Self-awareness

CALLING ALL READERS

Billy Osogo

In my post last week I quoted Mario Vargas Llosa and made a clarion call to all writers. This week, I am maintaining Llosa as my source of inspiration and calling on all readers.

In his amazing book Letters to a Young Novelist Llosa writes:

“Read constantly, because it is impossible to acquire a rich, full sense of language without reading plenty of good literature.”

A few years ago I made a decision to be an eclectic reader. I chose to read as widely as possible. This is both from a geographical and subject matter perspective. It still delightfully amazes me that there’s such beautiful literature out there.

Here are some of my favorite books (1 per continent)

Havoc of Choice (Wanjiru Koinange , Africa); The Zahir (Paulo Coelho, South America); My Life, My Love, My Legacy (North America, Coretta Scott King); 13 Steps to Bloody Goodluck (Ashwin Sanghi, Asia); The Prince (Nicolo Machiavelli, Europe).

Your turn.

What are you currently reading? Does your reading list have diversity on a geographical and subject matter perspective?

33 thoughts on “CALLING ALL READERS”

  1. Right now I’m reading ” Who will cry when you die ” By Robin Sharma.. It is really amazing book. You should really try it!

    Reply

    1. Hey Fidele😃

      I love Sharma’s work. :The Leader With No Title’ and ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ are top of that list!

      I shall definitely check this out!

      Thank you for making time 😊

      Reply

  2. Thanks for the interesting selections, AB. I have read ‘The Prince’ also, and it is indeed interesting, and very influential! So is the ‘Book of Five Rings’ by Myamoto Musashi. That one was actually being used in the 1980’s as a textbook in management schools, to better understand Japanese business ethic. It helps with your swordfighting as well. 🙂
    Reading is awesome.

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    1. Hey KJ😃

      I shall definitely look out for Musashi’s book. I am intrigued already!

      It’s always a pleasure to hear from you 😊

      Thank you for making time 😊

      Reply

  4. I too have quite eclectic tastes and am always have more books on the ‘to be read’ list than I can cope with. I’ve recently finished ‘Helgoland’ by Carlo Rovelli on quantum theory (serious brain melt) but am now loving the Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning. I’m still in book 1 but it will be a summer treat for me.

    Reply

    1. Hey Lisa😃

      Eclectic tastes is where it’s at!

      From quantum theory to War, it doesn’t get any more eclectic than that 😂

      Thank you for making time 😊

      Reply

  5. I am currently reading The Prince of Milk by exurb1a, but after that I want to read Galapagos by Vonnegut. After reading this post it made me curios to read more from Asia, Europe, and Africa.

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    2. Hey Dan!

      I am glad to that 😃

      There’s such beautiful art out there! Consume as much of it as possible!

      Thank you for making time 😊

      Reply

  6. I’m interested in checking out some of these books you mention. I recently DECIDED to read more… I have never been much of a reader. I’m a really slow reader, and it becomes frustrating for me that it takes me so long to get through a book — I know, I know, the more I read the faster I’ll get, and that’s what I’m hoping for. But still, I have a long line of books waiting for me to grab off the bookshelf after I impulsively bought them, hoping to get around to reading them. Another thing is that when I really enjoy a book, I can go through it much faster. So I wonder if I simply haven’t found what my prefered kind of book is. Well, it’s a work in progess. Wish me luck! Right now I’m reading Freud on Women: A Reader. It’s a compilation of some of his works, further explained and critically questioned by a researcher. Have a good week!

    Reply

    1. Hey Ash 😃

      You are well on course! Your awareness is the stuff real champions are made of! You’ve got this!

      Freud on Women sounds interesting!

      As always, it’s great to hear from 😊

      Thank you for making time 😊

      Reply

  7. I must admit that for the past number of years my reading has been limited largely to escapist fiction. Part of that stems from reading too much deep stuff during my doctoral program. I just couldn’t bring myself to read anything like that for myself. Now that my program is finished I need to get into reading more diversely. Perhaps this post will inspire me to do that.

    Reply

    1. Hey Michael!

      Congratulations on completing your doctoral program! I am curious. What was your thesis on?

      I am glad this post speaks to you 😊

      Reply

      1. I did a PhD in Philippine Studies. My Dissertation was entitled “Pagkalalaki at Maka-Diyos: A dialogic look at masculinity and religiosity among Filipino males.”

  8. I have decided to go back in time and have just finished reading Of Human Bondage written by William Somerset Maugham and parallel to that I listened to the audio book version of Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for life. The first I read in order to relax my mind from the current themes and troubles of our society and the second, to try and find hope.

    Reply

  9. A great list!
    The Zahir is in my to read soon pile!
    Haven’t read a Paulo Coehlo I didn’t love.
    I Loved ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ by
    Anthony Doerr

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  10. Im currently reading The Light of Asia: the poem that defined the Buddha by Jairam Ramesh and re visiting, A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf. The first from India , the second from, no guesses, England. Plenty of insights in both.

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  11. Hi. This week I am reading Richard Osman’s “The Thursday Murder Club” and I love it. It is written in present tense which is something we always warn our students against doing because it is hard to do well but, in this case, it was totally the right choice and adds an immediacy to it which makes it more exciting. Another technique he has used it to have different chapters featuring different characters’ points of view in limited 3rd person. I love this because in each case we learn something about each of the characters that none of the other characters know and so we understand their motivations even if the other characters don’t which makes you care about all of them. It is set in a retirement community and the idiosyncrasies of the characters who are plying their skills from the careers pre-retirement to give their lives textures beyond the normal pastimes of these loveable goldie oldies. This is a long reply but you did ask…

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  12. The saying, “So many books, so little time” is one I wholeheartedly agree with. It makes me sad to think of all the books I will never get a chance to read! But alas, that is the way of it.
    I love how you picked one book for each continent, Billy! I’ll have to add these to my never-ending list. 😂
    Happy Reading!

    Reply

  14. An inspiring post! I too love Mario Vargas Llosa’s literature. In the past, I did enjoy Paulo Coelho, but Wanjiru Koinange is certainly a new-to-me author and I’m adding her book The Havoc of Choice straight to my TBR, many thanks!

    Reply

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