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 Talk, Bookshelf

Happy Clean Out Your Bookcase Day

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Today is Clean Out Your Bookcase Day. It’s a holiday that I’ve never heard of, but fully support the idea. In fact, I’d probably sign a petition to make it a week long observance.

my book shelf for CleanOutYourBookscaseDay
I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture. Maybe next year.

Don’t get me wrong. I love having stuffed shelves. They’re way more interesting and have a nice “lived in” kind of feel. Displaying art and other items alongside your books is always interesting too. Though I imagine many books are little art pieces themselves, if we’d just display them face out.

I spent some time culling a case of its older books (bindings that may need some attention, foxing that needs to be addressed, etc.). Overall, it was worth it. Plus, there was the added bonus of finding a copy of Mathew Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head, which I had forgotten about and will pair nicely as a follow up to Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, which I just started reading.

Stolen Focus cover design by Susan Turner and The World Beyond Your Head cover design by Na Kim

Though I have to wonder… does one’s Clean Out Your Bookcase Day efforts count if all the extra books just wind up stacked on the floor?

Books on the floor Clean Out Your Bookscase Day

Maybe that’s the week-long holiday I need – “National Pick Up All The Book Piles on the Floor Week”… thank you for stopping by and reading… any chance you took a moment to straighten a shelf or two today?

Birmingham, Book Column, Book Talk, Bookstore Tourism, Bookstore Travels, Bookstores

LITTLE PROFESSOR PEPPER PLACE – PHOTO TOUR

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I finally made it by Little Professor – Pepper Place, back just before Christmas. This is an offshoot of Homewood, AL’s longstanding bookstore – Little Professor Book Center. The new location is tucked around the corner from the main parking lot and is a fantastic spot. The location is walkable from a number of shops and restaurants all the while maintaining a “hidden shop” feeling even with its high ceilings and big bright windows.

They are located at:
2807 2nd Ave S, Suite B
Birmingham, AL 3523

Their hours are:
Everyday 8:00am – 3:00pm

The selection is on par with the Homewood location, but the sidelines and gift-y items, at the Pepper Place location, are a bit different. There were plenty of shelves full of new titles and plenty of empty shelves ready to be filled.

Here are a few photos that I took of the bookshop. If you’re in the area, it’s worth swinging by to see what they have in your area of interest.

The view of the front door to Little Professor Pepper Place.
A sign to Little Professor Pepper Place.
The view of inside the front door to Little Professor Pepper Place.
The view of inside the front door to Little Professor Pepper Place.
A table of books inside the front door to Little Professor Pepper Place.
Alabama, Birmingham, Bookstore Travels

News Article on Alabama Indie Bookstores

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It’s always good when indie bookstores get a shout out in the media. It’s even better when they’re local and close by! A few weeks agao teh folks at AL.com did an article featuring 12 independent bookstores in Alabama to check out, and it was a pretty good slate of shops (though more photos of the indie stores would have been even better, but I digress…).

There are quite a few familiar names on there, but I was pleasnatly surprised to see two shops that I’ve not run across before.

Sweet Home Indie bookstore
Sweet Home Books offers lots of fun themed collections.

Sweet Home Books is just down I-65 in Wetumpka. Road trip anyone? The Al.com article says they are very new, but you can see they are on Instagram and facebook promoting their books and a celebrating a few authors. Their site also has a section called Middle Grade Books for Creators, which is a wonderfully curated list of kids’ titles. This looks like a shop that is worth checking out.

The other shop that is new to me is Shades Of Pemberley Bookstore, in Albertville, AL. It sounds like the perfect weekend stop to go through shelves of used and old books, looking for a unique read. They are on facebook as well.

Love the storefront at Shades of Pemberly!

The whole AL.com article is worth a scan and no doubt these shops are worth a visit. When you’re done with their article, be sure to check out all of the Birmingham-area bookstores.