Sunday, October 06, 2013
Lets Talk about Books!
Name
a book from your youth that sparked a fire inside of you so
intense that its memory is still with you to this day.
Hi
my name is Jackie and I love books! Let me say first of
all, that this in no way is to be used as a self-serving
self-indulging all about me moment, but rather as an opportunity to
get readers AND writers excited about AND talking
about books again but in a more positive light.
There
has been a lot of talk about books and book events over the past few
months. Readers
aren't happy, writers aren't happy and publishing industry is
experiencing the unstoppable gushing of the proverbial red ink as the
industry seems to be spiraling out of control and appears to be
taking its last breathes. Readers want to blame writers, writers want
to blame each other and everyone wants to play the blame game.
STOP! Take a deep breath and lets talk about it.
There
was a time for many of us when reading was as second nature as taking
our next breathe of air. We read books, newspapers and
magazines because we wanted to and not simply because we had to. We
would walk into a room full of books and literally lose our
collective minds. We would browse the shelves hoping to
spot an old friend or to find and make new one. Books gave us
hope and dared us to be any and everything we could ever imagine we
could be. For many of us, it inspired us to go beyond just
wanting to read a story. It created a desire to want to WRITE
the story as well. But now, something has changed. We stand
back, shake our heads and try to figure out what went wrong.
The
love we once had for the written word has somehow grown dim. We
have become distant and unloving towards that thing that once brought
us so much joy. We can't seem to find the time to commit to the
relationship the way we once did. We say times have changed and
I don't know, maybe they have. All I do know is that what used to be
a source of pride and pleasure has now simply become the next big
thing to make a buck.
We
gave in to the competition for our attention and discovered that we
would rather play mindless games and watch meaningless programs that
shout at us about things we don't have and should have. We
make icons out those who would exploit man's inhumanity towards their
fellow man. We place them on pedestals and revere in their
exploits rather than embrace the real life changers who are out
making history as apposed to just watching it. We'd rather occupy our
time achieving things than actually use our minds to visual stories
and imagine the possibilities of what we can be. We prefer to
watch a movie about the next big thing as apposed to reading and
drawing our own conclusions about the news and the facts of the day.
We would rather allow others to tell us what we like and
what to think instead of discovering the world for ourselves.
Today
I challenge both readers and writers to stop and talk about it.
Start an intelligent conversation about books. Remember why the
love affair began in the first place. Inspire someone
to discover and read titles other than your own. Post
the question as your status. Tweet it, tag it, instagram it
but whatever you do, do it because you love the written word,
freedom of thought and freedom of speech and because we all need to
be remind others why they love it too.
In
answer to the question I raised at the beginning of this story; for
me it was;
Maya
Angelou's "I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
Books
are the window to the world. Open up a book and watch as the
world unfolds right before your very eyes... One Page at a
time.
Be
Blessed
