Find Free Books in Birmingham

September 17, 2014 trav 7 Comments

Books are great, but FREE books get a whole different section on the Awesome Meter. Fortunately, book people are high on the Awesome Meter themselves – want proof?

Just check out these three places around Birmingham where readers can find free books all stocked by folks who understand the value of books and the joy of reading.

Crestwood Coffee Company

As soon as you walk into the Crestwood Coffee Company you will see the books lining the wall to the right of you. The selection is a good one for a “take one and leave one” kind of a set up. Lots of big names and hardbacks. Certainly worth checking out. The book conditions run the gamut from bent covers to brand new with stickers still on them. It’s a great place to find free books (and the coffee is tasty too).

Little Free Library Avondale

The Little Free Library movement is a great one. Boxes and birdhouses of books are cropping up all over the country. This one is found in a street-side courtyard at the Methodist Church in Avondale. I have no idea who maintains this or how often the stock is updated. When I stopped by it was all paperbacks with a mix of fiction and poetry. All the books were in the condition you’d think they’d be if left in a box outside.

Literacy Council Book Cart

This cart is maintained by the folks of the Alabama Literacy Council. It is rolled outside almost every day, and it’s always worth checking out. You have to stop by early though as the cart of free books sits in the middle of the loft district. So every dog walker and jogger has a chance to pick through the offerings. Please note: the LC offices and cart are temporarily on 2nd Ave. North after a fire damaged their building on 1st Ave. North. I’m not sure when they’ll move back.

What am I missing? Are there other good spots around Birmingham for picking up free books? Let me know… of course… I wouldn’t blame you one bit of you wanted to keep your find a secret.

Book Talk

BOOK EVENTS: Aug. 17TH – AUG. 23RD

August 17, 2014 trav Leave a comment

Hope your Summer was a good one! I was able to take a sizable notch out of Mount TBR which feels good. I also got to visit a few new-to-me bookstores which I’ll have to share. But up first, what book events are happening in and around Birmingham, AL that you – the ever alert book lover – might enjoy?

Here are three local book events that you may want to add to your calendar:

August 20th at 7 p.m. – prolific thriller novelist James Rollins will be at Books-A-Million at Brookwood Mall signing copies of his novel The 6th Extinction. James Rollins appearance is also in support of his veterans-support efforts. You can read more about this here.

August 23rd from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. – author S.L. Duncan will be at Little Professor Bookstore in Homewood signing his debut novel The Revelation of Gabriel Adam. This book is a YA novel and you can keep up with Duncan on Twitter as well.

August 25th at 4 p.m. – author Michael Pitre will be at Alabama Booksmith signing his new novel Fives and Twenty-Fives.

Birmingham, Book Sale, Bookstores, Events, Hoover, library

Book Sale Hoover Library

June 20, 2014 trav Leave a comment

This weekend there is a massive used-book sale at the Hoover Library. Looks like hardback books will be $1 a piece and paperbacks will run cheaper. Definitely worth checking out.

The sale will be open on Saturday, June 21st, 10:00 a.m–5:30 p.m. and then open again on Sunday, June 22nd, 2:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

The sale will take place at the Plaza near the Friends of the Hoover Library Bookstore. But be sure while you are there to check out the “extra book room” downstairs. This room is usually full and the books found here are all for sale and always $1. But this weekend it sounds like the $1 fun is spread out through all of their books.

Book Column, Book Talk

Stephen King’s Money (kind of)

June 19, 2014 trav Leave a comment

One of my favorite new-to-me blogs is Emily Schultz’s Spending the Stephen King Money, where she is journaling what she buys with the money she makes every time a Stephen King fan accidentally buys her book. You see Schultz’s book Joyland came out almost 9 years ago and in 2013 Stephen King released a book titled Joyland as well.

King’s book is not available in eBook, but anxious Stephen King fans searched online stores and clicked on the first Joyland title they saw… which was Schultz’s. Whether it was their error or not, a disappointed rabid fan is an irate rabid fan. So after weathering the trolls Schultz decided to have fun with it all and air everything she does with the money she makes. Plus, she weighs in trying to figure out if Stephen would like the purchase.

So check out what Emily Schultz is buying. It is shaping up like she will be having a really fun time with it. It’s just one of those things that reminds us how quirky, weird and fun the book world is.

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