It would be so easy to write a lovely post about the community of the Silent Book Club in Stourbridge, but I’ll start with…
What is a Silent Book Club? Ok, it’s a place where a group of people meet in person every few weeks, socialise, and then sit silently (nearly) and read whatever book they are reading, for an hour. This can be a bar, cafe, library or even in a field. Are you wondering why do this, because I did at first, but once you do it, it makes total sense, you belong to a community of readers, and it feels good to share that space and time.
Our group is looked after by George, a lover of books and a very supportive shepherd to a flock of readers 🙂 She also holds a weekly online Silent Reading Group, which I am yet to attend but will do soon. She also promotes reading whenever she can by gifting books and leaving book gifts in public spaces.
They are a lovely bunch of supportive people who read books, talk about books, laugh about books… I mean, what more can you say… but I feel this deserves a story, for no reason whatsoever, bar the voices in my head telling me to do it, here is the tale of…
49.75 shades of Grey the Rainbow
I approached the bar, it was a dark winter night, and I was finding it hard to walk due to the fact that I’d left my feet in my car… After getting them, walking was much easier, I can tell you. I strode into the bar holding my books… and checking the room for goblins, fairies and dragons… no, I’m not making a fairy joke, this isn’t 1971…
There was a unicorn sitting alone in the corner wearing a trench coat, obviously trying not to be noticed, and a sock over its horn. This was the sign it was looking for a mate, but as it was reading the Daily Mail, so it was obviously meeting somebody of questionable class.
I sat with my first book, the A to Z of the Black Country and began to read. The plot wasn’t great, but the places were so believable, page 34 had a castle on it, and a zoo!. I could see others around the room reading, some chatting to others, friendly, innocent, and happy, as if reading wasn’t a dangerous sport. My index finger was still recovering from a paper cut I got while trying to read a book on ancient swords, a cutting dialogue which got straight to the point.
It was then a dragon walked in wearing a white blouse, black pencil skirt and 11″ heels, it was obviously a Drag-on (groan). She scanned the room and saw the Unicorn. Their eyes met, and she went to sit down at the same table and began to chat. The Unicorn slid a brown envelope across the table to the dragon. I couldn’t see the contents, but I expect it was tickets to a Michael Bublé concert, the usual payment for these kinds of transactions.
By this time, I’d given up on my A to Z, it was leading nowhere, and was reading a Dictionary which had being deleived from Amazon earlier that day. I tried to read the Oxford dictionary my mom left to me in her Will, he was glad to get rid of it, but it was too wordy for me. This was a cheap one from Amazon, and all the pages were blank! I don’t have the words to describe how much easier it was for me to read.
The unicorn was now at the bar ordering drinks. I looked at my watch; the reading hour was nearly up. I’d finished the dictionary and was now sketching the Dragon and Unicorn in compromising positions on the blank pages. My favourite one was the Unicorn being caught stealing the Dragon’s sandwiches from the communal fridge, followed by the Dragon being caught taking a stapler, without asking, from the Unicorn’s desk. You could tell there was heat between them; the Dragon had set aflame her cocktail.
Ahhh, and the hour is over, I’m going to have to leave, though part of me wants to stay and read my other book, Lady Chaterlys Barber, but I found it was the trimmed-down version, so I cut that idea short. I wonder what will happen between the unicorn and the dragon? I’d love to guess, but I don’t have much of an imagination, although she was carrying a copy of the Kama Sutra, so I expect they are going to a trendy Indian Restaurant….
Ok, I’ll stop there. I was going to steer this into a crime story involving members of the group, but maybe once I get to know people better 🙂
Fully recommended
If you can find one in your area, I’d say go, as long as you enjoy reading, of course. They are generally a Dragon and Unicorn free zone, but maybe you can bring those with you in book form. I’ve followed some recommendations from the group, and book swapping is a thing, which, of course, leads to more reading, which is always good.