By WVUA 23 Digital Reporter Candace Johnson
National Book Week is happening this year from Nov. 25 to Nov. 29, just in time for Thanksgiving (and Black Friday).
In Tuscaloosa, local bookstore Ernest and Hadley Booksellers features new and used books running the gamut from mega-popular bestsellers to local legends and first-time authors.
Ernest and Hadley General Manager Avery Leopard said they currently have about 13,000 books in stock, alongside plenty of gift items.
“We really try and focus on books that we think are really important to have, but also what communities are into,” Leopard said.
Ernest and Hadley is getting itself ready for its eighth anniversary, which is happening Dec. 14 and will feature local authors promoting their work.
“Jennifer Horne, she’s a former Poet Laureate of Alabama,” Leopard said. “She has a poetry book coming out called “Letters to little Little Rock.”
Little Rock, Arkansas, is where Horne is originally from, but she now resides in Cottondale.
“We’re also going to have Brooke Champagne come and read later that day from her book: “Nola Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy,” Leopard said.
Leopard said reading is important because it’s used in most aspects of life, especially when it comes to news and history.
“I think it’s important for the truthful dissemination of information,” Leopard said. “It’s important that we know how to read and how to gather information, but even fiction helps people with empathy, and you have to be able to read in this world.”
Leopard said her personal favorite genre is fiction, and she’s currently obsessed with book series featuring witches. Books provide a healthy temporary escape from reality, she said, and it gets your imagination working much more than a video game, movie or TV show would.
“It’s just fun and magic is always involved,” Leopard said. “There’s always a mystery.”
So if you’ve got time to spare this week as you await Thanksgiving dinner, why not catch up on some good books?
This post was originally published on here
