Buffalo Reading Invasion Finishes Up For Season

Readers gather around Symphony Circle for the final installment of this years Buffalo Reading Invasion. 

   
        The Buffalo Reading Invasion ended its fourth summer today at Symphony Circle, a completely new location for the grassroots event.
       Founded in July 2012, by Geoff Schutte, the monthly invasion invites readers of all ages to gather in parks and other public spaces to sit and read together. It's a weird concept. "Let's all gather together but not socialize." However as much of a skeptic as I was I have to admit this worked for me, very well in fact.
      For months I've been struggling with Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves" and honestly I was about to give up until this event. I guess forcing myself to sit there with a hundred or so other people engrossed in their books wasn't as much of a distraction as I thought it would be for extremely social me. It really helped me bring my focus into the book I've been struggling with.

Anti-social socializing. 

      The crowd was mostly older, though there was a scattering of parents reading to children and thirty something couples making me feel vaguely jealous, and very dedicated despite several distractions. A few passersby had honest, curious questions about what was going on, but we did have to deal with a few people screaming out of cars or the guy screaming from his bicycle dressed as Freddy Krueger.
      All in all it wasn't any more distracting than being at home surrounded by my biggest weakness, Facebook. It was also empowering to have the courage to read in public, something I absolutely hate. Allentown is full of weirdos day and night, especially the park areas surrounding Symphony Circle.
      All good things must come to an end and as the crickets sang in the grasses in Charlotte's Web, "Summer is over and gone, over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying." We'll have to catch up with the invasion in 2016.