“I can always tell when you’re reading somewhere in the house,” my mother used to say. “There’s a special silence, a reading silence.”
― The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading, Francis Spufford

How wonderful, if in homes and libraries across the world, 2024 became the year of increased “reading silence”. As Spufford says, it is indeed “special” when we know those around us are lost in a faraway world or making new friends as they turn the pages of a book. This is a different silence from the endless tense scrolling of images and reels. The “reading silence” requires, not just the eyes and brain, but a conscious immersion of the whole body. Continue reading →