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| Help me decide on what to read next. |
After a behind schedule
night sleep and an untimely wake I was able to conclude The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It is one of the books I have read
in the shortest time possible. If you have read this book you understand how
captivating it is that the limited 592 pages though there is only an ending
paragraph in the unnamed 593 page can accommodate such a short story left unfinished.
Langdon could have gone ahead to marry Sophia. The Priory of Scion should have
decided to change their mind and reveal the Truth to the World. +800 pages if
it fits and I would still read. Why keep it silent? It may be Dan Brown sitting
on Truth. Authors are nuts. Aren’t they? It is hard to end a great book like
this and pick up on another. There is a movie of the same to watch,
commentaries to read, search of the author’s profile, relative views online and
research on contentious issues exposed. Then the dilemma sets in…which book
next?
If you find yourself
with monologues like mine here, for I know you will find several, think about
them.
I should not look confused
at this age just because I have read a couple of books. There are people who
have read more than me by far. But so, should I lose motivation? Certainly not.
Reading is not an activity to set time for. The books you have read should not
make you feel superior. What about the unread? Reading should streamline in my
daily activities so that it never becomes an option which can be ignored at
times. It is also not a big deal for people to know that you are an insatiable
reader. I do have a book in the bus and in my going about an activity. I wait
for people by a flip over, overcome jam by an extra chapter, shifting from one
task to another by relaxing mind in the story and refreshing myself when an
activity hits boredom switch. Of course it is leisure’s big master.
There are extremes of
burning the midnight oil for the purpose of fetching a story in the papers
knowing that one is required to wake up early for an activity. Book addiction
is real! A friend told me that to him reading is a serious business. Once he
picks up a book, it is the only activity to do until done. Yes, it is better to
be drawn to a book in a bus than a phone. Doctors haven’t yet said that too
much reading is harmful. And it happened that I had exams in an hour but
instead I comfortably read. Wasn’t the hour the cramming time? When you read,
worries of the real world are replaced by the contentedness of imagination.
Test and see that books are the best form of telepathy around. Humans may take
long to invent another form.
A friend was amazed the
other time by the bulkiness of Dean Koontz novel, One Door Away From Heaven. ‘Have you read the Bible?’ This was more
of a dispiriting and aiming to inflict discontents query. I managed to raise a
small discussion about the authenticity of the Bible that she thought what
every Christian is – I am a partial unbeliever. Last year, 2014, I was able to
read from the beginning, Genesis 1:1 when the earth was formless and concluded
in Revelation 22: 21; The Grace of Christ be with us. Amen. If my diary serves
me right, I started in 28/12/2013 a day after my birthday and concluded in
02/06/2014. How I managed? I was motivated to.
I give an honest witness that if there is a
sentence I missed it may be due to the failure of the eyes. I was not lazy to
peruse quickly through the family hierarchies in Numbers or the hard sentences
in Job. I had been inspired by my family hierarchy on the wall. I was not reading for spiritual nourishment
anyway. I took the Bible as a novel and it served best. When I finished one
book-the Bible is a library-, I settled to some other external sources like
internet commentaries or other unrelated books. I was in school and
responsibilities kept me busy. Other works alike. Early mornings, late day and
weekends played a big part in taking all that long. The result? I knew stories
that I had least or wrongly heard. I will reread it sometime again for the
purpose of understanding. Not spiritual.
I would want to read
all the books in the world. I know I won’t but a big deal I’ll have read before
death day. It is motivation that takes one from one book to another. When Churchill
Ndambuki invited PLO Lumumba to his show and asked him about his reading
culture, the answer was pregnant; ‘I read widely and wildly.’ Who does not want
to be as Lumumba? This is the prophet of our time if he isn’t a saint. But we
identify saints as Church inhabitants but not what they say or do. I listen to
his speeches and words that flow out as honey in a log hive smoothening any
congenial heart. He is not a speaker of flattery. He praises no one for gain. I
have heard him challenge his audience in front of their seats. Moi University Vice-Chancellor,
Mr. Mibey can attest to this.
Sometime ago I took to
reading when I had free time from play. I remember sitting down on rusimbu and reading out loud a piece of
story to make mom ‘hear’ that I could read. I was in lower primary. ‘My son,
know how to read in silence,’ Mom advised in Lulogoli. The words had more touch
in the local language than I have translated. I slowly learnt to read in silence.
It was English in grade 3 that I scored 100% in an end term exam. My first and
last. Most people have English as their favorite subject as it was to me. The
teacher advised and I practiced though not largely; ‘To pass in English, You
should read many story books.’ I did not realize the value of reading by my
own.
Small books like Abunuwasi na Hadithi Nyingine and text book stories of Mr. and Mrs. Hamisi, Barmuriat, Eloi and the Giant and Mbogori
cooks lunch are some of the pieces that kept recurring in primary KIE
English books. I love it when a friend
reminds me that Hullo Children was
for grade 1, Read With Us 2, New Friends 3, New Adventure 4, Neighbours
5, Moving Ahead 6, One More Step 7 and Stepping Out 8. A perfect syllabus! By the time you stepped out,
there was no sh#t or swearing words learnt. There was no TV to interrupt
homework. Reading was only influenced by the amount of kerosene in the tin
lamp. Mom could send us to bed early to save on oil.
