My wife and two of our friends have managed to convince me to join them in a TV-free August.

There’s no anti-TV vent behind it – at least not for me. I love TV. Some of it’s great entertainment and some has superb writing. But turning it off for a month will be a good chance for me to regroup after leaving an extraordinarily busy job. I want to settle into a routine that lets me prioritise the things that matter most – writing and reading, and good conversation over dinner. Still deciding what I’ll focus my writing on but I spent some time tonight deciding my reading menu for the month. Here it is: 

Fiction

• Wastelands – John Joseph Adams (ed)
• The City and The City – China Mieville
• The Writing Class – Jincy Willett
• Lavinia – Ursula Le Guin
• World Shaker – Richard Harland

Non fiction

• The Content Makers – Margaret Simons
• The Dumbest Generation – Mark Bauerlein
• Ghosts of Manilla: The Fateful Blood Feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier – Mark Kram
• Critical Mass – Philip Ball
• The Craftsman – Richard Sennett
• Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness – Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein
• The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging
• Why I Write – George Orwell
• The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear – Ralph Keyes

Not sure what I’m looking forward to reading most but I’ll report back during August about how I’m progressing and how much dust the TV has gathered.