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Down the Rabbit Hole with Megan Bell; Or, What I Do All Day

Saturday February 6, 2016

megan office

Introverts--We Can Sell Books, Too!

If you're one of our beloved locals, you probably don't see me much behind the counter at Underground Books and might be surprised to find out that I work full time (and, quite happily, beyond) for the bookstore. That's because, away from charming, historic Adamson Square, out on busy Bankhead Highway, amid the gas stations, used car lots, and family owned buffets, there's another Underground Books--the UndergroundBooks.Net office/warehouse/annex (we've never really settled on a name).  This is my dominion.

The office is where we store large collections we buy while we put on our Sorting Hats and research the...

The Underground Books Holiday Gift Guide

By Megan Bell Thursday December 3, 2015

If you're having trouble finding the perfect gifts this holiday season, Underground Books is here to help! We hope you enjoy these selections from UndergroundBooks.Net, and if you're local, remember we carry litographs, Out of Print t-shirts, Frostbeard Studio candles, and our own vintage book journals in the shop.

For The Christmas Caroler

What do you get the Elf-watching, hall-decking, mistletoe hanging Christmas fanatic in your life? A few suggestions: a first printing of beloved children's classic and Christmas staple The Polar Express would be perfect, a first printing of W. Somerset Maugham's political, prostitute-starring novel Christmas Holiday would certainly be an interesting choice, or...

The Runaway Couple: Our Scouting Trip to Chattanooga

Saturday October 31, 2015

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Talk to any antiquarian book dealer over the age of 50 and you’ll hear about the glory days of book scouting, back before the internet. There was a time (especially in larger cities with lots of bookstores) when a person could make a living hunting for books to sell to used & antiquarian bookstores. They would learn what bookstore owners in their region would buy, and they would scour yard sales, thrift stores, auctions, and estate sales for books that matched the buying interests of those stores, and they could make a living doing this. This involved a lot of...

Gone But Not Forgotten: Our Favorite Sold Books

Saturday October 3, 2015

Handling rare and antiquarian books, you're bound to fall in love from time to time. We consider placing a treasured book in the right hands an honor, but sometimes we wish we had just a little more time to admire them. These are just a few of the ones that got away, along with our current obsessions.

Songs of Love and War by William Allan

1803_1Megan: I dearly loved this 1900 collection of Scottish poetry because of the sad little love story its accompanying ephemera told (with the beautiful gilt-stamped burgundy cloth adding to its charm). This association copy was inscribed by...

Behind the Bookcases: How We Stay in Business

By Josh Niesse Monday August 24, 2015

We love running a real, live, brick and mortar bookstore. We love being surrounded by books and book-lovers. We love looking for that elusive book you need that has no title or author, but only "a blue cover." We love setting up new displays, recommending our favorite books, and stocking the shelves with unusual titles. We love providing a space for creative, cultural, and intellectual events in the town we love. Here's how we do it, with hard work, sweat, and all of the internet.

While working the counter at Underground Books, we frequently hear some variation on the following: “I...

Staff Picks, Part IV: Josh

Monday June 29, 2015

This is the final installment in our series of blogs featuring the favorite books of the Underground Books staff. Here are Josh's favorites!

 

Josh 1Watchers by Dean Koontz

At about age 12, I was probably too young to be reading Koontz. Like Stephen King, he’s a master of suspense and horror. Not usually my genre of choice today, Watchers was one of the first books to really ignite my love of reading. When the protagonist, Travis, encounters two genetic experiments escaped from a government lab, he’s drawn into a dark and dangerous tale of adventure and secrecy. The story is most famous for its...

Staff Picks, Part III: Megan

Saturday June 20, 2015

This is a continuation of a series regarding our new in-store display featuring the favorite books of the Underground Books staff.

Megan here! I've been a part of the Underground Books family since just after the shop opened, shelving books to woo Josh (totally worked), scouting, pinch hitting at the register, and hauling boxes at book fairs, house calls, and dollar book sales. In January, I joined the team full-time as the rare book cataloger and online inventory manager, though they like to call me "the Muscle," or maybe that's just how I refer to myself.  I graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree...

Staff Picks, Part II: Miranda

Friday June 12, 2015

This is second in a series of posts about our new display, featuring the favorite books of our Underground Books team.

Miranda is our bonfire-building, southern drawling biblio-goddess and has been with Underground Books before we even opened, helping Josh prepare the space for books and book lovers. She's been with the bookshop through the purchase of the building and our expansion and had complete charge of the bookstore for nearly 3 weeks while Megan and Josh were on their dream biblio-honeymoon. Fortunately for us, she's on the 10 year bachelor's plan for her psychology degree at UWG, so we get...

Staff Picks, Part I: Maria

Monday June 1, 2015

“What’s your favorite book?” is a question booksellers get used to hearing. And for the type of brainy bibliophiles who end up as booksellers, it’s a frustrating one. “How can I pick just one?!” We love so many books, sometimes we just go blank in the face of this daunting question. We look around the room in a panic for a book we like to just jump off the shelves and save us, or we mumble awkwardly about how there’s just so many….

After the success of our “Banned Book Wall” display for the last couple months, we have now...

Guest Post: "Underground Books" by Jason Oldham

Thursday April 23, 2015

Jason has been a regular and a favorite at UB since we opened in March of 2011. He wrote this wonderful piece honoring our store and we're honored to share it with you here! You can read more from Jason at www.macezra.com.

 

Note: This piece was to originally be published by the now, sadly, defunct Squared magazine out of Carrollton, Georgia.

The lady taking my blood pressure stared intently enough at the gauge, listening through her stethoscope, before turning her face up to me in a look I found all too reminiscent of what I received from the dean when...