Pittsburg, PA
Silent Book Club gains traction in the Pittsburgh region
The rules of Silent Book Club are simple: No assigned reading, no homework and no small talk required. Members are expected to show up at a designated meeting place with whatever title they’re enjoying, sit and read. They can share thoughts if they want, but they don’t have to.
The concept has revitalized the idea of joining a book club.
It’s paradise for introverted readers and book vigilantes who don’t like the rules of traditional book clubs.
Teresa Torlone, 33, of Charleroi falls in the latter group. She discovered Silent Book Club, a global organization, while scrolling through TikTok late one night. She immediately sent the video to her best friend, Amanda Palombo.
“I called Amanda and asked if she wanted to do it with me,” Torlone said. “Within half an hour, we had an Instagram account made, emailed the founders, and we were off to the races.”
The best friends officially began the chapter in Lawrenceville in May 2023 and hosted their first meeting in June. Their group meets on the second Tuesday of each month.
Not only does the group feed the pair’s love of reading, but it serves as a
perfect solution to their semi-long distance friendship. Palombo and Torlone met while working together. Once they both ended up changing jobs, they tried to see each other as much as possible, but Torlone lives in Charleroi and Palombo in Butler.
“Pittsburgh is halfway between us,” Palombo, 32, said. “We’ll drive to each other for a good thing, but meeting in the middle is perfect for us. There’re so many good spots where (the group) could meet in the city.”
Silent Book Club began in the United Kingdom and spread to 59 other countries with 500 chapters worldwide. There are four in the Pittsburgh area — Lawrenceville, Robinson, South Hills and Ben Avon.
Palombo and Torlone began recruiting members through social media. When starting the club, they found that Pittsburgh’s original chapter had disbanded during covid, and began following previous members on Instagram. They were getting between 20 and 30 readers each meeting until a video of the club went viral on TikTok.
“We had a lot of growth come from that video,” Palombo said. “We went from meetups with 20 or so people to 60 people regularly showing up.”
With the level of growth the group experienced, Torlone and Palombo had to find a new meeting place that could fit everyone. They started meeting in Friendship Park in Bloomfield during the summer, but that location didn’t last once the weather turned.
“Finding a space that didn’t charge for us to be there was a huge challenge,” Palombo said.
Aslin Beer Company in the Strip District ended up donating their upstairs section to the chapter and has become their regular meeting place, making it easier for new members to find the reading community.
“We were super fortunate that (the club) blew up,” Torlone said. “It became a little community that we both love and exist in together.”
Carolyn Ingham, 23, of Lawrenceville, and Alyssa Meisl, 24, of West Mifflin, attended their first meeting together in February. Like most other members, Meisl discovered the club online and immediately sent it to Ingham, her friend from nursing school.
“I just like that you get to come and read your book and actually read while you’re here because that’s what I like to do,” Meisl said.
Ingham said that she always liked the idea of joining a book club. She said that during her day-to-day life if she sees someone reading a book that she likes, she’ll strike up a conversation about it.
“Like if I see someone reading Sara J. Mass, I’ll stop and say ‘Oh my gosh, that book is so good,’” Ingham said. “I just like talking about it with people and it’s a good way to get to know people and get friendly. When I looked it up, it seemed like a safe, welcoming, friendly environment.”
Anya Taffe, 26, of the North Shore and Jessica Frichtel, 29, of Irwin, had a similar experience finding the club. Taffe began attending Silent Book Club in the summer of 2023. Frichtel joined her a few months later after Taffe quit their Pittsburgh Sports League bowling team.
“I like that it’s a mix of talking for a half hour and then reading for an hour, and it’s not all the same book,” Taffe said. “I wasn’t really interested in a book club where there’s homework. This is a great mix of extrovertism and introvertism.”
Frichtel said that she’s been in book clubs with assigned reading before and wasn’t a fan. She said that if there was a book that she wasn’t crazy about, or that she didn’t have time to get through, she would have to skip that month and wait until the next book was announced.
“When (Taffe) mentioned this and said that we could read anything, I thought it was great,” Frichtel said.
Frichtel works at the Pittsburgh International Airport, and each meeting night she drives directly to Aslin Beer Company from work. She said that the club reminds her to set aside some time to relax and read a little bit more.
Cat Briggs, 34, of Bloomfield, said that her algorithm changed when she moved to Pittsburgh a year ago. In an attempt to make friends and get to know the city, she began researching different clubs around town when the Silent Book Club popped up on her feed. She was excited to build a community with other readers. Her fourth meeting was in February.
