All posts by trav

At the heart of it all, I’m a fan. A fan of books and bookstores. A fan of fiction and non-fiction. A fan of authors and publishers. And most of all I’m a fan of great conversations sparked by books. All that to say - I really need more bookshelves.

Buy a book just for the cover?

The folks over at the Abebooks blog have published their picks for 30 Books Worth Buying For the Cover Alone. Only seven of the 30 use photographs. So illustration seems to be the way to go if you want to get noticed in the cover design crowd (of course, these are all fiction titles).

I REALLY like these two:

But have to wonder about this choice:

The image just seems to literal and obvious to be chosen as worth “buying for the cover alone”.

Bibliomaniac’s on Film

Book Patrol shared this video, from CBS, where a few bilbliomaniac’s, in France, were followed around and asked about their obsessions. At times it makes me want to throw everything to the wind and become a book scout. I wonder how I would fair with just Birmingham and Atlanta to farm?

Book Collecting Contest

The 3rd Annual Student Book Collecting Contest, over in Tuscaloosa, is under way. Both graduate students and undergraduate students have until March 27th to catalog and submit their entries. There is an essay to write and it turns out that 80% of the book collection, er, must be books… hmmm. Seems they are allowing some cd’s and dvd’s to be included… anyway… there are cash prizes with the 1st Place winner getting $500 and a chance to compete in Fine Books & Collections annual competition.

Awards are April 16th at Gorgas Library and might just be worth the drive from Birmingham, if the collectors show enough creativity and fun with their book collections.