Everybody's writing a book or memoir these days. We've seen our share of pop-culture and/or gossip books.
Last week, thousands flocked to South Florida's Pembroke Lakes Mall to meet Wendy Williams and have her sign copies of "The Wendy Williams Experience," her newest bestseller. Trick Daddy penned a book recently. Antonia (Toya) Carter's new title, "Priceless Inspirations" drops this week; so does Tyra Banks' science fiction hodgepodge novel "Modelland." No, I didn't mean to write "album" or "single." You read correctly. Book. Title. Novel.
Everyone...I mean EVERYONE...puts out books, it appears.In the literary world, we often joke that for every 10 authors, there's one reader.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't unwind with juicy titles. After all,I've done my share of konking outwith a good page turner these days, particularly because I'm on vacation PLUS it's been rainy all week in Miami.
And, to be sure, I'm not knocking celebrity-turned-writers. Each of us has a story to tell.
But what if in lieu of Diary of a Video
Vixen we devoured Diary of a Human
Trafficking and Sex Slave Activist? What if we came across
more books that sparked awareness, like Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson or A Thousand Sisters by Lisa Shannon? The fact that these titles went
on to smash bestsellers lists proves that books on social responsibility DON'T
equate to utter boredom and disappointing sales.
I look forward to someone penning a title that describes
their accounts on the ground while helping to end the desperate situation
in Somalia. The region known as the Horn of Africa has been experiencing
desertification for decades. The Somali people have nowhere to go and, what's
more,little food to sustain them during relocations. So they're stuck and
STARVING. Recently, almost every broadcast news network has reported that the
past 90 days have been particularly dire for Africa's Horn. Some 29,000
children have died as a result of the famine. Can you wrap your head around
that number? Sadly, that figure is 29,000 not 2,900.
Incredible.
This, friends,is truly book...or awareness...worthy. I will
certainly continue reading...and helping within my sphere of influence.
Will you?
To access a good Huffington Post article on the Horn of Africa disaster, click here. To donate to help those living in the Horn of Africa, visit the Samaritan Purse's ministry website for that region.