March Hours

The week of March 4, we will be open daily: Tuesday and Friday, 3:30 – 7; Wednesday Noon – 3:30; Thursday and Saturday Noon – 7; and Sunday Noon – 5. (It is possible we may be able to fill in a few more hours.) Starting the week of March 11, we will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Noon – 7, and Sundays Noon – 5. We will be open most Wednesdays and Fridays for at least part of the day, and closed Mondays. It might make sense to call (215.662.5780) before making a special trip on those days.

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March events

Saturday, March 10, Noon – 4 pm, Kingsessing Library, 1201 S. 51st StFriends of the Kingsessing Library and Bindlestiff Books are co-sponsoring e program titled Mumia: His Ongoing Legacy.” Come for an afternoon of food, multimedia exhibits, and discussion on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s latest book, Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? Copies of the book will be available.

Thursday, March 15, 7:30 p.m. Cannery + Lounge at Dock Street Brewery

A prose reading showcasing local authors and hosted by Philadelphia-based writers Matt Jakubowski and Christine Kendall.  Ru Freeman, Emma Copley Eisenberg, and Marc Anthony Richardson will give short readings from their work.

Doors open at 5pm for drinks + snacks; the readings start at 7pm. Come early to secure a seat! Books will be available for sale during the event, provided by Bindlestiff Books.

Ursula LeGuin dies

Ursula K. Le Guin died today (Monday) at 88. The author of the Earthsea novels, The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness and many others, she was and remains among the brightest stars in the sky of fantasy literature. The New York Times obituary notes, in part:

Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy with books like “The Left Hand of Darkness” and the Earthsea series, died on Monday at her home in Portland, Ore. …

Ms. Le Guin embraced the standard themes of her chosen genres: sorcery and dragons, spaceships and planetary conflict. But even when her protagonists are male, they avoid the macho posturing of so many science fiction and fantasy heroes. The conflicts they face are typically rooted in a clash of cultures and resolved more by conciliation and self-sacrifice than by swordplay or space battles.

Bindlestiff carries most of her fiction, two volumes of her poetry, three volumes of essays, several books she wrote for children and young adults, and a translation of a Spanish-language novel (in the magical realism tradition) that she edited. We also have several copies of a slipcased 2-volume edition of her collected novellas and short stories – enough to keep even the swiftest reader engrossed for weeks…

A book a day

Bindlestiff supplies the books for a U Penn-library supported initiative that puts two books a week into the libraries at Penn Alexander and Henry Lea schools. Above, we see Penn Alexander students posing with some of their favorites.

Bindlestiff Bestsellers

These are our bestselling titles for the last month:

West Philly Cats 2018 calendar

Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski, Maps (picture book)

The Surrealist Home: A Box of Domestic Games

Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees

Philip Pullman, The Book of Dust

Nikki McClure, Rally 2018 Calendar

Carmen Machado, Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

Leon Rosselson, That Precious Strand of Jewishness That Challenges Authority 

Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen: Breakfast, Dinner, Cake (and Everything in Between)

Cynthia Rylant, All in a Day

British Library, Harry Potter: A Journey through a History of Magic

 

Holiday Hours

This Christmas week, Bindlestiff will open daily through Saturday at Noon, but will close early most days (around 3:30 or 4). We may be open later, feel free to check in at 215.662.5780.

We will be open Saturday, Noon – 7 p.m. We will open New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, from Noon – 4:00 p.m., closing early for our first-ever Bindlestaffers Holiday Party.

We hope to resume regular hours on January 2. However, we are still organizing the schedule given holidays and other disruptions. Weekday hours might be a bit irregular for the next week or two; we will be open our regular schedule on weekends.

Bindlestiff Bestsellers

These are our bestselling titles for the last month:

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

Kelly Link, Get in Trouble: Stories

Golden Cosmos, Locomotion (Leporello)

Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

N.K. Jemison, The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth)

Davey Owen, Mad About Monkeys (picture book)

James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son

Javaka Steptoe, Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book

Ursula LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Leo Lionni, A Color of His Own (Spanish-English bilingual edition)

Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

Susan Meyers, Everywhere Babies (board book)

Lorena Alvarez, Nightlights

Graphic Novels for Children

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Our window features graphic novels for children by NoBrow Press and their imprint Flying Eye Books. Several of these titles are now in the Penn Alexander and Henry Lea public schools in West Philadelphia as part of the A Book A Day program sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries (and for which Bindlestiff supplies the books). We also have a free NoBrown children’s comic book and several postcards available while supplies last.