It's Wednesday, which means the Silent Reading Party is tonight.

The *special guest* tonight is the writer and teacher Kary Wayson. She won't be doing anything different than you: sitting there and reading quietly while Paul Matthew Moore plays profoundly beautiful piano music.

Just for fun, and because it's gorgeous, the cover of Kary's most recent book is below.

Crosscut attended the reading party in April, and Brangien Davis wrote: "It really does create the sort of community we’re all craving right about now."

A month later, the New York Times attended the party, and an editor at the Book Review wrote:

My silent reading party begins the same way every week, promptly at 6 p.m., with the now very familiar initiation of a Zoom call. A piano player’s hands appear in close-up among the gallery of boxes on my screen. His set list, a mix of Eric Satie and Radiohead instrumentals, will be the only sound. Like the windows of a New York City apartment building at night, other boxes soon come to life. People are in their homes, on their couches or in bed, all with a book...

One week, I counted five cats, nine dogs and 22 glasses of wine. Inside one unforgettable box was a woman lying on her red leather couch, her book resting on her chest and her eyes closed — she’d fallen asleep. This lasts two hours. It’s mesmerizing, found performance art.

The party is all-ages and family friendly and surprisingly fun, given that almost nothing happens. Or at least, whatever happens is between you and the book you're reading.

Bonus: no masks needed!

OK, as promised, here's the cover of Kary's latest:

Tickets for tonight's party are available on a sliding scale, and you can get a ticket here.