Lately I have been trying a new kind of reading. I take three books and read them regularly at different times of each day, planting thought seeds for the coming hours and encouraging synaptic serendipity.
For the past week I have started my day with the exchange of letters between John Berger and John Christie published as Lapwing and Fox. In the afternoons I have been reading The Living Stones by Ithell Colquhoun and at night it’s Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich.
In my head today I have the image of deer appearing from the woods to listen to a flute playing; I imagine encounters with buccas in St Keverne; and I travel with Anna M. back to the site of her exile in Karaganda. The thoughts play off each other as I experiment with reading in this way.
It’s an interesting exercise; the interplay between the three books sparks many a creative thought and adds up to more than the sum of the pages turned.