joelwitwer — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 14:56:02 +0000

I love reading and I love books. As a kid, I’d read everything I could get my hands on, even cereal boxes in between books. So much so that I knew all the ingredients, nutrition facts, and that the cereal photos on the front were not actual sized. At one point, my Mom threatened to stop buying me books because I burned through them in less time than it took her to buy and wrap them. Thankfully the threat was empty and she just bought me thicker books.

The lack of books I want to read has been one of my bigger struggles since moving here to Zambia. I brought a bunch of books with me when I came, but those were all finished within my first three months. I bought a few books here and while good, they’re ones I bought mainly because I wanted to read rather than I wanted to read them. I’ve also tried the whole ebook thing and it just didn’t vibe with me. I got the content which was great, but I missed out on the experience of reading. There was no book feel. No dog earring pages with passages that I need to come back to and dwell on a little longer. No underlining ideas that resonate with me. No wearing down of the covers as I read, re-read, and struggled through the ideas within. I can’t seem to get as much out of a book while reading it on an electronic device.
But that probably speaks more to my shortcomings than those of the medium.

All this to say, I have a friend from the States visiting tomorrow and she’s bringing me a few books that I’ve been craving!
The books en route are:

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
New Monasticism by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert

Prepare for an onslaught of quotes in the coming weeks.

list – The Way I See It