Category Archives: On the Web

Birmingham, Book Talk, On the Web

Best Bookstore Twitter List

Leave a comment

Last week someone started the #bkstoreluv to help folks celebrate their favorite local book shops. GalleyCat picked up on this and has started compiling a list of great bookstore twitter accounts. I’ve already submitted my two local favorites here in Birmingham – @81churchstreet and @little_prof.

Hopefully they will get added to the main directory listing soon. I also follow a few other out-of-town bookshops on Twitter. Are there others that you are fond of that are worth a follow? Please share! I’m always looking for good book conversations.

Authors, Birmingham, Book Talk, On the Web

Birmingham on BookTV

Leave a comment

BookTV is building a network of local content. Birmingham’s part start airing this past weekend and some of the videos are already online. Very cool! Click through and scroll down the left column to see videos filmed in the Alabama Booksmith and around town, all focused on Birmingham’s “literary scene”. The column on the right is from CSPAN’s History TV with even more videos and interviews from a Birmingham perspective.

Book Collecting, Book Column, Book Talk, On the Web

Book Collecting 101

Leave a comment

I encourage you to check out this post on book collecting over on Exile Bibliophile. I recently discovered that blog while clicking around the discussions over on LibraryThing. Here’s one of my favorite snippets:

“Not everyone who owns a lot of books is a book collector.  Granted.  I wear pants most days, and own many pairs, yet don’t think of myself as a pants connoisseur.  Book collectors are the same way.  A book collection has a purpose beyond accumulating, beyond, even, reading.  A book collection has a purpose.  What should the focus be?  That’s the beauty of it.”

I like people who group their books in some logical or at least interesting fashion. I REALLY like people who dive deep into a category or genre or author. Those are always great conversationalists. And indeed. That is the beauty of it.

Media, On the Web, Technology

Small Demons and Connecting the Dots

Leave a comment

Small Demons launched in beta this week and is trying to help us discover new things by connecting all the dots for us. How vague is that? But seriously that what it does. You can start with a person, book, movie, music, brand or thing. I chose a specific bourbon, Old Grand-Dad. Small Demons was able to list out three books that specifically mention that bourbon and cite the passages.

Want to know a character’s favorite recipe? Small Demons will eventually be the place to go. There is also a “My Library” tab, that is not yet active and I’m not sure how deep the social component will go. I’ve only been in for a day.

The “Books Mentioned in Other Books” is quite a big rabbit hole to start down. It goes on and on and on, but it’s fun to see what books, genres and author share certain things. As fun as it is, Small Demon’s bookshelf is still small, so all of the results feel a little truncated. There are many many books that will be added and indexed.

It’s one of those things that could only happen (and scale) thanks to the internet. It’s on the same track as LibraryThing (one of the most awesome services the internet has birthed). Here’s a quick under-two-minute video they produced to promo the new search/relationship/discovery engine: