Words: Laura Morel
Despite my love of literature, I’ve never been to an actual book club. I’m a little precious about the genre and type of fiction I digest and was never sold on dissecting the scenes of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ in a women’s circle, nor debating whether Blake Lively gave an accurate portrayal of Lily Bloom in Colleen Hoover’s ‘It Ends With Us’ (both horrendous literary works in my humble opinion). So when I came across the Overbooked Society’s newest iteration of the book club model where you could come, drink coffee and socialise, then sit in silence with your own choice of novel – I was sold.
The Overbooked Society is the brainchild of Finleigh Donald, creating communities through a shared love of stories, with a focus on inclusivity, curiosity and connection. Come alone, come with your bookish friends or come with your significant other, the meeting welcomes all walks of life with a warm attitude and of course, a fresh brew. More intellectual than a run club, and a way less risky way to meet people than any dating app, you have the flexibility to bury yourself in a book or to break into an inviting new social scene.
The series is currently held at the Yard and broken down into social time (during which you can also choose to read) with a silent hour for getting lost in your pages. The gentle hum of easy listening music serves as a backdrop against the odd page turn or tapping of teaspoon to mug and only adds to the overall ambience of literary-lounge-energy. It felt like the new soft jazz, or alternatively the B-side to the monotonous office grind.
Some attendees were fulfilling New Year’s Resolutions to read more; some were new to the island and keen to make new connections and others just wanted to take part because it was a cool vibe. Myself? I just wanted the motivation and a dedicated environment to dive into my book without the distractions that come with sitting at home.
Conversations were not exclusive to what book you brought for the evening, although that was the obvious ice breaker, with many swapping recommendations, but others just there to get to know each other and connect in that old fashioned way before digital became part of our lives.
What struck me most over the evening was how effortlessly cool it felt to be doing something so wonderfully analog. No one was posturing. No one was pretending they’d read something they hadn’t (we’ve all been there, nodding along to a cultural reference we secretly Googled later). Instead, there was a quiet confidence in simply showing up with your dog-eared paperback, straight from the office looking slightly weary. The only distraction was the constant question circling in my head, does reading now make us cool, or are the cool people suddenly reading?!
Perhaps it’s the recent crave for nostalgia that exploded across our screens over Christmas and is now displaying itself in fashion trends across the globe. The rise in sales of the simple Nokia phones. The growth of people journalling in paperback diaries once more. There’s a collective desire for a slower, simpler existence that we’ve only just begun to realise we’re missing.
Tickets to the Society are hot property, selling out often within an hour of going on sale – demonstrating just how eager we all are for activities that unite us off devices. With this immediate popularity, Finleigh has plans to expand the Society hosting her first Reading Retreat called ‘Booked with Love’, a natural evolution to the book club for those that want to go deeper down the rabbit hole (yes, I’m an unapologetic Carroll fan).
Most of us are craving connection, but on our own terms. We want culture without pretension, socialising without the fatigue, and community without the chaos of forced networking. It turns out, all it took was a good book and a decent cup of coffee to remind us how. Who knew book clubs would be the ones to make being social feel cool again?
Overbooked Top Tips
•Earlybirds will snag the cushioned seats, making for a more comfortable reading session.
•Pre-order your grazing platter or make room for tea and cake. No ones like to read on an empty stomach.
•Turn off your phone. Better still, leave it at home.
