Watcha Reading?

I have a confession? I used to hate to read. I know that hate is a strong word. But honestly, it may not be strong enough regarding this topic. I’m sure I read some children’s book when I was a child. I do remember having the typical ones. Dr Suess (I loved the Cat in the Hat and Oh, The Places You’ll Go), and for some reason I loved a book called Go Dog Go. But that was pretty much it. 

Looking back, there were a couple of reason that I can think of that led to my hatred of reading. One is I wasn’t a good reader. I remember, I think I was in first or maybe second grade, and I would get pulled out of regular class occasionally to go and sit with another teacher and about 4 other students for “Special Reading.” I’m not sure if that was the proper educational term for it. But that’s what we called it. We would just sit and read out loud. I had a tendence to add words that weren’t actually on the page. I’m not sure what that condition is called but it sure was frustrating. It also caused me to be an extremely slow reader. The second reason for my dislike of reading is I simply wanted to be outside. I really didn’t can’t if the weather was nice or not. I wanted to be playing baseball in the summer, basketball in the fall and football in the winter. 

The first book I ever remember reading from cover to cover was in 7th grade. Our entire class read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I remember wanting to read it because that was the same year that the movie came out (yes, I am that old!), and if we read the entire book, we would get to go to the movie as a class. That was my only incentive for reading.

As I got older, my feelings toward reading didn’t change. I read only things that I had to read. And even then, I usually didn’t finish the book.

Then, something changed. Around the late 90’s, I began to have a desire to read. I remember not knowing what to read. But the want to was beginning to appear. Now, I love to read! I wouldn’t say that I am an avid reader. I don’t particularly care to read things outside of my area of interests. But I am seldom without a book in my hand or backpack.

In fact, since about 2000, I have kept a log of the books I have read on my nightstand. Once I finish the book, I write it in the log as well as the date that I completed the book. (I’m a little OCD!) My goal is to read 1 book per month. Most years I accede that number. A couple of years I, actually read 20 books. Most of the books I read are on the topic of leadership, church leadership, or biographies. I’m not much of a fiction fan, although I do enjoy historical fiction.

Anyways, here is the list of books that I read this year (in order):

·       Just Jones by Any Andrews

·       Who is the Holy Spirit by Malcolm Yarnell

·       Funny How Life Works by Michael Jr

·       The Freedom of a Christian by Martin Luther

·       Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

·       Historical Theology by Jason Duesing

·       Memories of Louie by Coach Woody Hunt

·       Didn’t See It Coming by Carey Neiuwhof

·       You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins

·       Read to Lead by Jeff Brown & Jesse Wisnewski

·       Win the Day by Mark Batterson

·       Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur

·       The Masters Men by William Barclay

So, there you have it. Thirteen books. Not as many as I had hoped. But each book taught me something. They may not all have been life changing. But each one gave me something new to reflect upon. I don’t know if you like to read or not. But one thing I have learned over the years is this: if you are a leader, you need to be a reader. 

So, what will you read in 2022? I’ve already got my stack started!