On the Buffalo Reading Invasion!

You are probably wondering what a Reading Invasion even is, right? WELL LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU! Reading Invasions are basically a flashmob of readers. Every summer here in Buffalo since 2012 local readers invade a park for an hour and we READ. It is really that simple, but it is a whole lot of fun! Last night was the first of the 2019 season! An hour of blissful reading with a crazy number of other book nerds!

I think my first Reading Invasion was in June of 2013 (at least according to the bookmark pictured above). I remember it vividly (besides the date). It took place at Bidwell Park, where the first Invasion of the year is always at. I remember looking around about a half hour in and seeing all these people absorbed in their books! It was a wonderful feeling! These were my kind of people.

I also noticed at my first invasion that passerbys giving us curious looks. Never before had they seen such a sight! What were we doing? Why were we all just sitting there? WERE WE ALL JUST READING? WHAT WAS GOING ON? It was lovely to see that confusion and find out later on that most of those people actually showed up and read themselves at the next Invasion! Spreading the love of books for the WIN! Last night I looked up again and saw no passerbys giving us looks because it has become such a Buffalo Summer thing that it is widely known, accepted, and cherished! How lucky are we to live in such a place?! I like that I see familiar faces from Invasions past and that every year it gets bigger and bigger!

One of my favorite aspect of the Buffalo Reading Invasion (other than the reading itself) is that besides the first one of the season, they are held in a different park every month! If I’m not mistaken the invasion very rarely goes to the same park twice and I can see why! Buffalo has something like 180 parks or something crazy number like that! Going to an Invasion brings you to a park of the City you may not have discovered before! I love that the first Invasion of the year is always at Bidwell though. There is a independent bookshop practically in Bidwell Park and every year when the Invasion is there I go in, look around, and always buy a new book. One year it was a Doctor Who book, last year it was the 3^rd book in the Three Dark Crowns series! This year I bought A Curse So Dark and Lonely and ran into a coworker!

Here is a panoramic view of the Invasion last night! Look at all those readers!

The Buffalo Reading Invasions remains one of my all time favorite things to go to in the summer! 

If you'd like to learn more or find out when and where the next Invasion will be check out the website here or like the official Facebook page here! 

I hope to see you and your book next month!

~Laura!