Over the last couple of weeks, I took in Ann Petrys The Street. I got it from my local public library, its binding and pages softened by dozens of earlier readers. Its a good, thick book, and Petry pulled me into the streets of Harlem a generation before I was born and far from where I have ever lived. Recently, my book club met to discuss it, and when the discussion was over I moved 15 feet from my home office to my study to watch Super Bowl LVII.

Id connected with the Required Reading Revisited Book Club by Zoom as I have for most of the past three years. If it had gone back to in-person gatherings, as some book groups have, I wouldnt have been there. It is organized by Austin indie bookstore BookPeople, but I vacated Austin mid-pandemic for Cincinnati. Im not the only regular who couldnt make face-to-face meetings. Scott, another member whos attended for about as long as I have, recently relocated to Carbondale, Illinois.

I started with the group in person three years ago in one of BookPeoples upper-floor meeting rooms. A dozen of us discussed Carson McCullers The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, a book I read while scanning the maelstrom of news reports about a novel coronavirus the experts were taking seriously. In March 2020, we gathered for the last time in person to discuss The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I havent seen any of the group members since, except through my computer monitor.

In those early pandemic days, much of the world moved from IRL to virtual: schools, work and even shopping, thanks to delivery services that would take my Costco order and leave my groceries on my front stoop. I was in two book groups one through BookPeople and another I found on Meetup that fought to stay in person but didnt last.

Much of the country has reengaged in a post-pandemic world. Office occupancy reached 50% for the first time since March 2020. Its relatively rare to see masking in the grocery store or the library. I dont know the last time I saw someone step from the sidewalk to the gutter to give another person a healthy berth.

Even so, there are still pockets of people who are keeping it virtual. Half of the BookPeople book clubs are still virtual as are, interestingly, half of the AA meetings on a Tuesday in Manhattan .