Tuesday, May 2nd – Lisa Dahl at noon at Gus Mayer/Summit signing The Elixir of Life Cookbook

Saturday, May 5th – Bernice King at 2 PM at Books-A-Million/Brookwood Mall signing Desert Rose: The Life and Legacy of Coretta Scott King

Saturday, May 5th – Charles D. Cole at 1 PM at Little Professor signing Strategies for Success in Law School & Beyond

Tuesday, May 8th – Dolores Hydock at 4 PM at The Alabama Booksmith signing In Her Own Fashion

Thursday, May 17th – Ron Tanner at 6 PM at Little Professor signing From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story

Friday, May 18th – Sarah Frances Hardy at 3:30 PM at Little Professor signing Puzzled by Pink

Saturday, May 19th – Jim Douglass at 11 AM at Little Professor signing Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment With Truth

1. The 9th Annual Alabama Book Festival, down in Montgomery is on Saturday, April 21st from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
2. Also on Saturday, April 21st is the Birmingham Reads – Brookwood Celebration at Brookwood Mall from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
3. Running the full weekend is the third annual Used-Book Sale at St. Francis of Assisi. I have no clue as to how the pickings will be this year, but I’m told that there will be tons of books again. They have a $5 wine/cheese “get in first to buy/preview party” Friday night. The sale continues Saturday, 21st from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday, April 22nd from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. They also have a silent auction planned for some signed first editions.

Phew. I have no idea how much I’ll be able to squeeze into this weekend. I hope you get to make it out and about though.

• Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Saturday 10:00 a.m.-2 p.m.

This is by far the best library bookstore to visit if you are looking for magazines. They have shelves and shelves of magazines that I’ve never heard of, plus all of the big popular ones. If magazines and journals are your thing – THIS is the shop you have to visit. Magazines cost ten cents each.

The whole used-bookstore is pretty big, divided among three rooms, with a so-so turnover in the Fiction shelves. Most everything is discarded library books. Though finding donated copies (with no library stickers or stamps) isn’t uncommon. I have seen First Edition books priced at $5 and they do keep a 50 cent table, which is always worth glancing through when you’re at the library.

The first thing to do when you arrive is look down just inside the door. There is a cardboard box there with Free Stuff in it. It’s usually just magazines, maps, photos, etc. but you may find something there. Also, in the magazine room, there is another bookshelf unit and another box with free books and magazines for the taking.

Books-A-Million is based in Birmingham. They closed 21 stores and opened 41 new stores in the past year, giving them a total of 256 stores in 31 states.

“…I think books are so important, and because I think the battle of independents versus Amazon is such a great Small Shop case study, my new blog, PostScript Blog, will focus on books — kind of.

I say “kind of,” because it will really be about more that books. There will be book reviews, and I’ll talk about publishing (and Amazon) sometimes. But mostly, it’ll just be about interesting stuff — movies, music, shopping, community — and the way books intersect with those parts of our lives.”

She also says that Church Street Coffee & Books will ship and distribute all books and ebooks purchased through the new site. That’s a great step that all bookstore owners should take. A reader’s choice in format is not necessarily an “either/or” proposition, but “with”. I think that smart shop owners and their customers will be better served if they figure out how to live with both.

I hope Birmingham continues to gain book-friendly voices in 2012.

One of the main reasons I really like this store is that it has a very high concentration of donated hardcovers. And they are all still $3! That means no library stickers to peel off, stamps, etc. I once found a signed first-edition (with verification crd from the Alabama Booksmith) of Brooks’ The People of the Book and all I had to fork over was $3. That’s the kind of thing that makes digging through bookstores so much fun.

Once you enter the library, the bookstore will be to your left. It’s worth stopping in to see if any other signed gems have slipped through the cracks and made it to the shelves. Their hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday. They are closed Saturday and open on Sundays 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Mark your calendars for Saturday April 21! That’s the day for the 7th Annual Alabama Book Festival, held each year down in the super unique Old Alabama Town in Montgomery. Not all of the authors and booths have been confirmed, but you can keep up with the official list of authors who are coming. So far there are about 25 authors on the list including fan favorites like Homer Hickman, Wayne Flynt and Gin Phillips. There are also always lots of fun areas for the kids and book booths full of books for sale.

You can also get updates via Twitter on happenings around the 2012 Alabama Book Festival.

The book sale ends February 4th. So you have a few more days to get to the downtown branch of the Birmingham Library and scope out the books. The deal is you pay $6 and get an official library re-usable tote to stuff with as many books as you can. The only catch is that your selection is restricted to the “overstock” carts outside of the bookstore. So the books inside the shop (still priced only 50 cents to $2) are off limits.

You can expect lots of Clancy, King and Wouk out on the carts, but there are lots of other things too. Two carts are crammed with newer kids’ books.

Just inside the Friends of the Library shop is the new merch room with lots of branded shirts, mugs cups and bags. It’s worth checking out as well.

It’s certainly worth stopping by to see what they have. But then they always have used-books upstairs that are worth keeping up with as they rotate stock pretty regularly and there are always new finds to scan through. I’m not sure how long they plan on leaving the $1 offerings there, so you should check it out soon. It’s right in front of you, behind the first round table, as you walk in the main door.

So go check out the tracks and sign up, I’d love to meet some of you out there. Saturday takes place at the BJCC and teh Sunday line-up is at Samford. The WordPress faithful here in Birmingham really is a neat crew. I’m thankful for these annual events where I can soak in some new things.

Also, during the year, they have some WordPress meet-ups with most updates going out with #wpbham on Twitter. I haven’t been able to make one in a loooooooong time, but they always sound like fun. So check those out too.

Hope to see you in a week!