Birmingham, Book Collecting, Bookstores, Events, News

Buying Books in Birmingham, This Weekend

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This is a GREAT weekend to buy used books in Birmingham, with THREE new places/events to buy.

First, Vestavia Hills library has shut down as they are moving to their new building (slated to open in early-November) so they are toting books outside to a tent and selling what they can. It’s being organized by volunteers, so they start selling sometime between 9a-10a and stop sometime around 6p. It all depends on their help. But be prepared to stay. There is no organization. So a child’s book will be stacked on a business book sitting next to a computer programming text book. But if you love to sort through new and dusty books. This is for you. They bring out new boxes every couple of hours, so the selection changes.

Ex-library books (hardback and paperback) are $.50. Donated hardbacks are $1 and donated paperbacks are $.50. Magazines are $.10. You can also pay $5 and fit as much as you can into a grocery sack.

The sale started yesterday and runs through all of next week.

vestavia

Second, is the Whistle Stop Festival, out in Irondale. The library, has been culling their collection and taking donations for weeks and is setting up tables alongside the usual festival fair, from 9a-4p. I have not heard of the prices yet, but if they follow their usual price schedule, hardbacks will be a dollar and paperbacks will be $.50. Traditionally, they have not made a distinction between donated and ex-library.


Third, this weekend 2nd & Charles (which BBJ mentioned earlier this week) is supposed to open Saturday morning. The Books-A-Million crew had an invite-only preview party last night. I didn’t get to go, but have seen some photos. It’s in a vacated Goody’s department store and is massive. Very cool looking, too. I haven’t seen prices yet, but they will be buying books, cd’s, dvd’s, videogames, etc. all day, every day too. Hopefully they will make their open date.

I have fun this weekend and do tell about any loot you score!

Gifts for Book Lovers

Story Cubes

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I ran across Rory’s Story Cubes the other day and am trying to decide if my son is old enough to play. He has quite the imagination an I wonder if it would carry over to this game.

How fun would it be to sit around rolling dice, helping each other build on each other’s stories? Though not really a book-themed game like some of the others we have, I do think it would be a nice addition to the game closet. There is also a $1.99 iPhone app. Which is handy, but really doesn’t impress me as much as the analog version. I think we’d do better with a handful of dice to toss around the floor.

I have not found them in a Birmingham-area store yet, though the site says Barnes and Noble stocks them. I’ll let you know if I find them around town, if you’ll do the same! Have a good weekend.

Birmingham, Book Talk, Digital Publishing, E-Books, New Releases, On the Web, Publishing Industry News, Technology

Free eBooks from Birmingham-Area Libraries

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It is 11pm and I just checked out a book from my local library.

This week the JCLC system turned on its Overdrive-powered eBook network. So far it’s very very cool. The only complaints I have are tied to the CRAZY complicated hoops Adobe Digital Editions (which you will have to download) has in place. But that’s no fault of the library system and is required by most publishers anyway. But once you get the Adobe Digital Editions set up right, it’s great.

Via my JCLC account, I have “checked out” an eBook and am reading it on both my laptop and on my desktop. I have not tried to put it on my Sony eReader yet, as it needs a new battery and won’t hold a charge (yeah yeah, I know. That’s not a problem people reading print books have, but hey… did I mention, I just checked out a book at 11pm!) Anyway….

Here is the one tip I can offer: Once you download your eBook file (it has a .acm extension), “right click” (or ctrl-click) and choose “Open With…” and navigate to Adobe Digital Editions. The permission drm-wrapped file that is downloaded is not a straight up ePub and this seems to work better than opening Adobe Digital Editions and trying to import the .acm file into the library.

Cool factoids of the new system:

  • You get to choose your “check out period”. You elect 7 days, 14 days or 21 days at checkout.
  • You can checkout up to 5 titles at a time
  • Every digital file has icons showing which platforms/devices that book can be read on
  • So far there are 477 fiction books and 435 non-fiction books listed

The eBooks are not Kindle-friendly nor iDevice-friendly, but here is a list of all compatible devices. I’m going to take a look at checking out books to the Sony Reader and various iDevices.

Kudos to the JCLC System in bringing another great service to us. You guys really are something Birmingham can brag about.

Birmingham, Book Collecting

#Bham – They Sell Books at The Red Cat

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I had a project-update meeting at The Red Cat coffee house last week and walked out with more than just a good cup of coffee. Down on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases are… books! Used books at that. Apparently, the owner and employees bring in books, from their personal collections, to sell.

RedCat_bookcase

Hardbacks and textbooks are $5 and mass/trade paperbacks are $2. I’ve had Goldstone’s Used and Rare for quite some time, but have never bought the next two in the series. So I was quite pleased to find a great copy of Slightly Chipped, which I was able to walk out after literally counting out pennies. It’s the kind of serendipitous find that will set your day back upright!

SlightlyChipped

It’s just the one shelf right now, but I am told that turn over is high. So I’ll be checking back to see what’s new.

Also, I want to mention that the Alabama Bloggers group is getting together for lunch this upcoming Friday, August 27 at 11:30a at The Red Cat. If you’re downtown stop by and say “Hi”. If you’ve never been, don’t be shy, this will be my first meeting too.

Books, Publishing and Birmingham