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.

Book Podcast for Book Lovers

Heads up book people! Apple is promoting a new Featured Collection this week – Book Lovers. Their curated list of has 29 book podcasts listed. A handful are radio or tv-related book podcasts, but the others all seem very interesting as well.

book podcasts

I have no idea how to link to an iTunes Featured Collection. If you know how please clue me in! I can link to a specific podcast, but not to the collections.

Just log in to iTunes, on the computer or iOS and scroll down until you see this:

book podcast for book lovers

It will take you the list. I have no idea how long this book podcast list for Book Lovers has been up there or how much longer it’ll be up. I’ve listened to nine of these before and am excited to see what these others are all about. Let me know if you know of the 29 to be better than the rest and I’ll start there.

The Localist – Birmingham Book Launch

Mark your calendars for this Saturday (November 29th) for the book launch of local author and business owner Carrie Rollwagen’s newest project The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local and Reclaim the American Dream. Things kick off at 10 a.m. at Church Street Coffee & Books.

The Localist is a book that is near and dear to just about everything Rollwagen espouses. It’s a book. It’s local. It’s a way of life. I have yet to get my hands on a copy, but the premise sounds like the kind of book that inspires people to be aware of what is going on around them and could even save our sense of community.

The_Localist_01

Part memoir and part “how-to” guide for shopping local, readers will:

. . . follow Carrie on her localist adventure as she embraces slow food, small business, the locavore movement, and many quirky indie shopkeepers and unique independent shops along the way.

The Localist promises to not be anti-big-box store, just very very pro-local-indie shop, while offering tips on how to save money buying local and how to interact with the community. It’s a theme Rollwagen (@crollwagen) weaves into her writing whenever pen is put to paper or she sits at a keyboard. She blogs about buying local Alabama goods, she blogs at her local shop and she blogs about her writing.

If you’re not sold yet, then take a moment and read through a couple of excerpts:

So check out The Localist event at Church Street Coffee & Books this Saturday at 10 a.m. There are also more upcoming events listed if you’d like to meet Carrie and check out the book some other time. I have no doubts this book is worth reading no matter where you live or where you shop.

Nonfiction November – Week Four

I’ve been participating in Nonfiction November this month and it’s been great. So many new-to-me bloggers in my RSS reader now plus plenty of new titles added to Mount TBR and to my wish list. Which brings us to the week four’s topic being hosted by Katie over on Doing Dewey:

New to My TBR: It’s been a week full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

So here it goes. It’s a list of all the books and sites that piqued my interest enough that I am now officially “on the lookout” for these books. Thank you to each blogger that participated and surfaced these books for me. There is so much noise out there these days and Nonfiction November turned out to be a great way to cut through that and find some wonderful recommendations.

  1. Story of Ain’t found on Feminist Texan Reads
  2. Mao’s Great Famine found on The Relentless Reader
  3. The Life of I found on Brona’s Books
  4. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer found on Savvy Working Gal
  5. Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer found on Book Addicted Blonde
  6. The Unpersuadables by Richard Storr found on Bibliophilopolis
  7. The Age of Wonder found on The Emerald City Book Review
  8. The Creators by Daniel Boostin found on Bibliophilopolis
  9. Bottled and Sold found on Ardent Reader
  10. Fluent Forever found on A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
  11. The Bilingual Edge found on A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
  12. Men We Reaped found on Books Speak Volumes
nonficnov_hooverlibrary
I saw this banner in my local library this past weekend.

Nonfiction November (#nonficnov) was a blast this year. So many great books and book bloggers I had not heard of. Thank you to everyone who helped organize it and host all of the recap posts. So many great book blogs to scroll through.

Book Events: Nov. 23rd-Nov. 29th

This time of year is a good one when it comes to looking for book store sales, book events and author signings around Birmingham. Everyone is looking for the perfect gift and there is little else that can be as perfect as a signed edition of a favorite author or on an interesting subject.

Here are two book events (it is a holiday week) around the Birmingham area that you should consider checking out (whether you’re gift shopping or not, these seem worthy of making the trip).

November 24th at 10 a.m. – the used-book store the Central Location of the Birmingham Public Library kicks off its annual $10 “stuff a bag with books” book sale.

November 29th at 10 a.m. – a book launch event for The Localist at Church Street Coffee & Books. The book sounds fantastic and I can’t wait to read it.