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 Burdoch Book Collective was set up outside the MAKE BHM space when we went to shop at a recent market event. They had plenty of new and used titles. The new books were sold at cover price, and it was $5 for a used paperback and $10 for a used hardback. What’s fun about Burdock’s selections is that you will find lots of new titles and unique voices you won’t find on the shelves of other shops around Birmingham. I’ve not been able to get by their community space/shop while they’re open, but they do lots of pop-ups and currently have books at the Cha House Tea Room in Avondale. We often see the Enjoyer Books folks at Cala Coffee (Cahaba Heights), and their pop-up at the most recent Cahabazaar was worth checking out. Focused on new titles, there is always plenty to look at. They also have some cool new shirts and stickers—such a fun couple to talk books with. I can’t wait to see their book bus in action. That’s going to be fun! More than one outlet had new zines and small press printings, which were really cool. But one of my favorite vendors while booking in Birmingham this season is Deep Woods Bindery. The work is so well done, and I really enjoy the marbled patterns on their notebooks. I even picked up one of their ornaments to go on the tree at home. The craftsmanship of both casebound and paperback options is equal in quality and artistry. I am already looking forward to seeing their booth set up again somewhere. Hope you all are tucked in, avoiding the chill in the air, and reading good books this weekend! ### Share this: * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * * Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * ### Like this: Like Loading... ### _Related_

How to Fix a Typewriter and Your Life. “It’s like Zen. There are times when it is just very relaxing to be standing in front of the machine and slowly cleaning it, tweaking the adjustment so visually things start to really line up.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/20/us/typewriter-repair-seattle-bremerton.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5k8.dWEY.OfF6t9LPbb5W

I recently read Scott McCloud’s _Understanding Comics_ , and I was blown away. This book came out in 1993, and I know that makes me really late to the party, as I’ve seen this recommended quite a few times, but I’ve never stopped to read. Joe Crawford threw this title out as the November 2025 IndieWeb Book Club read, and I’m so glad I joined in (both because I enjoyed the book and I am thankful for the chance to try out webmentions, which is also new to me). McCloud does a masterful job of explaining how and why comics work so well when it comes to storytelling. He dives into the way our brains work, how culture affects what we perceive, and the physical restraints of the medium. He spends time explaining the difference between a cartoon, comics, icons, illustrative art, etc. He shows how commercial and artistic interests sometimes push and sometimes hinder development. He dedicates whole chapters to time, color, and spatial perception. All of this is so well done, there were times I was wondering if this book needed to be on my books about books shelf or my media philosophy shelf. While there are many takeaways that will stay with you and are worth ruminating on, it was Chapter Three – Blood in the Gutter, when he explains the concept of ‘Closure’, that I knew I was hooked. He boils down some big ideas and simplifies things so you understand the complexity of what happens in your brain when you read a panel of a comic and then read the following rectangle panel next to it, essentially skipping the small white space (called the gutter) separating the two. A great way to illustrate and explain the idea of “closure”. So much can happen in the gutter between two panels. McCloud breaks down the six most common. McCloud then goes on to demonstrate how storytellers can use that gutter to connect action and get your brain involved in the storytelling. It’s so well done. His explanations of why different levels of detail/realism in a comic directly influence how much the reader will immerse themselves into a story were amazing and something I haven’t quit thinking about. I now see that I’ve only looked at the surface of comics and not considered the other layers involved, which just makes one appreciate the form even more. McCloud also excels at plotting different ideas and formulas when it comes to types of comics and illustrated storytelling. While I don’t know enough to call this book a masterclass, it is certainly one of the best any casual reader could pick up. His book _Understanding Comics_ is to comics as baking shows are to cakes. You really start to understand the vocabulary, see how all the pieces work together, and why. And you have a blast while learning all this. I highly recommend this one to almost everybody. It’s one of the few 5-star reads I had this year. Contrary to what I’ve always thought, this is not just folks who get comics and “are into it”, but anyone who likes books and thinks about storytelling in any form (even reports at work where you have to present things sequentially). This book really does open things up. *************** As I stated at the top, the fact that I read this book is a celebration of the cool parts of the IndieWeb. I am posting this using something called webmentions, which is new to me, and I am anxious to see how these notifications, pings, and conversations happen. #webmentions ### Share this: * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * * Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * ### Like this: Like Loading... ### _Related_

