Bookstores with Online Sales:

The AIA Bookstore and Design Center, located at 1218 Arch Street, sells books directly through the website.

Arnecliffe Books, a primarily mail-order rare and out-of-print bookstore in Havertown, PA has it’s titles online at Abebooks.com.

Bauman Rare Books in Philadelphia has out-of-print titles in a variety of subjects on Abebooks.com.

Black and Nobel, the urban lit bookstore located at Broad and Erie, sells books directly through the website.

Blue Merle Books is an online-only bookstore located in Northeast Philadelphia.

Bob’s Rare Books in Haddonfield, NJ lists rare titles online for sale.

The Book Trader. The independent used bookstore at 2nd and Market has over 5,000 rare books listed on their AbeBooks.com website.

Brickbat Books, at 709 S. 4th St, requests that you email them at brickbatbooksATgmail.com to place orders. (Their shopping cart is under construction.)

Friends of the Free Library, the non-profit used bookstore affiliated with the Free Library of Philadelphia also sells titles online through Amazon.

Gilmores Books, located at 43 E. Chestnut Hill Ave, specializes in used and out-of-print books.

Giovanni’s Room, The LGBT bookstore at 12th and Pine sells their books online directly through their website.

Headhouse Books, at 619 S. Second St, requests that you email them at salesATheadhousebooks.com to place orders. (Their shopping cart is under construction.)

Joseph Fox Bookshop. The oldest independent bookstore, at 1724 Sansom Street, sells their books online directly through their website.

Mostly Books, the bookstore at 529 Bainbridge St., has all of their titles listed on their Amazon store.

Penn Book Center, at 130 S. 34th St, sells their academic and literary titles online through Indiebound.com

Philadelphia Print Shop, specializing in hard to find prints and maps of the city of Philadelphia.

Quaker Books, the bookstore of the Friends General Conference, sells Quaker titles at their website.

Walk A Crooked Mile, the bookshop inside the Mt. Airy train station on the R7 line, sells their titles online here.

Whodunit?, the used bookstore at 1931 Chestnut St., sells their titles online through AbeBooks.com. They specialize in mystery books.

Bookstores Without Online Sales:

Big Blue Marble Bookstore 551 Carpenter Lane

Bindlestiff Books, 4530 Baltimore Ave.

Children’s Book World, 17 Haverford Station Rd.

Germ Books 2005 Frankford Ave.

House of Our Own, 3920 Spruce St.

Last Word Bookstore 220 S. 40th St.

Wooden Shoe Books, 704 South St.

From Greg Williams, Walk A Crooked Mile’s owner:

When I opened the shop, I wanted to be a bookseller but I also wanted to be a community builder and I’m proud that Walk a Crooked Mile Books has become a part of the warp and woof of Mount Airy. We started a free concert series nearly ten years ago and have had countless wonderful evenings of music outside the shop. We have sponsored the Umpteenth Mount Airy Yard Sale for umpteenth plus Saturdays. We’ve seen countless young babies grow to toddlers who come to watch the train come in, and then start finding books to read in our $1 kid’s books, and they are now in High School. We’ve served coffee and tea to thousands of you and you have let us into your lives. We are grateful for all of this.

On Walk a Crooked Mile’s website, Greg lists 5 things you can do to help them survive in this economic climate. Number one on the list is shopping at the store this holiday season, either in person or online here.

One of the authors reading tomorrow night is young adult novelist Mark Hardy. Mark is the author of Nothing Pink, a novel about a teenager named Vincent struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his deeply religious childhood. Mark and his partner Jim live in Raleigh, NC where Mark teaches second grade at Creech Road Elementary School. He also works as a national literacy consultant and was kind enough to conduct this interview while waiting for his car to be repaired on the way to Philadelphia. Thank you, Mark!

When did you first conceive of the idea of writing a novel and why did you decide to write this book for a young adult audience?

(Mark Hardy) As a teacher, I came to realize that when I was a teen, I never found myself in the literature I read. Not once. Not even in gay erotica. One summer soon after this realization, I took a short story writing course with young adult author, Carolyn Coman. In order to write a story, I needed a protagonist I loved. Vincent immediately appeared. Because this was Vincent’s story, and he tells it as a young adult, the novel is categorized YA. Although, apparently the 1970s setting and theological themes make the book appealing for adults like me, who were themselves teens during that era.

In Nothing Pink, Vincent struggles to reconcile his gay identity with his Christian upbringing. How did you come up with the idea?

(Mark Hardy) Once Vincent appeared on the scene, my first job was to get to know him. As he revealed himself to me, his crisis was clearly a spiritual one. As I tried to discern the thing he most desperately wanted, it was obviously unconditional love and acceptance from God and family; freedom from the tyranny of his religious upbringing. Even though I was more than thirty years old at the time, I was in a similar crisis. As I wrote the book, Vincent and I both wrestled with and reconciled religion and sexuality.

What other young adult literature would you recommend for someone struggling with his or her sexuality? Are there any books in particular that you think are “must reads?”

(Mark Hardy) As far as great titles for YA, I would actually not recommend titles, but rather a queer YA lit blog or two. How fortunate that young people struggling with identity issues today have such a wide range of readers’ advisory tools on the internet so that they may find books that not only speak to them as young queer people, but that also appeal to their interests outside of being gay.

Try these: I’m here. I’m queer. Now, what the hell do I read?. Additionally, ALA’s roundtable on GLBTQ YA lit is worth looking at.

That said, Cameron’s SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU is awesome. And I can’t forget to mention Sanchez’s THE GOD BOX, which is similar in theme.

What kind of response did you get after Nothing Pink came out?

(Mark Hardy) My closest friends who stuck by me throughout the decade I took to write Nothing Pink rejoiced and helped me celebrate. Very few members of my family said a word. For the most part, reviewers were generous and gracious. I still weep with gratitude when I read favorable reviews. I am blessed to have personally met and corresponded with readers who have been touched and moved by NOTHING PINK. Many, many people-gay and straight, find themselves as they live Vincent’s story.

Are you working on anything now?

(Mark Hardy) I am working at teaching 2^nd grade and also on three writing projects: a second YA novel, ICED TEA SKY, a short story for submission to an anthology of micro-fiction that Persea is publishing, and a professional book for teachers of writing.

Okay, one last question. You’re stuck on a desert island, with either Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson. Who do you pick and how do the two of you get off the island?

(Mark Hardy) First of all, I would definitely leave Thomas Jefferson on the island. The hypocrisy of some of his writing angers me. So much of it is was untrue at the time written and remains untrue today. I’d have to take Betsy with me off the island. We carve needles out of fish bones and sew our clothes (and Thom’s and Ben’s) into parasails. We float naked over the ocean until we land on a nearby, inhabited island.

Reading — in order — are  Mark Hardy, Thom Nickels, Scott Sherman, Livia Llewellyn, David Carter, Victoria Brownworth, Paul Russell, Steve Berman, Radclyffe, Rob Byrnes, Mark Merlis, Malinda Lo, Bob Smith, S. Renee Bess, Ken Harvey, Bobbi Marolt, Bill Konigsberg, Tim Brough, and Perry Brass.

If you can’t make the event, you can also buy books from these authors directly from Giovanni’s Room’s website.

And! this afternoon and tomorrow, I will be posting interviews with Mark Hardy and Malinda Lo, who graciously agreed to talk to me about their books and the way they write. Yay!