were being reinstalled along the south side of Ashley Pond Park to protect spectators at concerts, underscoring how heavily the site is used for civic events. If weather gets in the way, the Silent Book Club can move inside Mesa Public Library, keeping the low-key format intact while giving residents another easy way to use a public space built for gathering.