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.
Alabama, Birmingham, Book Column, Events

Birmingham Book Events: February 28, 2016 – March 6, 2016

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The sun is trying to come out and keep things warm. No complaints this weekend – unless you were one of the ones trying to find parking at the Hoover Library yesterday. WOW! Southern Voices 2016 was packed. So many people around the library this weekend. It’s a lot of fun. Here are three other events happening around Birmingham that might interest bookish folks:

Thursday, March 3rd at 6:30p – 7:30p – authors Martha Wurtele and Jake Collins will be in the auditorium speaking and signing copies of their book Homewood. It’s a book in the popular Images of America local history series.

Thursday, March 3rd at 5p – 9p – now that the weather is calming down a bit, it may be time to get out for a Birmingham Art Crawl. The chance of stumbling upon print artists, paper artists and book arts folks make it a fun event.

Friday, March 4th at 6:30p – 8:30p – the Birmingham Library is hosting its popular Bards & Brews event this week. It kicks off with music and then the mic is handed over to spoken word artists and local authors.

Book Column, Book Talk, E-Books, Free Books, New Releases

New John Grisham Book is FREE

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John Grisham has a new book out. It’s short and it’s totally free. You can download the kindle verison straight from Amazon or you can click over to this page and download any file format you want. You can even order a free hard cover copy!

John Grisham download FREEThe book is called “The Tumor” and it has nothing to do with the legal system and probably doesn’t even qualify as a “thriller”. This one is all about cancer and new technology. It’s something that seems near and dear to Grisham’s heart. So he decided to write this 49-page book, partner with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and give it away. All just to help raise awareness about new technology available to fight cancer.

The story follows a 35-year old father of three as he goes through the prognosis and treatment of a brain tumor. Pretty heavy stuff from Grisham.

I haven’t read it yet. Let me know if you have and how the story stacks up.

Book Column, Games for Readers, Gifts for Book Lovers

Rory’s Story Cubes

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Had so much fun playing this game last night with the kids. Rory’s Story Cubes is pretty straight forward.

Story Cubes

Basically everyone gets a few dice and someone starts telling a tale. Then throws a die and has to incorporate that object into the story and the tale gets handed off to the next person and on and on it goes.

I guess it’s not a game in the traditional sense of someone winning, but we killed a solid hour going around and around the table. I can promise you one thing – you learn a LOT about your children when they have to riff on a picture of a frowny face coupled with an envelope and super counter ball thingy (an abacus to those out of the 2nd grade). The songs, books, commercials, friends names, etc. that occupy your kids’ brains all bubble to the top and spill out. So much fun.

Story Cubes

This is a certainly gift for readers of all ages. And looking at their site, they now have a Batman branded edition as well as others that focus on ‘actions’, ‘voyages’, etc.

Anyway, check out Rory’s Story Cubes if you know of anyone learning to write or that loves stories.

Alabama, Birmingham, Book Talk, Events, Hoover, library

Southern Voices 2016

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Tickets for Southern Voices 2016 go on sale Friday, January 8th. The line-up for the February 26-27, 2016 conference looks solid and will be held at the Hoover Library again this year,

SouthernVoices_LarsonThe big draw this year is Erik Larson who has written seven books and is best known for Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts and the amazing best-selling book Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Dead Wake topped many bookstores’ “Best Books” lists. For $35, you can join Larson and others for a reception on Friday, February 26th.

The Authors Conference kicks off the next day on Saturday, February 27th and will cost you $40 to get in the door for the day. The Saturday Authors Conference runs from 9a.m.-5p.m. During the day you’ll get to hear writing advice and stories from such notable authors as Natalie Baszile, Beth Ann Fennelly and Tom Franklin. Plus, Craig Johnson, Jamie Mason, Laura Lane McNeal and Mark Pryor. It’s a great mix of serious, fun and thriller books.

I have to admit that I was bummed when I saw that this year’s musical guest had to cancel. It’s a shame. She’s great. If you haven’t heard of Kellylee Evans before, you need to watch this video:

How catchy is that? You should also check out her Ordinary People. She has this jazzy blues 60’s pop groove that’s addictive. Maybe Kellylee Evans make it to Birmingham or Hoover someday.

So at 9 a.m. this Friday you can click through to the official site and buy online (the BUY NOW buttons are over in the right sidebar) or you can call  (205) 444-7888. Good luck! Tickets to past Southern Voices events have gone fast.