BEST BOOKS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR READING RESOLUTIONS.

It was Seneca,the great Roman philosopher that sagely said, “So long as you live, keep  

learning how to live.”No wonder, I must admit right at the onset, that this art of life is enshrined in good books. Dear reader, it is just good to develop a close camaraderie with the written word. You may not enjoy books that much, but you must strive to love and cherish them to a great extent. For  Judah ibn-Tibbon advised, “Make thy  books thy companions. Let thy cases  and shelves be thy pleasure grounds  and gardens.” 

Living right means that you take  care of each day, week, month, and  year. That is why when the year is  still young and virgin, purpose-driven  people envision the kind of books they  want to buy, and savor.  

As aptly put by Dr. Steve Covey,  in The Seven Habits of Highly  Effective People, such men and  women simply have an-end-in-mind.  Therefore, a wise woman or man,  who yearns to grow and glow, sets  resolutions on how to gather winsome  wisdom in the course of the year. Integral intellectual growth does not  happen just through luck or serendipity.  It behooves us to be deliberate and  intentional in acquisition of knowledge  which translates to wisdom after  painstaking application. In the whole  scheme of things, motivation keeps us  growing, but discipline keeps us going.  

At this juncture, I reminisce on my  reading habit. More so, how I went  about it in 2020, which I also intend  to have a repeat in 2021. Permit me to  submit to you that those who long to  scale prodigious reading heights, must  approach it as a routine, ritual or habit.  

A habit is a mental shortcut learnt  from experience. It is a repeated  pattern of behavior. Good habits like riveting reading rituals make people  evince excellence in several spheres.  No wonder, in the distant past,  Aristotle advised, “We become what  we repeatedly do, excellence is not an  act, but a habit.” 

In 2020, my target was to devour  100 titles. Fortunately, as we were  bidding that ill-fated year adieu, I was  on the book number 108. I escorted the  2020 sun to sunset with a well-worded  biography titled The Fifth Columnist:  A Legendary Journalist, a carefully 

crafted chronicle of the journey of a  journalist called Philip Ochieng’,Liz Gitonga Wanjohi describes as a  veteran journalist who straddled East Africa’s media landscape like a  colossus.  

Reading the life history of this  fallen penman inspired me to do more,  dream more, learn more, and become  more —in the world of words. More so,  in my path of mastery of the queen’s  mother tongue — English.  

I strongly believe that if you want  to read and accrue precious perks,  then this thing should never be taken  as fun per se. The reader must have  a plausible plan and a stupendous  strategy. Everything must be well 

thought-out.  

In my case, in 2020, I set a target to  read at least two books per week. I read  a lot of self-help books for the sake of  personal discovery and development. 

My fellow bibliophiles, there are books  you read, and you feel they are talking  to you directly – warning, admonishing,  edifying, educating or encouraging you  – to become a better version of yourself.  

The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma,  is one of those beautiful books that  boiled my brain in 2020. This book has  a powerful tagline that reads – Own  Your Morning, Elevate Your Life. 

Coming back to you, my nearest  dearest, reading such a well-worded  book in 2021 will help you overcome  the battle of the bed. You will remain in the ritual of waking up before the regal  rays of the sun sees the Earth.  After reading it, you will never  compete with the dead in sleeping.  But you will find wisdom in the age old adage: Early to bed, early to rise,  makes a man healthy, wealthy and  wise.  

Voracious readers who want to  reap a bountiful harvest from the  garden of books, should look for (auto) biographies of puissant personalities.  For through life stories of heroes and  heroines, we learn how to live with purpose.For instance, in 2020, as a writer cum-orator, I found a lot of sense and  meaning when I read the memoir of  Benjamin Franklin – the man of means  who once said, “Either write something  worth reading, or do something worth  writing.”  

Also, I strongly advise readers that  in your giant list of books to be read  and digested, try to sneak in poetry  books. It is said that prose is the best  word, but poetry is the best word in  the best order.  

That means that the pulchritude of  language and preponderant nature of  words are neatly tucked in the bowels  of poetry.  

Those who read a lot of poems find  pretty ways to express themselves in  a manner worth listening to. Aptly put,  their words are musical and magical.  

On this, I recommend poetry of  contemporary Kenyan poets like Dichol,  Mufasa, Adrian Onyando, Kananuh  Jerushah, Ayieko Jakoyo, Oyoo Mboya,  Jackson Makula and Wafula P’Khisa. I  have also fallen in love with the beautiful  poetry of Obert Dube – the African poet.  

Victor Ochieng’ 

Director, God’s Pen Consultancy 

The writer is an orator, editor and author.  

www.godspenconsultancy.co.ke.