BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - What if someone told you that you could join a club where the only rule is not to talk?

That idea caught the attention of Baton Rouge bookstore owner James Highfield the moment he heard it.

“Me and my wife got a call and we’re like, ‘never heard of it… this sounds kind of weird, but let’s try it out,’” Highfield said.

That “weird” idea is a silent book club. It’s part of a global movement where millions of readers gather simply to read together, without discussion or pressure to participate socially. But what makes the Baton Rouge chapter stand out is where the group meets.

“What we wanted to do was normalize the idea that you can go into a social space and read. It’s OK,” said Lance Paddock, owner of Pelican to Mars, a bar on Government Street that hosts the

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