Hounded.

I'm being hounded by a very persistent lady who wants me firstly to tell her if the books she has are collectable, and then make her an offer! Not very realistic of her really. The books she has are collections of pipe music, Bothy Ballads and collected Shetland Music. Also Scottish sheet music. Luckily she is on the end of the telephone. Oh lordy, she just rang back... She's bringing them in on Saturday, although I warned her the going prices on-line are not high - a lot of the stuff is on CD Rom now and I imagine many folk prefer it that way. Not sure if she took it in......

She was followed closely by a retired Church Minister who wants to sell HIS collection of, would one believe, Bible commentaries etc. He made his selling position clear by telling me that he fed peanuts to the birds in the garden. Huh! No Christian charity there then. I'm sallying forth to look at his lot next Tuesday, by which time I hope the asthma has abated. I know they will sell on Amazon, so don't feel disposed to say no.

Which brings me neatly to my topic for the day, Karen Armstrong's book: 'A History of God.' Too soon to tell what I am going to think of it, but a few thoughts have already accrued. One is that she writes very well, knows her subject inside out by the feel of it, and has researched all she says from the point of view of the true seeker. That is to say, she has investigated to find out if what she investigates can leads her to God. A nun once, she left orders and discarded religion, but evidently the whole phenomenon of religion still fascinates her, as indeed it does me. As an epileptic she knows that visions are possibly a malfunction of the brain and I imagine she will deal with that when I get to the chapter on Mystics.

Coupled with the sale, yesterday, of two of the distasteful 'Left Behind' series (which I didn't bin after all so they went to a young woman who goes to 'Bible class' and thinks these horrifyingly fear-mongering books are just the ticket for 'saving' her dad) I feel an urge growing to write a novel based on this search for God. I like very much Arnstrong's last paragraph of all: "Human beings cannot endure emptiness and desolation; they will fill that vacuum by creating a new focus of meaning . The idols of fundamentalism are not good substitutes for God; if we are to create a vibrant new faith for the twenty-first century we should, perhaps, ponder the history of God for some lessons and warnings."

I haven't yet found any mention of how she deals herself with this 'emptiness and desolation.' I know how I have dealt with it though so that's a start.