“It’s been a little slow going because you see people once a month but then you skip a couple of months, but for me, it’s knowing that this (group) exists, which is really great,” Briggs said.
Jed Sorokin-Altmann, 41, of Highland Park, attended his second Silent Book Club meeting in February after moving to Pittsburgh in July. He said that he works remotely with others who don’t live in Pennsylvania. Sorokin-Altmann saw the club as a way to find a community and make friends with the common interest of reading.
“I heard about this through an Instagram Reel,” Sorokin-Altmann said. “It was one of those ‘Things to do in Pittsburgh’ that popped up. Through that, I found some of my other book clubs.”
He is a member of three book clubs, two of which assign him books to read each month. He said that the different formats of clubs help him maintain variety in his reading.
Stevie Hosler, 40, of Bethel Park, serves as the leader of the South Hills chapter of Silent Book Club.
She started out as a member of the Lawrenceville chapter and found that Tuesday meetings didn’t work for her schedule. After talking with Palombo and Torlone, she emailed the founders and got the go-ahead to start her own chapter.
“It was appealing because I haven’t really joined a book club because I don’t like having to read a book that’s assigned to me,” Hosler said. “I’m very much a mood-based reader. I read based on how I’m feeling, and don’t like having a time frame for when I finish a book.”
She took a page from Palombo’s book and decided to begin recruiting members via social media, and held her first meeting in November. She said that around 20 people usually come to each meeting. Hosler said that the biggest struggle thus far has been finding a space big enough to house everyone interested in attending. At one point, interest was so high that Hosler had to close registration because there were more people interested than what she had space for.
“We were meeting at the Panera Bread in South Park, but now we’re meeting at the Panera in the Galleria Mall because their space is a bit bigger,” Hosler said.
She said that making friends as an adult with a child, husband and career can be extremely difficult.
“It’s been great,” Hosler said. “I have personal friends that I was already friends with that attend my club, and I’ve also started making friends. Now I feel like I have a community of people who are alike in interests. People that I can share things with. It’s been really enriching.”
Heather Weleski, 37, of Avalon, is another chapter leader who had the club come to her. Being an original member of the Pittsburgh chapter that disbanded during covid, she was able to start her chapter in 2022.
“I attended a few meetings and then bam, a global pandemic shut us down,” Weleski said. “After things started opening up again, I contacted the previous organizers who let me know that they were no longer in the area. I contacted Silent Book Club and let them know that we wanted to reestablish one in Pittsburgh and that I would be organizing it.”
Now, Weleski’s chapter meets at Anchor and Anvil in Ben Avon on the first Sunday of each month. They usually chat for a little at the beginning, grab a drink and then start reading. Like other chapters, everyone reads their own thing, and then toward the end of the meeting, they gather back up to talk again.
“I wanted to bring the group back because I love the concept,” Weleski said. “I struggle meeting new people as someone who doesn’t love the bar scene or clubs, so it is great to get to meet people in a no-pressure social setting.”
She said that her experience as a chapter leader has been great. As the Avalon Library director, Weleski is no stranger to taking charge and organizing.
“This has been such a positive experience,” she said. “I’ve truly made an amazing group of friends by leading this chapter. We are actually planning a book reading retreat in April with each other.”
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.
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Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review, Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed on Monday.
Sources say the allegation isn’t criminal in nature. The internal review stems from allegations against the chief involving his management of the fire bureau, sources say.
Assistant Chief Matt Davis will now step up as acting chief.
There is no timeline yet for how long Jones will be out on paid leave, but Pittsburgh’s Office of Municipal Investigations will conduct the internal review.
Like the offseasons that have preceded it, 2027 will be about the quarterback. Do the Pittsburgh Steelers bank on Will Howard or Drew Allar as the future? Is the answer in the 2027 draft? Is there another door to open? Until there’s a long-term solution, it will always dominate the conversation.
Putting aside the obvious, the other top storyline centers on the men asked to protect the quarterback. Pittsburgh’s 2027 offseason will be defined by paying its offensive line, a good but expensive problem to have.
Even knowing Broderick Jones isn’t likely to receive a new deal, Omar Khan will have discussions with virtually everyone else. The 2023 draft class all could be in line for summer extensions: OT Troy Fautanu, C Zach Frazier and OG Mason McCormick. None will hit free agency until 2028, and Fautanu has the fifth-year option, but all three will be first-time eligible for a deal, and deserving of one. The longer teams wait, the more they pay.
McCormick might be the cheapest, but even that is a relative term. The guard market’s heated up the past two offseason cycles. His going rate could be $20 million per season.
