Category Archives: Bookstores

Church Street Books Scavenger Hunt

The bookish barristas at Church Street Coffee & Books have organized something cool next week. They call it ‘Bookstravaganza’ and it kicks off on April 22nd, with a books-themed scavenger hunt, ending April 26th. Starting on the 22nd,  the indie bookstore will start posting cryptic clues for their Facebook and Twitter followers. Once decoded, the answer will points to another local Birmingham business where a free book is waiting on the first successful code cracker. So that’s four days of following for freebies. Sounds fun!

They are also running a neat promo inside the store, which I’m anxious to go by and try out. Basically, they’re inviting you to scan the books, on the shelves, with your smartphone to get the super-secret discount (10%-50% off)  price. Some of the books will also score you a free cookie or coffee.

Other events planned during the week that is Bookstravaganza 2013:

April 22nd at 7p.m. – Q&A with murder-mystery author Jenny Milchman about her book Cover of Snow

April 23rd (all day)World Book Night giveaways, with hundreds of books to be given away free to help encourage reading. Many of which volunteers will hide in places around the city. This is a global event and very cool that they are participating.

So grab your decoder ring, smartphone barcode reader and follow Church Street Coffee & Books on Facebook and Twitter to play along next week. Bookstravaganza sounds like four days of fun promoting local businesses, reading and books, books, books!

The Last Bookshop – Short Film

The first 10 minutes of this short film are fantastic. I would love to get lost in the stacks of an old shop just like this boy does. Lots of great imagery here as a boy finds himself exploring the last bookshop in England. The film was produced in an effort to support local bookshops and stress the importance of them. They have a site for the film as well so you can learn more about the shops shown in the film, bookshops in the UK as well as the movie score. Lot’s to think about while watching this short movie.

What did you think of the short film?

Politics & Prose Gift Guide

The 2012 Politics & Prose Holiday Gift Guide is out. It’s a free PDF download from their site as well. There are a gazillion good recommendations, but very few that you won’t find featured at one of Birmingham’s local bookstores. But, if you’re on this site you are probably of the ilk that enjoys scrolling through pages and pages of book covers and book reviews. I know I do.

One thing that I find particularly worrisome is the lack of books about books. The section under Biblio-graphic has one book My Ideal Bookshelf and there is also the new slipcased issue of the Book of Kells, which isn’t really about books per-se, but I think most bookish folks would appreciate the new edition as well as the place in book history that the Book of Kells holds. Anyway, this must be rectified! I am now on a mission here at the end of 2012 to chronicle the 10 Best Books about Books published this year.

Politics and Prose Gift Guide

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day

Take Your Child To A Bookstore Banner

Tomorrow, December 1st, 2012 is the third annual Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. The day was started as a way to encourage parents to get their kids in bookstores and browsing; simply to instill a love of books and bookstores. Needless to say Take Your Child to a Bookstore has grown into more of a movement as bookstores offer deals and the group’s plans have grown. However you approach it, getting kids into a bookstore and getting them excited about all of the possibilities offered is a great idea.

The group’s map only lists two shops in Alabama as “officially” participating, Capital Book & News in Montgomery and Page and Palette in Fairhope. Are there others? No doubt, every day is a great day to get the kids into bookshops, but it’s nice when something crops up to put indie bookstores back in the media. You can keep up with the Take Your Child to a Bookstore folks on their Facebook page or site.