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elle

Silent book club 📚. I love this so much

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

@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... :)

@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

@ElleGray

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

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

@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,.

@slim @ElleGray It is a library that doesn’t have books. And frankly, let it be. We need more libraries of all kinds.

In a similar vein, coffee shops that are also book stores exist, and they are glorious.

@ElleGray this is the positivity I need right now

@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.

@kevingranade @ElleGray Our local #RepairCafé 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...

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

@ElleGray ok, this is the kind of book club I’d be happy to join!

@ElleGray

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

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

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

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

@ElleGray I’ve always considered myself an extrovert but as I’ve gotten older have become more introverted. This sounds awesome. I would love to go to a “silent” 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.

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

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

@ElleGray I’ve accidentally started a soup kitchen for feral cats.

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

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

@ElleGray this is just the dose of wholesome I so desperately needed in this moment ❤️

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

@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.

@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.

@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 café/bakery every Sunday 😀

@ElleGray I love this ! Introvert books club, great unintentional idea 💡

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

@ElleGray
Rule 1: You don't talk about silent book club.