After reading books, getting confused and doing a lot of "what happens if I do this???" experimenting, I signed up to a local school doing evening classes "for the serious amateur" it was great a large group of photographers using a wide variety of cameras and all helping each other out. From Canons to Sony to Fuji Bridge and eventually to the old S2 pro (mine) we all mucked in and enjoyed it more like a club than a lesson.
Otherwise, head out with the camera, your manual and a notepad. Go somewhere that you like to shoot and try this, Set to manual, half press the shutter and the camera will tell you what settings it is using, take the shot (if you want) make a note of the settings and switch to manual mode, use the controls to set the camera to your notes, then take a shot or two, try altering the shutter speed and aperture take more shots, if you want make notes on what you are doing and do it logically so don't change the shutter and aperture together (well not at first) this will probably give you a feel for what will happen when you change a setting. The same can be said for trying things in the A or S modes, play and fiddle and see. Its all about learning but we all learn differently. I tend to get a bit drowsy when reading about the nitty gritty of aperture, especially when the author then wanders off into ISO film settings, odd emulsions and who invented what with whom and when.
I recently shot a blues festival it was a new experience, only 1 stage and indoor, this meant I had time to play and see what happened, although I was getting good shots with my camera and flash combination I wanted shots without the flash, there was no natural light in the place and the stage ligthing rig wasn't massive. Trying to take shots in 'Auto' with no flash just didn't work, so I started playing, i knew that to stop the action I would need a shutter of around 125th depending on what was happening on the stage, left the aperture as open as possible and started shooting, the first couple of shots were dark but sharp, I pushed the ISO up step by step and carried on shooting and it all came together at ISO 800, atmospheric, sharp shots with no flash. Very happy with myself that day. Play with the camera see what does what and keep going, it will all start to make sense, if you have a local amateur photo club go along and see what they are like, I have learned more from my short camera course and the occaional natter with a pro at an event than from straight book reading.
I hope you are still awake after reading that lot, trust me mate if I can do it anyone can, really. Hope it goes well for you
Of course forums with helpful nice posters are always good places too, like here