Books that seemed to be
dictionaries at the time resemble short stories now. I saw John Kiriamiti’s
book –My Life in Crime- on the streets
and held it to confirm my doubts. Milly’s
Story is as small as a pamphlet. Kill me quick, the then favourite book is
but a small paged save story. People do grow in thinking. A friend who despises
book at its site depending on the number of pages is losing big on red
interpersonal knowledge. Things Fall
Apart is an all time favourite that I pick up any time to read a paragraph
or so. I started to master the first chapter. I read it in Form Two first and grateful
to Mr. Charles Shikuku for encouraging us to read widely by the whip. I failed
him a good grade in English.
I read not to be an
author in future or because I have nothing to do. Ababu Namwamba will tell you
that he is always cruising through a book. I read for fun. In the fun is my
passion. The power of passion is imaginary. Different authors have different
critical messages to convey to the world. They hide them deep in the pages.
Before thoughts are refined on papers and edited to preference, much is put
into consideration. It is not like the all time idle talk that only repeats
what people already know. Only the fine thoughts are put in writing and reading
is connecting to diverse genius brains and sometimes understanding settings far
better than the obvious. Have you ever smiled all through some paragraphs? Or
sneezed a laugh?
Uniqueness of every
person in their way of understanding reading and writing balances the world’s
one major danger- all people thinking the same and acting likewise. We develop,
create, clothe, give names and require different characters to act in different
ways in our imaginations as we read. I would not mind if each person who ever
saw the bright Venus named after Roman goddess wrote a book. We are as
different as ice crystals under a microscope. It does not matter which topic
but a contribution of experience in life. Life is a drama and we all have
different parts to play. A book is a legacy. I wonder why Christ never wrote a
paper during His time when people knew how to write and read. Why did it have
to take some time much after to have the so called first hand writings to find
their way in the Bible? The ‘third grades’ were excluded.
The weakness I have
been fighting is to live in the book during the time of reading and short time
after. One can get sick after reading a book! I am an over thinker and my
thoughts often rotate in what I am presently reading read. For example, the
increased real sex in The Godfather
sent me to remember a girlfriend I had long parted with for the sake of peace
of body. Good she did not respond positively. Obama’s book, Dreams From My Father made me remember
much in my early life though I am barely two decades and four old. I wept with
him in the rains at K’ogello. The Great
Hope by Ellen G white made detest Catholics! Until I had cooled that I
found St. Thomas Aquinas books, On the
Truth of the Catholic Faith that I went back to the house of a wise reader-
Neutrality. I would neither want to disagree nor agree with an author. I would
only want to look at issues from their angle without being moved. A sigh.
I recall when I had
concluded the Godfather and
approached a friend in his office. It was a by-the-way talk including slum jest
-why it is hard for people to get out of there. The story revolved to include
crime. There, his art of storytelling glands were caressed. I nodded as he
talked of the Kenyan Mafia. I had introduced the story in the book. He
explained how ODM party nomination elections were botched in Homa Bay, how a
mine in wherever was captured and occupants killed, how the group restructured
after the death of the Dandora-made Mafia. Raila odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta,
sadly or fortunately know them. The malady is dripping in campus politics and
thick minded goons are aspiring for the profession. Should I call them by Zack Kinuthia's names? I am not happy just as I was before to increase doubt in
Jesus’ deity as after reading from Dan Brown. Another thought tells me that my
curiosity will widen my understanding and be satisfied. But the wider the
understanding the more the misunderstanding. It is better though than remaining
myopic to small knowing.
A two day break to
refresh from one book to another helps me do away with the extreme
indoctrination of my subconscious mind. Subliminal effect can make one by
mystical and align oneself to one way of thought. By reading a book full of
action stuff you may think that you know how to operate a gun and can fight
enemies easily. The fact that I do not want to look at issues from one author alone
makes me want to change author’s book after book. I keep a consideration that I
will again later read another book of the same author because of some
masterpiece exposed. It is during these break times that I settle to see if
there were any imminent small considerations like reading pamphlets and
restructuring my thoughts. Reading can be very influencing dear reader.
A reader who is negatively charged falls in love with any book that comes in view. This can be as a result of seeing a friend reading the book, hearing about the book, reading for the sake of or reading for circumstance like exams. Some nag people by booking books when there are so many books in the world. I understand there can be inadequacy in access but I dislike it when a person is attracted to a book just because so and so was immersed in it and seemed enjoying. Fake readers read because others are reading. These are friends who borrow books and return after months. One was jealous to take two books. Two months ago and he hasn't finished the first one. Only if he was a peer I'd have opened my mind to him.
The next book to read
matters because of a number of debts to pay….it should build up on the previous
book or rationalize an extreme thought. A break away from one flow of thought
is as dangerous as planning to wake up early by an alarm that instead of
sounding at AM in the cock-crow, it wrongly set to sound at PM, same time. You
can sleep the whole night and day in wait of the alarm. Though I advocate for
unconfined area of reading, I would reckon that one should read intensely in an
interested area. Say like religion, which I see fostering in. It least includes
areas of politics and logic though it may be widely linked to understanding
cosmology alike. One area of insight is risky to reason.
Randomly I select a
book from my small study table. I do not want to prefer others to some though
new books may be easily read than the long-time bought. I will not lose as much
to have a new book as to have new clothing. I am a witness to this ancient
quote. My interest field is religion. I think there are many lies being fed to
the congregation by people who interpret religion in their way. Each person
should lead oneself to own understanding of God. Nature of thought can be
deduced by the nearness or furthermost to a belief. This is what I try to
entangle in the knit sentences of books. Help me select my next book well.
The study table has a
number of books pending. My diary waits to know the next book I am reading. In
future, Ufahamu Participants will benefit from your contributions. Even though,
do not ask me to read soft copy books. I know the world is heading in that
direction and the next blog will tell why.
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