Robert Hunt signed a five-year, $100 million deal with the Carolina Panthers in 2024. This past offseason, Will Fries inked a five-year, $87.72 million, that’s $17.5 mil per year, with the Minnesota Vikings.
Given the salary cap’s projected increase, McCormick could be looking at a similar figure. Perhaps a slightly shorter deal, a four-year extension with his final rookie year rolled into the agreement, but a big money pact all the same.
Although McCormick hasn’t received the fanfare of Frazier or Fautanu, he broke out in 2025. His run and pass blocking improved. He was durable and didn’t miss a single snap.
Frazier’s market has spiked. Thank Tyler Linderbaum for that. He didn’t just reset but shattered the center market this offseason, leaving the Baltimore Ravens for the Las Vegas Raiders on a three-year, $81 million deal. His $27 million APY blows away second place Creed Humphrey and his $18 million mark. Now, every center next to get paid will want to get near that figure.
Unless Frazier truly has an All-Pro seasons, he probably won’t surpass him. Something in the 20-million range, say $22 million per year, is realistic. Frazier’s been steady and solid in the middle, and Pittsburgh won’t want to start its pivot search again.
Then there’s Fautanu. Flipping and likely staying at left tackle, he’s playing a premium position. Even if the thinking is antiquated, blindside protectors still get paid more than their right side counterparts. The Colts’ Bernard Raimann signed a four-year, $100 million contract in July, 2025. In January, Charles Cross went for an average of $26.1 million.
Fautanu will be looking for the same if not more. He’ll definitely want more than whatever Frazier commands at center. Fautanu could push for upwards of $30 million per year if his season is good enough.
There is a caveat. Fautanu’s fifth-year option is due next May, and it’s likely to get be exercised. If so, he’ll be the first by a homegrown Steeler since T.J. Watt. But that also could extend out the timeline of an extension by one season. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Watt had to wait one year from their option due dates to receive their extension. If Fautanu follows the same, his contract won’t come until 2028.
It would be rare for Pittsburgh to get a deal done with Fautanu two years out, but the longer the team waits, the more he’ll cost. And if he has a great year, Pittsburgh, under Omar Khan and Mike McCarthy, who have never been in charge of a fifth year option situation in Pittsburgh before, might think about things differently. Age is a factor, too. Fautanu was an older prospect coming out of school. If Pittsburgh waits until 2028, Fautanu will be 27-going-on-28. Hardly old but the sooner he plays out an extension, the better the odds are for the Steelers to get good return on the deal.
Either way, there will be at least some level of financial component to Fautanu next offseason. Either just his fifth-year option, an amount likely worth over $20 million, and the chance of a long-term pact.
Naturally, this all presumes McCormick, Frazier, and Fautanu stay healthy and play well this season. Health is unpredictable, but it’s reasonable to think all three will continue thriving on the field. Pittsburgh’s invested so much in its offensive line and deserves credit for it. Soon will come the time to keep the group together. The “retain” part of draft, develop, retain.
Fautanu and McCormick are shifting back to their college homes. Frazier has been nothing but excellent out of the gate. Pittsburgh won’t want to break the band up.
In average value, the deals could look like this:
Mason McCormick: $20 million per season
Zach Frazier: $22-23 million per season
Troy Fautanu: $28 million per season (potentially $30 million-plus if his timeline waits another season).
Big, big money.
They aren’t the only ones to think about. Dylan Cook might be one of the most interesting debates next year. He’s slated to become a restricted free agent that can pay him the first substantial money of his NFL career.
A refresher: teams can place a tender on a RFA: first, second, or original round. The other 31 teams can still submit a contract offer. If Pittsburgh declines to match, they lose the player but gain the pick corresponding to the tender.
Here’s 2027’s tender projections:
First Round: $8.735 million
Second Round: $6.261 million
Original Round: $3.822 million
Because Cook went undrafted, the original round tender would only give Pittsburgh the right of first refusal and the opportunity to match the contract. If not, they won’t receive a draft pick back.
That puts the team in an interesting position. Apply the original round tender and the team could save money. But it also opens themselves to teams submitting an offer for a still-young tackle without getting any compensation in return.
Applying the second round tender makes more sense. But it will cost more. Likely behind Max Iheanachor and Fautanu, he’ll be an expensive backup.
What’s the right answer? Hard to say. But paying for good offensive linemen is worth it, and the money “saved” by declining Broderick Jones’ fifth-year option can be applied to Cook.
