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elle

Silent book club ๐Ÿ“š. I love this so much

r/CasualConversation u/Accomplished_Arm3647 - 11h

I accidentally started a 'Silent Book Club' at my local coffee shop So, here's a funny little story about how | unintentionally created a new social group in my town.A few weeks ago, | was at my favorite coffee shop, deeply engrossed in a novel. An older gentleman approached me and asked what | was reading. We had a brief but lovely chat about books. The next week, | was there again with a different book. The same man showed up, this time with his own book. We nodded at each other, smiled, and went back to our reading. Week three: | arrive to find the man already there. He's brought a friend. They're both reading silently. | join them at their table, and we all read in comfortable silence for an hour.Fast forward to yesterday. | walk into the coffee shop, and there are TWELVE people scattered around, all silently reading books. The barista grins at me and says, "Your club is getting pretty popular!"Apparently, word had spread about the "Silent Book Club" that meets every Wednesday at 4 PM. People just show up, read whatever they want, and occasionally chat during coffee refill breaks.I've accidentally created the most introvert-friendly book club ever, and I'm happy about it.Has anyone else ever started something unintentionally that took on a life of its own?
76 comments
Lucilla Piccari

@ElleGray I wish there was something like this where I live! Love it!

Lisa

@PaulCzege Highly recommend ๐Ÿ“š ๐Ÿคซ

Lucilla Piccari

@PaulCzege @ElleGray thank you, this is very helpful! I found out that it's in a secondhand bookshop (very good) but unfortunately it's only for 1h as a special event and the last one was held in June :/
Maybe it'll pick up somewhere else... :)

Switch

@paulczege I'm quite uncomfortable with the idea that I could not name a local event Silent Book Club without this org's approval, because they registered the name. And they did it for what? Selling merch. Yikes. @LucillaPiccari @ElleGray

Mina

@ElleGray

This is so lovely, though I wouldn't be the right person for this club. I'm far too chatty.

Infoseepage #StopGazaGenocide

@ElleGray There's a long running one of these in Seattle. Food/drinks/relaxing music in a nice setting and you get to see what everyone else is reading these days.

hotelsorrento.com/happenings/s

Bernd

@ElleGray That's great.

Not really something that spread beyond our family, but related: When our kids were smaller, but already in school, when we went on holidays, most days we would find a nice cafe in the afternoon, have a chocolate or a latte, and read books; all five of us, for hours. In some cafes where we went more frequently we were already known and people were fascinated that even 7 and 9 year-olds were deeply engrossed in their books.

Besides all the things we got wrong with their education, this we got right, and we are so happy that they all still read lots of books, unlike most of their friends.

@ElleGray That's great.

Not really something that spread beyond our family, but related: When our kids were smaller, but already in school, when we went on holidays, most days we would find a nice cafe in the afternoon, have a chocolate or a latte, and read books; all five of us, for hours. In some cafes where we went more frequently we were already known and people were fascinated that even 7 and 9 year-olds were deeply engrossed in their books.

Plastic Model Robot

@ElleGray I've seen these in a few places, they're amazing! Pretty sure our local coffee shop hosts them as well.

๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐ŸฆฏThe Blind Fraggle

@ElleGray I love that!

It got me thinking about silent relationships with strangers. In my first college I had 1 class that was just down the hall from the class before it, so I would usually get there a few minutes early. There was always a girl there studying. I just assumed she was in the earlier class, and just stayed behind 'til the next class because it was quiet and convenient. When I came in the room I would say hi and sit down, and she would say hi and go back to reading,.

Kevin Granade

@ElleGray I forked an open source game project that was in the process of shutting down becaise the original author had no interest/time to work on it any more. Just something to fiddle with in my spare time.

Fast forward 10 years and there's a user base somewhere between 10 and 100 thousand, and ~100 people actively working on it.

Sometimes you do a thing and it's just a thing, and sometimes it sparks fire and turns into something completely different.

DamonHD

@kevingranade @ElleGray Our local #RepairCafรฉ started a bit like this. I had a thought, and everyone that I mentioned it to leapt at it! We've been going nearly 2 years...

bunnyhero+

@ElleGray i tried to start something like this with a group of friends once but a couple of them were WAY too chatty lol

Jen C, MPH :verified:

@ElleGray ok, this is the kind of book club Iโ€™d be happy to join!

thefathippy

@ElleGray

So wonderful that I seem to have something in my eye... ๐Ÿฅฒ

Buffy Leigh (she/they)

@paulczege Ah, so there is! Would be nice if there was a COVID cautious version.

Paul Czege

@buffyleigh
Local chapters probably have their own rules. Over the summer there were some in Denver that were outside.

Buffy Leigh (she/they)

@paulczege Oh nice! Will keep an eye on this one come summer then. Thanks for the link! ๐Ÿ™

Corn Sledgefield

@ElleGray Iโ€™ve always considered myself an extrovert but as Iโ€™ve gotten older have become more introverted. This sounds awesome. I would love to go to a โ€œsilentโ€ hiking or biking meetup. Kind of get a little human contact/socialization with no pressure or expectation of carrying on a conversation the whole time.

patcanfield

@ElleGray Beautiful!! Magnets are beautiful. Humans finding a magnet are beautiful! Wonderful accident!

coop925

@ElleGray this sounds lovely. I would like to "join" remotely, if that's ok?

