Category Archives: Birmingham

Birmingham, Bookstores, On the Web

New Books Blog in Bham

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Carrie Rollwagen (twitter), who owns Church Street Coffee & Books, is set to launch a new site Monday called PostScript Blog. Rollwagen is a proponent of shopping small and great book stores. Two things I like too. In a recent post on her Shop Small Blog she said the new site will:

“…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.

Birmingham, Book Sale, Bookstores, library

Vestavia Hills Library Used-Book Store

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Here is a quick photo tour of the Vestavia Hills Friends of the Library used-book store. The Vestavia Hills Library has a new building and with it comes a new bookstore space. While this shop is about a third of the size of the original used-book store, the quality of books found is always high and the volunteers manning the desk are always up for a friendly chat.

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.

Authors, Birmingham, Events, News

Alabama Book Festival 2012

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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.

 

Birmingham, Bookstores, Events, library

Used-Book Sale Downtown Birmingham

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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.