I Am Reading….

…Sara Maitland’s The Book of Silence – an autobiographical essay on her search for, and meditations on, silence. I can agree with much of what she writes – of how silence should be regarded a presence, not an absence, for instance; and her joy at living alone and reasonably secure is well expressed, and makes me want to experience it.
I can’t agree with her on everything. She writes about her discipline of keeping her house silent – no TV, no radio, no sound on her computer, having days each week when everything is switched off and she speaks to no one – and I although I can well imagine never speaking, I cannot imagine living without music. The other day, I got an email telling me I’ve won an iPod in a draw; I’m impatient for it to arrive, so that I can load it up with all the tracks i have on my ‘puter so that i can listen to them anywhere in the house. Right now, I’m rocking along with Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen blasting This Land Is Your Land through my headphones. Music makes me happy – I will not do without it.

But the book is dammed good – go read it.