Erin, a bendy geek in Toronto

@ElleGray โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ โค๏ธ

ataraxy

@ElleGray these guys perhaps don't sleep well they drink coffee after 4pm :scremcat:

SimonCHulse

@ElleGray I bet the coffee shop loves the repeat patronage too!

Shaula Walko

@ElleGray
I love this! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ“š

Dan

@ElleGray this is just the dose of wholesome I so desperately needed in this moment โค๏ธ

Adamas Nemesis

@ElleGray Why can't I ever unintentionally (or even intentionally!) start anything like this?

Octavia con Amore

@ElleGray @inthehands well yes, of course I've paid the ADHD tax on already bought groceries before :bear_shrug:

Pam (she/her)

@ElleGray Once I was taking an Amtrak trip from Denver, Colorado to Washington, DC. At every stop during the day that was long enough for an outside break, I would get off and do a little leg stretching, half squats, and lunge walking routine. By the end of the trip, sometimes there were as many as 10 of us doing it together.

floyd aka floyd_ch

@ElleGray this is really nice how all the people got that feeling of the world being a good place by reading this. It's just unfortunate that it also highlights either a unicorn rare event that usually won't manifest in your life (or was even simply made up, that little humble brag element is suspicious).

The truth is (and people who have clubs know this) that you really have to put a lot of effort into creating such a thing, which includes sitting there alone, maybe even a lot.

zerok

@ElleGray That sounds perfect! I just noticed that there is already such a club in Vienna that meets every Sunday. This might actually even be the perfect time for me since I already go to a cafรฉ/bakery every Sunday ๐Ÿ˜€

Bernd Herd

@ElleGray This reminds me to a scene in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" from Milan Kundera.

lertsenem

@ElleGray Books, helping introverts avoid conversations since 1454.โ„ข๏ธ

Muddy Matt

@ElleGray this *kind of* happened to me.

Young days of the web, pub drinks and 'Matt, make a website about mountain bikes'. No ambition at all but people kept getting in touch. 20 years later and all my riding group met online via the website.

For years my wife called them my virtual friends...

CannaParts/PitWD

@ElleGray

Too much #ADHD to participate - but I love the story extraordinary...๐Ÿ˜ ๐Ÿ‘Œ

Kแ‘แ‘Œแ‘แ•ฎ

@ElleGray @czottmann You should consider editing the post, and tagging it with something like... ๐Ÿค—
#PositiveNews #UpliftingNews #Inspiring #Books

ร‰tienne Parmentier

@ElleGray ahaha half of them are autistic I believe, we need more groups like this !

rfg

@ElleGray Clearly it was the old man who started the club, intentionally.

Alexandro Lacadena ๐Ÿ“ท

@ElleGray that's awesome!!! Do you have by any chance the link?

Johannes Spielmann

@ElleGray The first rule of silent book club is: please do not talk during silent book club!

Tally P.

I met a co-worker at my serving job. She was working as cashier for the to-go orders and the like, and had a book with her. I know we're supposed to have a no cellphone use policy on shift, but it does get bloody boring at the front once you run out of things to clean and organize... so I had a book two weeks ago. Nobody gave her a stink for having it and we got to talking about books before it got busy.

She was so happy to be talking to someone who read, and she's got a library in her house like I do. I have a feeling when we meet we'll be passing book suggestions to each other every week (hee hee). Now I gotta narrow my book list of what to bring with me today, because I'm working register for 7 hours. I need to finish "Dune Messiah" already, but I need to do some research, too, so I'm figuring out which nonfiction I should put in my bag in case I wrap up DM with time to spare (usually I save fiction reading for the evening to wind down, but I've been so bloody tired after shift I just check the news and go right to sleep, dang it).

I met a co-worker at my serving job. She was working as cashier for the to-go orders and the like, and had a book with her. I know we're supposed to have a no cellphone use policy on shift, but it does get bloody boring at the front once you run out of things to clean and organize... so I had a book two weeks ago. Nobody gave her a stink for having it and we got to talking about books before it got busy.

Bill the Lizard

@ElleGray The first rule of Silent Book Club is...

Radio Azureus

@ElleGray
That alt text is amazingly detailed
Thanks for the effort

Sector9

@ElleGray
This is wonderful. I hope it becomes more contagious than covid. More people reading is a good thing.
#SilentBookClub

zendao42

@ElleGray
We used to get high as a group & sit around reading, antisocial socializing

Dr. G. Power

@ElleGray great story, it made me smile, and I want to join the club.

David Lohr

@ElleGray
When I was in high school I unknowingly did a thing that landed me in a mental hospital. Five months later on my college campus throngs were doing the same thing I did that took 3 months away from my senior year and summer. Streaking of all things.
#1973 college craze

VeruskaSchafer

@ElleGray Thank you. You brought back fond memories of when I used to find time to read books that brought lightness and enchantment to my soul. It has never been so necessary to reacquire this habit.

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