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Trav
Since 2006, I have been blogging about three things: books, publishing and Birmingham. As fast as things change these days, I think it’s a great time to be keeping a book blog, tracking new books, and reading about the quickly evolving publishing industry. I am fortunate enough to work in book publishing (nature & travel) and love the constant weaving of all the newness into all the oldness.
August 2026
October 2026
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All posts (16)
The folks at Read Freely Alabama are in Livingston, AL tonight at 6:00 p.m., in the Bell Conference Center and dinner is provided (it’s tacos!) The meeting itself is free and open to the public. On the agenda tonight is an open discussion about challenges to Alabama public libraries around the state and how you …...
This summer I intentionally took a month+ “off” of all things social media and screens. The heat this season has been real and I had lots of travel and offline work to do. So I fully embraced it. It was great. Now I’m starting to scrape the surface of what I missed and what everyone … Continue reading Things to Read...
Today in 1851, 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' first appeared. In 1856, an Alabama bookstore was forced to close and the booksellers run out of town for selling Harriet Beecher Stowe's book. Alabama needs to remember stories like this so we can do better. #books #alabama
Happy Little Free Library Week! This annual observance has been running since 2013, when the LFL folks wanted to recognize all the folks voluntarily setting up Little Free Libraries. This year’s dates run May 17–23, 2026.
If you know the names Marshall McLuhan & Neil Postman then you can probably skip this one. If you don’t recognize those names then the first 90 pages of Garber’s “Screen People” will feel like fresh air. While I 100% agree with what the book asserts, but it lacks clarity & AN INDEX! It mentions lots of bad things...
I had a wonderful visit ay Court Street Books in Florence, AL this week. These folks know books and love book people.
Tomorrow is Independent Bookstore Day! It’s always such a fun day to get out and celebrate the need for indie bookshops in our communities. The goal is simple – just get out, if you can. Here’s a handy map where you can type in your zip code to see if any of the 2000+ participating shops are near … Continue reading...
I recently got to explore the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh, PA and had a wonderful time inside the Riverstone Books location there. This shop is much bigger on the inside than it looks from the street and is worth popping in. My absolute favorite part were all of the Staff Recs. While there were … Continue...
I feel like a bear coming up out of a hibernation and I am glad to be back out in the open. I had to check out and log off for the first of the year. For the job, we have offices in Minnesota just outside the cities and in all honesty – I just … Continue reading Things to Read – Edition 0005 →
Here’s an interview with the CEO of Birmingham/Homewood-based bookstore chain Books-A-Million, Terry Finley. Finley (Instagram) has been in bookselling for 50 years. Schmidt’s Publishing Confidential newsletter is book and publishing focused and always an interesting read. BAM is an interesting company due to its...
December is always a fun time here in Birmingham, AL, especially if you like shopping for books. With all of the Maker Fairs and local bazaars going on, there is always something to do on the weekends. What’s been fun is seeing all of the different bookshops sharing not just books, but new ways of selling books. The...
UPDATE: Today (12/15/25), Merriam-Webster Dictionary declared “slop” as the word of the year. This seems equal parts fair and depressing. I hope humans do better in 2026. It is always interesting to see what the dictionary folks declare their “word of the year” to be. As fragmented as everything feels these days,...
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