This week’s Nonfiction November 2025 festivities are being hosted over on Deb Nance’s site, ReaderBuzz, with the prompt being: **_“New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR?”_** What a great month it’s been, and I feel exhausted! So many great new reads, conversations, and fun new blogs to follow. November is always a good time of year to have this event, as it gives us all a little time to add a few new titles to our wish lists. I’m already excited about next year’s reading. Over the 4 weeks of the event, I collected a list of 23 titles that sound like really good reads. I cut that down a bit and am sharing an “up first for me” list of ten titles, with links to the blogs where I read about them. These are all books that I hope to read sooner rather than later: 1. **_Bookish_** by Lucy Mangan 2. **_Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound_** by Kate Kennedy 3. **_The CIA Book Club_** by Charlie English 4. **_Strongmen_** by Ruth Ben-Ghiat 5. **_Cull of the Wild_** by Hugh Warwick 6. **_A Year With Gilbert White_** by Jenny Uglow. 7. **_We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite_** by Musa al-Gharbi 8. **_Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist_** by Aldous Huxley 9. **_The Common Good_** by Robert Reich 10. **_The Quiet Damage_** by Jesselyn Cook I was encouraged by some of the recurring themes and books folks, from across the globe, were reading. There were lots of books on the history of fascism/resistance/current affairs as well as nature. While not an official count, I did track the titles I saw pop up most often, and these had the most ticks on my notepad: * Raising Hare * Everything is Tuberculosis * On Tyranny Thank you to all the hosts this year. It really was fun. I hope you found some good reads this November, and I hope you have a fun place online to share your thoughts and reading. Thank you for stopping by and reading my posts during Nonfiction November 2025! Here are the links to my earlier Nonfiction November 2025 posts: * Week One * Week Two * Week Three * Week Four #nonficnov25 #nonfictionnovember ### Share this: * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * * Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * ### Like this: Like Loading... ### _Related_

This guy’s legacy is incredible (and Mr. Machine deserves more than a passing mention). https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/arts/design/burton-meyer-dead.html

This week’s Nonfiction November festivities are being hosted over on Liz’s site Adventures in reading, running, and working from home, with the prompt being: _“_** _Book Pairings:_**_This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read, and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or maybe it’s just two books you feel have a link, whatever they might be. You can be as creative as you like!”_ This week’s challenge was fun because both of these books are fun as they revolve around the world inhabited by obituary writers. The novel, _I See You Called in Dead_ by John Kenney, is a new one that came out this year, and the nonfiction I matched with it is the amazing 2006 book _The Dead Beat_ by Marilyn Johnson. Kenney’s _I See You Called in Dead_ starts off so quickly with a bunch of things happening in the first 30 pages. Here’s the setup: a tired and ready-to-give-up obituary writer has a night of drunken weakness (dwelling on his ex-wife’s current life without him) where he logs into his work network and writes an amazingly humorous and lie-ridden obituary for himself. The next morning, the world believes he is dead. The next afternoon, he gets fired. He spends the rest of the novel going through his personal relationships as well as attending the funerals of random people around the city. Cover design by Emily Mahon While the book has lots of fun people and a quirky plot, there were two things I really enjoyed: first, New York City. The book is dripping with the sights and sounds of the city, and it was fun; second, every once in a while, Bud or a friend would have a moment of clarity about something profound (the city or the role of news) or see the edges of some universal truth. Those were fun to read through among all the weird happenings and sarcastic remarks. While that novel deals with an obituary writer dealing with life and visiting funerals, Johnson’s _The Dead Beat_ deals with real-life obituary writers as well as some of the lives and deaths behind the articles. This book is such a fun read. Cover design by Milan Bozic Some of the obituaries are absolutely brutal, some are eye-watering sweet, and they all add up to a true snapshot of humanity. The book was written almost 20 years ago, so the internet doesn’t figure in as much as it would today (and I think that is kind of refreshing). Johnson interviews obituary writers, readers, and even goes to an Obituary Writers’ Conference. I had no idea how many people read the obituary page each day. She does a good job of showing the art, humor, and humanity behind every column inch that gets published. I hope you all have found some good nonfiction books this month. And I hope you have someplace to share and get others excited about your reads. Book people are the best people, and the internet is at its best wherever there is a vibrant book community. ### Share this: * Tweet * * Share on Tumblr * * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit * * ### _Related_

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