Most book clubs involve awkward small talk over lukewarm coffee and heated debates about symbolism that nobody really understands. Camila Rodríguez Caram and Eliana De Santis Rodríguez decided this wasn’t working. Their monthly gatherings start with silence, add carefully chosen music, then let conversations flow naturally among individuals who range from seven to seventy years old. The formula sounds simple enough, but something unexpected happens when literature meets curated soundscapes in a room full of individuals who’ve never met.
From Seven to Seventy: The Growth of a Literary Movement
When Camila Rodríguez Caram and Eliana De Santis Rodríguez first gathered seven participants in Montevideo to sit quietly with books while music played in the background, they probably didn’t expect their literary experiment to multiply by ten within a relatively short span of time. The event evolution from intimate gathering to seventy-person phenomenon illustrates how hunger for genuine connection transcends typical entertainment options. These literary dynamics now extend beyond Uruguay’s borders, reaching Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile, while approximately four hundred individuals have participated in the monthly ritual that somehow makes reading feel less solitary, more communal.
Three Phases of Connection: Reading, Conversation, and Music
How exactly does one convert the solitary act of reading into a structured social experience without destroying the very intimacy that makes books compelling in the first place? The organizers settled on a three-phase approach that somehow works despite sounding awkward on paper. The first forty to fifty minutes involve silent reading, where the reading ambiance gradually shifts from nervous energy to genuine focus as participants forget they’re performing literacy in public. Musical integration provides a soundtrack that ranges from soft melodies to surprisingly lively rhythms, followed by conversations that change strangers into temporary book clubs.
Building Community Through Shared Stories and Silent Moments
What emerges from these monthly gatherings isn’t the polite literary discussion one might expect from book clubs, but rather something closer to accidental intimacy between strangers who happen to share physical space while absorbed in completely different fictional worlds. The shared experiences of synchronized silence, punctuated by live music, create unexpected storytelling connections that transcend individual narratives. A twenty-something reading romance novels finds herself chatting with a seventy-year-old philosophy enthusiast, their conversation flowing naturally despite vastly different literary tastes, proving that community forms not through identical interests but through parallel moments of vulnerability and concentration.
Making Literature Accessible Beyond Academic Walls
While university literature courses often convert reading into an exercise of decoding symbols and analyzing themes until the joy gets suffocated under layers of academic interpretation, the Reading Experience deliberately strips away this institutional baggage, creating a space where someone can crack open a romance novel without feeling intellectually inferior to the person beside them wrestling with Borges.
| Traditional Academic Setting | Reading Experience Approach | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Mandatory assigned texts | Personal book recommendations | Individual choice freedom |
| Analysis-focused discussions | Casual conversation sharing | Relaxed social exchange |
| Graded performance pressure | No judgment reading practices | Stress-free environment |
| Classroom formality | Café atmosphere | Comfortable accessibility |
| Expert-led interpretation | Peer-to-peer understanding | Democratic participation |
The Vision Behind the Movement: Founders’ Journey and Philosophy
This democratic approach to literature didn’t emerge from some corporate brainstorming session or academic committee, but rather from the personal experiences of two women who found themselves frustrated with how reading had become either a solitary retreat or an overly intellectualized exercise. Camila Rodríguez Caram, with her background in communication and creative writing, paired with filmmaker Eliana De Santis Rodríguez, who sees reading as personal refuge, discovered their shared reading philosophy through direct book recommendations and intimate reflections. The founders’ inspiration centers on altering reading from an isolated academic pursuit into a communal experience that celebrates human connection.
