A couple of friends have arranged an Invisibles meet-up in London on Sunday October 27th. Full details are on the facebook event. It takes place from 3pm-5pm at Common House, Bethnal Green, E2 9QG. This will be a great opportunity to Find (some more of) The Others. I’m excited about meeting anyone who is interested enough to attend an Invisibles gathering. It’s that sort of book.
Discussions of the book also continue on the Invisibles Re-Reading Forum. Things are starting gently (we’re at 17 users so far) but that’s OK. This is a seven-year project, with each issue being discussed 25 years after it first came out – issue 2 will be discussed from Monday. Over time, the content and the membership will grow.
The discussions so far have pointed me towards new connections in a book I thought I knew pretty well. For re-readers, the meaning of the first issue also changed massively over the years, linking to people’s memories and life-stories. We also have some first timers, who are using the project as an opportunity to read a series which can seem a little imposing to newcomers.
A seven year project is a weird thing. I’ve just made a few notes that won’t be added to the site until late 2023. Maybe this is over-ambitious, but I also like the idea of a reading group that makes very few demands on its members There are just 24 pages a month, so it’s easy to keep up with the schedule. You could forget about it for a few months, and catch-up in a couple of hours.
One thing a couple of people have questioned is using a separate forum. For some people, the hassle of setting up yet another login for a site might prove too much. But I think it’s good to have places outside of the big social media stores, and to have an element of privacy and control. It allows people to be more open, and to feel more secure than they might do on the public internets.
But we’ll see. This is an experiment; and it’s a long, slow experiment.
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