The Monthly Salon: January
A conversation, some videos and other bits and bobs
Hello everyone. I am continuing to convalesce in the Irish January rain - or rather, by the fire inside, while the rain barrels against the windows. I am feeling more human than when I last wrote, so I’m optimistic that I am heading towards feeling fully human again one of these days, though I’m not rushing anything.
I’d like to thank everyone who became a paid subscriber to the Abbey after my last post. As I explained there, I’ve decided to offer all my writing here for free, and to ask any readers who can afford it (and think it’s worth reading) to take out a paid sub to support those who can’t afford to pay, and allow me to keep at it. Over ninety of you did so. Thanks to each and every one of you.
Speaking of subscribers, the Abbey now has over 80,000 of them and rising, so let’s consider this month’s salon a celebration of our growing numbers. Most of those are unpaid, of course, or I’d be the Peter Thiel of Substack, which would be bad news for everyone. Thiel, by the way, is a man I regard with more and more alarm every day. If and when my brain is working properly again I would like to dive into his past and present, and write about what his version of heretical techno-‘Christianity’ represents. Let’s see.
One more quick note about subscriptions. Some readers have asked if there is a way to make an occasional donation to support my work without having to subscribe to a newsletter or buy a book. There wasn’t, but now there is: I have just set up one of those ‘buy me a coffee’ pages for anyone who thinks I need more caffeine rather than less. You can find it here.
Fun book things
Against The Machine is getting around: it’s in its fourth printing in the US, and has sold almost 40,000 copies there, while in the UK it’s also been reprinted several times, and I believe is hovering around 10,000 sold. It has just appeared in Australia, and will be popping up in some other languages soon: more news on that when I have it.
In worldly terms, this makes ATM probably the most successful book I’ve ever published (though not my favourite one; see if you can guess what that is.) One interesting result is that readers are sending me little stories about its more unexpected appearances.
The video at the top of this post, for example, shows the English folk group The Hedge Band interrupting their Christmas carolling to read from the book. Whether this got them any seasonal donations I can’t say, but it made me smile. The best English folk songs - as with folk songs everywhere - have always been anti-Machine. You can probably think of your own examples: feel free to recommend them below.
Another great story involves a family Christmas. American readers Ransom, Gabriel and Craig Silliman - a father and sons - each thought that the others might enjoy the book for Christmas. So they all gave each other copies without knowing. Here they are on Christmas morning after unwrapping their presents, in a photo sent to me by Ransom. They all seem quite happy about it:
In other news …
My Wendell Berry Lecture, delivered this year at Port Royal Baptist Church, can now be viewed on YouTube. It’s introduced by Mary Berry, Wendell’s daughter, who is also Director of the Berry Center. This was the last event on my 2025 US book tour, and you can already hear the beginnings of the chest infection that was coming for me. But it was the highlight of my tour, and also perhaps one of my most useful talks in terms of thinking about how to live in the age of the Machine.
Other talks from that tour are up on YouTube now as well.
Finally: all being well (ie, me being well), I will be teaching again this year on the St Basil Writers Workshop, an online academy for creative writers. I’m one of a collection of teachers which includes Jonathan Pageau, Nicholas Kotar, Katharine Bolger Hyde, Nicole Roccas and Samara Kawash, and together we’re trying to foster a new generation of Inklings for the 21st century. If you think that might include you, applications are now open for this year’s intake.
That’s all I have to say for now - but how about you? the Monthly Salon is supposed to be the chance for readers to set the agenda, begin conversations and raise things they want to talk about, but I’ve been dominating the conversation. So I’ll shut up and leave you to it.
Please talk about anything you like, dear reader. The floor is yours!
Ha ! Good to see your monthly salon, Paul, and I am glad to hear that you are feeling better. I was starting to get antsy wondering about when the salon would be in my inbox, as it is one of my rare chances to "speak" English these days.
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In two weeks, my husband and I will drive 10 hours or so to see our 37 year old son and his wife and children, and in our prayer group tonight, I asked everybody to pray to give me the words to tell this little family that I believe that they need to consider seriously cutting back, if not eliminating, the use of screens, smartphones, with their little ones, of whom the oldest is 6 going on 7. My children spend way too much time on these devices, and their little ones already hold out their hands to get them on the telephones. Since we teach more by example than any other way, too much phone use is deadly, in my opinion.
This is going to be very unpopular, and will make me even more unpopular, probably, but I feel that this must be said. This technology is destroying our families, and our minds, too. I know that we are all supposed to smile, and not say anything judgmental to anybody these days, particularly to our adult children when they are still speaking to us, but that is not good Biblical conduct, and the Bible is an excellent source of wisdom, whatever one believes.
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Something that I am happy about and would like to share : I have found someone to give the beautiful clothes that I inherited from my mother, and a few of her friends : someone who can wear them, knows what they are worth, appreciates them, and knows how to take care of them. They are in excellent condition, and we have plans to make a photo album of her modeling these dresses for me to keep as a souvenir. I am trying to find a home for many things inherited from my parents that my children are not interested in, and it is a very rewarding challenge. I believe in respecting beautiful things whenever possible.
There is something else that I discovered recently and would like to share, but it doesn't come to mind immediately. Maybe later ?
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One last thing. This morning, after Mass, I got into a discussion with an older woman who is lovely and she taught me that "Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité" was a slogan (or even worse, a jingle), and I taught her that Hannah, the mother of Samuel in the Old Testament was a housewife. The Bible does not present her as a prophetess, but as a housewife, and what is even more subversive is that the Bible puts into the mouth of a housewife one of the most succinct definitions of the Jewish God that is in it, in Hannah's prayer. (Go look it up, people.) Can you imagine ?? A housewife IDENTIFIES the Jewish God in the Old Testament. (Don't take my word for it ; look it up.) Not many people know anything about Hannah, because the Hollywood scenario of the Bible invariably starts at Samuel's calling, which is perfect for a blockbuster, but is not biblical. Hannah's prayer comes BEFORE Samuel's calling. Because Samuel wouldn't have been there if Hannah hadn't been there FIRST. (Yes, I have a fixation on Hannah, because I do not bear her name, but the name of a judge and military leader, and not a housewife. Too bad.)
That's all for now.
Keep resting, Paul.
Spotted in the wild over Christmas: ATM in the Barnes & Noble, , Wilkes-Barre PA. 3 copies, facing out, which is a huge vote of confidence from the book buyer. Huzzah!