(This is probably my g33k me trying to twist my rubber arm into getting a Kindle…)

I think I’m adding to my New Year’s Resolutions post. I want to read more books. I’d also like to get to my RSS Feeds more than once every 2 months, but that’s another story.

As a kid, probably all the way through school actually, I loved reading. I loved the library; perusing through the racks trying to find something interesting to read. I’d spend hours there, paging through Tintin or Asterix books and always left with a good 5-10 to read at home. My favourite was probably the Dr Doolittle series. It’s stuck with me to this day – and no, not the trollop that was Eddy Murphy’s stab at it – that was bad!

And then somewhere in my ‘grown up’ years, I lost that. Well, I lost the want to read novels. I think I never really stopped reading, but the going has definitely been slow and haphazard at best, with the highlight of fiction for the last 10 years probably being Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (although they’re arguably a highlight no matter what company they keep).

What I do find is that I end up starting a book, getting a chapter or 2 in, then starting another one, juggling those for a week or two before starting a third and sometimes a fourth and then slowly working my way through them, losing a few along the way – and probably never really finishing any…

At the moment, I think I’m in the process of reading 4 books, actually probably three, because I just finished Jason Fried’s Rework a few weeks ago. As far as current books go, I’m a few pages into Freakonomics, about two fifths into the Smashing Book,, have tentatively started “Loving our Kids on Purpose” by Danny Silk whilst bouncing around one or two others. EDIT: I just remembered (a day later) I’m also busy on Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside which I’m thoroughly enjoying.

I have found that I’ve been drawn to non fiction – reading things that make me think, or be better at my job and passions. The reason for this, I think, is that somewhere along the line, I switched into ‘never relax’ mode, and fiction started feeling like a waste of time – that if I was going to read something, I may as well be reading something that has tangible results. That said, I really have enjoyed expanding my mind and don’t regret it, I just think it needs to be accented with a big bowl of guilt-free non-fiction every now and then.

Another reason for my hesitancy in reading fiction is that it just sticks with me for. so. long. I find I get so into what I’m reading that by the time I finish I feel drained, all but consumed, and left wanting- longing- needing- more. The characters and story sticks with me for days, sometimes weeks after and it’s just all so ~enveloping~. In all honsty, I’d much rather watch a movie and two hours later walk out and be done with it, maybe pondering on it for a day or two if it’s a good one, but I do appreciate not having a literary gollum on my back every time.

But for all my rationalising and (bad) excuses, I’ve realised that I need me some fiction. I need to delve into some heady, adrenaline chasing, dont-put-down-till-3am best seller or maybe a good old worn and beaten classic. I need to feel. To be drawn in swirled around and spat out with a serious jonesing for more. I think I need to fall in love with a book again. I must give credit here to Danielle – she has that. She just eats books up. And I think she’s *finally* rubbing off on me.

Thankfully, I have a book in mind. Not one to start in the shallow end, I’m jumping right into George Orwel’s 1984 – that is as soon as my boet remembers to bring it over. Although.. now that I think of it.. we do have Life of Pi upstairs… hmmm (edit: nope.. my bro’s wife is reading that one…)

Aiding  in my need to read and resplendent in all their mind stimulating, non-fictional glory is the three-book package that arrived via Fed-Ex from Kalahari.net today (much thanks to my Christmas voucher from my boss). I’ve had a wishlist on loot for a while now with a few books and whatnot I’d like to buy when I get the spare cash, but I haven’t ever actually bought anything, so when my boss gave us a R400 gifty for k*click*net I jumped at the chance to *finally* buy some books online. All three books are ones I really want for various reasons, and I can’t wait to consume them all slowly with much mastication.

First off (and bottom of the pile in my pic above) is The design of everyday things by Don Norman. It promises to be a great critique of all things design. To quote the back cover “Donald … hails excellence of design as the most important key to regaining the competitive edge in influencing consumer behavior” - I can’t wait to read it! I came across Don Norman whilst watching a great video presentation he did for Business of Software conference in 2009. He mentions the book in the clip and  after the video, I just had to give it a read (do yourselves a favour and watch the vid if you’re at all interested in design).

Second, and probably a book I’ve been wanting to read for absolute ages, is Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola – the only hard cover of the bunch. Although I’ve heard a lot about the book already, I’m really looking forward to it. It basically tackles the practices of our institutional churches and takes a serious look at where they originated – shockingly, many aren’t exactly from where we’d expect…

Finally, The Prescence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul. I wrote about Jacques on a previous blog, and I’ve been itching to read one of his books for almost 2 years now. Every little snippet I’ve read has been fantastic. It’s heady and the language is thick -plus it’s been translated from French, so it will probably be a book that I’ll be wading through a few times before it sinks in, but thankfully it’s a mere 132 pages thin and the subject matter is close to my heart – so it’ll definitely be worth it!

2 more books on my wishlist are Two views of Hell, recommended to me by my good friend Sean, and I will teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Please don’t puke – the title is a bit off putting, but I’ve read up about it a bit, and it seems to (finally) be some solid advice on the topic.

One of the best and more pressing reasons I want to read more,  is that I want to learn to be a better Dad. My mom has been great in getting a few good books on parenting, and I’ve started on one – - but I haven’t really knuckled down and started reading seriously. So, this is definitely something I want to put more effort into.

Ok, I’ve been babbling on and being fantastically vague about what exactly I want to achieve with this resolution/goal thing – so, here goes:

My goal for the year is to read at least 10 books. At least 3 must be fiction and 3 on parenting. The last 4 can be whatever I feel like, but I think I already have them covered. The books I’d like to read this year are:

1. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
2. Pagan Christianity by Barna/Viola
3. The Presence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul
4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
5. 1984 by George Orwell
6. Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk
7. Have a New Kid by Friday by Kevin Leman
8. Effective Parenting in a defective world by Chip Ingram
9. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
10. Open suggestions for a good novel (tell me tell me!).

So there’s my big 10. In case you want to read up on any of them, I created an amazon wishlist. I’ll see, maybe I get into the swing of things and manage more, but in all honesty, I still need to fit in the other goals I’ve made AND be a dad, a friend and a son… never mind hold down a job – so I think 10 for the year will be challenge enough.

EDIT: #11. needs to be Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside. Got it for R10 from Paper Weight.. I’ve started on it – about 20 pages in and  loving it so far!

Do you guys have any cool books you’re reading or have read – let me know and I’ll add them to the list – there’s always next year!

Chat again soon – this is two posts this week! I’m pretty chuffed with myself…