There’s other names to consider. Spencer Anderson is in the final year of his rookie deal. Gennings Dunker appears to be the long-term hope, but what if Anderson wins the starting right guard job and holds onto it? It won’t be so easy to just let him walk. Brock Hoffman signed a one-year deal and will be a free agent next year. Will Pittsburgh re-sign him for depth? They could.
Then, there’s Jones. His future with the team looks bleak, but is there a scenario in which he returns? As Dave Bryan outlined on the podcast, Jones’ contract, in theory, could toll and roll over into 2027 if, and it’s a big if, he spends the entire 2026 season on Reserve/PUP due to his neck injury.
If not and he becomes a free agent, would Pittsburgh sign him back as a swing tackle? Probably not, but if Jones walks, and Cook gets poached on the tender, the team’s depth will have taken a big hit.
Pittsburgh’s 2027 offseason could be similar to 2014. That June, Maurkice Pouncey signed a five-year extension to become the NFL’s highest-paid center. Two months later, Marcus Gilbert signed his own five-year deal. It was part of an effort to keep the group intact.
This time around, Pittsburgh could pay three players and for substantially more money. Combined, Pouncey and Gilbert’s contracts amounted to about $74 million. Any one of Frazier’s, McCormick’s, or Fautanu’s deals could surpass that.
These aren’t complaints. Having talented draft picks to pay is welcome news for a team who has missed far too often. Only one selection of the 2020 class, EDGE Alex Highsmith, saw a multi-year second contract.
Ditto with the 2021 group – TE Pat Freiermuth. The 2022 class had none. Opening up the wallet for these names is what a team wants. But it’s a storyline and projection that hasn’t been discussed much, and one worth getting in front of.
It’s also relevant for national talking heads like Colin Cowherd who criticize the team for spending so much on defense. Those scales will tip back if these deals get done.
McCormick. Fautanu. Frazier. Cook. Anderson. Jones. Hoffman. All offensive line decisions to work through.
Answers will come in time. There’s an entire season to play, and what we expect now versus next year’s reality are often different things. But the last time we did this, we noted George Pickens’ future would come into focus in the 2025 offseason. It did by Pittsburgh trading him to Dallas.
General managers have to be forward-thinking, especially with these large contracts that will impact the cap. Having a quarterback on a cheap contract will help, and Pittsburgh should have the money to sign whoever they want.
Next offseason will be a busy one. Quarterback will grab the national headlines, but the offensive line will be where the money, and important decisions, will be made.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates made a recent move to their rotation, which has resulted in a surprising move from one player.
The Pirates announced that they placed right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski on the restricted list and recalled right-handed pitcher Cam Sanders from Triple-A Indianapolis ahead of their series finale vs. the Minnesota Twins at PNC Park on May 31.
A player going on the restricted list means that they either left the team without a valid reason, or could be announcing retirement, but may consider returning in the near future to play later on.
It is a shocking decision, as there was no indication something like this was happening and makes a big change to the Pirates pitching staff moving forward.
Why Pirates May Have Placed Mlodzinski on Restricted List
This case with Mlodzinski is likely the former, although not confirmed, as he was in the clubhouse ahead of the game, so something may have happened closer to first pitch.
Pirates manager Don Kelly announced postgame in the 10-9 win on May 30 that Mlodzinski would follow right-handed starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft in the series finale.
Mlodzinski was a part of the Pirates starting rotation for the first two months of the season, but Jared Jones recently came off the injured list and took his role in the rotation, with the Pirates sending Mlodzinski back to the bullpen.
He said following the decision that he would talk with his agency and those close to him, so he may have decided to depart the team after this.
“Obviously just excited to have Jared back with us,” Mlodzinski said. “I can honestly say I’m just still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner, whether that’s my family or my agency, about what is next. I really don’t have any comments after that.”
How This Changes Pirates Pitching Staff
Mlodzinski has been an effective relief pitcher with the Pirates, with a 2.63 ERA over 140.1 innings pitched and 94 appearances.
The Pirates had plans for Mlodzinski as a bulk reliever, but someone that can also fill any role, including in high-leverage situations and as a middle reliever, something the team has seriously needed.
His departure hurts a Pirates bullpen that has really looked for consistent arms that can get outs, preserve leads and give the team a chance to make a comeback late.
Sanders has struggled in his time in MLB with the Pirates, with a 9.26 ERA over 11 appearances, a .300 batting average allowed and a 2.20 WHIP.
The Pirates can make a few decisions on Mlodzinski, who could technically still comeback, but it looks like they will trade him at this point.
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