Reading Commonly

Hip Hop artist and actor Common, (formerly known as Common Sense and known to his mother as Lonnie Rashid Lynn) has started an online book club called The Corner Book Club through his Common Ground Foundation.

His website says:

"Teens are able to follow along with the recommended book of the month, blog with other members about relevant topics and have the opportunity to participate in a live online chat with Common Ground Foundation staff.

Celebrity artists will also be interviewed each month and talk about their favorite books and why reading is so important to them.

Each year the Foundation will sponsor a national "Common Ground Challenge" for our book club members. Winners will have an opportunity to meet Common and their essay will be posted on The Common Ground Foundation website. The Foundation is also committed to provide a college scholarship as the first prize award."

Their first choice? Long Way Gone, Memoirs of A Boy Soldier by Ishmaell Beah, which they describe as:

"This gripping story by a children’s-rights advocate recounts his experiences as a boy growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, during one of the most brutal and violent civil wars in recent history."

Find out more, sign up, or just check out this month's artist interview with Talib Kweli.