BookTV is building a network of local content. Birmingham’s part start airing this past weekend and some of the videos are already online. Very cool! Click through and scroll down the left column to see videos filmed in the Alabama Booksmith and around town, all focused on Birmingham’s “literary scene”. The column on the right [...]

Mark your calendars for December 3rd, 10:00am-3:00pm. That’s when the sixth annual Local Authors Expo is slated to take place. As always, the event will take place downtown at the Central Library. The expo is always an interesting mix of authors and books. Most of the tables are stacked with books by self-published authors. So [...]

This is going on my list for the holidays. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. It’s a perfect statement for the bookish and the designer alike. It’s available from the Abel Parris web-shop.  

I just finished The Unit by Ninni Homqvist and published by Other Press. It’s a great read that shines a light on what can happen when society starts looking at the population as numbers and statistics and quits seeing the people behind the numbers. I picked up this book because I really liked the thought-provoking [...]

I have fond memories of Robert Louis Stevens’ Treasure Island. It’s the first book I remember my father and I reading together while I was learning to read. Which is one reason this weekend’s November 13th STRANDED event has my attention. The event is being held in recognition of Robert Louis Stevens’ birthday, and in [...]

I encourage you to check out this post on book collecting over on Exile Bibliophile. I recently discovered that blog while clicking around the discussions over on LibraryThing. Here’s one of my favorite snippets: “Not everyone who owns a lot of books is a book collector.  Granted.  I wear pants most days, and own many [...]

There are 11 of Harper Lee’s letters set to be sold by November 8th. You can get the full details and keep up with the results over on the auction site. I was surprised how unique many of the letters are. There seems to be a personal tone to each of them. Most correspondence we [...]

I’m reading fiction again. And it feels good. Last year my non-fiction TBR pile was massive. I was so behind on reading stuff for work and other topics, that I imposed a self-inflicted fiction fast for 12 months. It ended earlier this week. It was certainly worth it. I read 32 non-fiction books over the [...]