If you cannot attend the book sale, please drop by the Friends Bookstore located inside the Mitchell Park Library and Downtown Library and open during library hours. They are restocked regularly with a unique selection of books for all ages and interests.

 
Suggestions?

Start a Family Library for 2015!

If you ask many book lovers, the most important piece of furniture in a room is the bookcase. A home library doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive to provide rich reading experiences. Many children have their own bookcases in their bedrooms, and for many homes books can be found displayed in almost every room of the house. For these families reading materials are simply a part of everyday family life. FOPAL can help you fill your family library with a wonderful assortment of books and it won't cost you much at all. With regular trips to our monthly sales and by visiting each of our three sales rooms you can easily create a family library for 2015. Remember, just about anything goes in a family library. Paperback and hardcover books, a dictionary, an atlas, song books, magazines for parents and kids, newspapers....

If you need suggestions for books while shopping FOPAL's book rooms look for a volunteer floor person and ask for their advice. Most of our volunteers are avid readers and would be eager to point you in the direction of books perfect for you and your family.

If you're looking for books during the week or on non-sale weekends, then you'll want to check out the Mitchell Park, Friends of the Library Book Store or the Downtown FOPAL gondola. These sales areas are open during library hours and restocked weekly with fresh books on a variety of subjects.

 
Nature for January

"How would you like to be able to identify the birds in your yard and on your walks around your neighborhood? Join the Great Backyard Bird Count, gbbc.birdcount.org, Feb. 13-16, 2015. Information is posted in our Nature section along with bargain-priced bird guides to get you started. Birding not for you? We are also featuring a great selection of local and regional trail guides to help you with your New Year's resolution to get outside more often. Check out our special on Golden Guides, three for a dollar - your kids will enjoy collecting them." -Karen D

From Nature for January also check out the Wolves special. Explore both the history of the conflict between humankind and the wolf and the elaborate social behavior between these animals within their packs. One title featured is Wolves, a photographic portfolio combining the work of some of North America's leading wildlife photographers and one of the world's leading nature writers, Daniel Wood. Another book form this collection worth considering is Secret Go the Wolves by R.D. Lawrence. "They were pathetic bundles of fur when R.D. Lawrence pulled them from the gory sack stowed in a Cree Indian's canoe. Wrapped in their dead mother's hide, the two wolf pups were soaked in water and blood, barely ten inches long, and quite blind. Striking a bargain on the spot, Lawrence paid the Indian twenty-five dollars and a canoe paddle for the male and female cubs, whom he dubbed Matta and Wa (after Ontario's Mattawa River, from which they had been rescued). Thus began an amazing adventure for Lawrence, his wife Joan, and the malamute dog Tundra in raising and caring for animals that Lawrence vowed would someday return to their wilderness habitat." -Book description 2014. There's a special display of the Wolves books in the last set of bookshelves near the check-out line.

 
Preview Our Shelves

Check out some of the thousands of books that will be on sale this weekend using our shelf preview photos.

 
Business Section Selections

"This month we have a lot of fascinating volumes regarding economic theory from authors such as Malcolm Gladwell The Tipping Point and Thomas Friedman The Lexus and the Olive Tree; women in management from Sheryl Sandberg Lean In, Women, Work and the Will to Lead; general management theory by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age; business biographies such as Leslie Berlin The Man Behind the Microchip, Robert Noyce; insurance guides such as Harry W. Crosby Long Term Care Insurance; on venture capitalism such as Simon Acland Angels, Dragons & Vultures, How to Tame the Venture Capital Beasts; and innovation by Ron Adner The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation. We have many more at well below retail prices." -Peter & Rick

 
Bargain Room Business Section

Look for an abundance of business books in our Bargain Room in Cubberley H2, on shelves other than in the usual section. The last three months we've been storing boxes of business books when the shelves overflowed. Last month we got some of them out and we're going to see how many more we can get out for the January sale!

 
Sports/Hunting and Fishing

During a recent estate purchase FOPAL's on-line sale guru Jerry Stone picked up a "lot" of books compiled by an avid sportsman. In this unique collection we found dozens of books on hunting, fishing, trapping.... If you've always wanted to know the best rod and reel to use when bass fishing then come check out this sports special. Althea Andersen has priced books from this collection at one to three dollars each and put them on display in the first "specials" bookcase on your right as you enter the Main Room.

Look for titles like, At Home In the Wilderness, by Sun Bear- "Sun Bear, founder of the Bear Tribe, wrote this book several years ago, and used it extensively in his retreat classes. All those who plan a return to the land way of life, can learn many wilderness arts and methods from this author, a Chippewa Indian, who spent years in the wilderness learning the ancient survival techniques of his ancestors. He includes some modern ones too." Also WhitetailX2, by Norm Jollifee and Ben Lee- "This hunting book is written by two of the most experienced deer hunters and articulate storytellers of today. Maine's Jolliffe and Alabama's Lee have teamed up to recount, each in his individual Yankee or Deep South fashion, all that they know about the northern and southern whitetail species." And The Habit of Rivers, by Ted Leeson- "There was a time that I didn't fish," writes Ted Leeson in his introduction to this stunning first book, "but I cannot remember it. Thirty-five years ago I toddled off to Turtle Creek with a cane pole and worms and returned with a six-inch smallmouth and a monkey on my back. I ate the bass and have been feeding the monkey ever since." With wry humor and rare insight, The Habit of Rivers tells the story of Leeson's passion for rivers, trout, and fly fishing, and his experiences as a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest.

 
Psychology and Self-Help

With every New Year comes a New Year's resolution: a vow of.... Look to our Psychology self-help section to get you started on your New Year's resolution. We have a terrific selection of some of the most popular self-help books. Here are several titles for you to check out as you look for inspiration for your 2015 resolutions: Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message, by Tara Mohr- A groundbreaking women's leadership expert and popular conference speaker gives women the practical skills to voice and implement the changes they want to see in themselves and in the world, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller- In The ONE Thing, you'll learn to cut through the clutter, achieve better results in less time, build momentum toward your goal, dial down the stress, overcome that overwhelmed feeling, revive your energy, stay on track, master what matters to you. The ONE Thing delivers extraordinary results in every area of your life-work, personal, family, and spiritual. WHAT'S YOUR ONE THING? Being in Love, by OSHO- Being in Love will inspire you to welcome love into your life anew and experience the joy of being truly alive by sharing it.

 
Modern Literature (20th Century Fiction)

"Several titles, all first editions, by Norman Mailer, an assortment of books by S.J. Perelman and Calvin Trillin, both of whom have been staff writers at The New Yorker, they are both noted for the wit and humor of their writing. Quality stories that will make you laugh! Found in Modern Literature, which is organized alphabetically by author's last name." -Scottie Zimmerman

 
Philosophy for January 2015

"The two Philosophy bookcases are arranged so that the left one is primarily about specific philosophers, their works, and commentaries on their works, whereas the right is more to do with philosophical topics, historical overviews and schools of thought. New arrivals in the left bookcase include two books on Heidegger, one by Magda King, the other by George Steiner; two books on Hegel, one by Loewenberg, the other from Modern Library; and a very good edition on Nietzsche also from the Modern Library. New arrivals in the right bookcase include: Thinking and Destiny by Percival, Freedom by Rollo May, On Tyranny by Strauss, Poetics of Space by Bachelard, An Ethical Life by Singer, Doubt by Hecht and Antifragile by Taleb.

Don't forget to visit the Bargain Room for even more Philosophy books." -Nigel Jones

 
Humor for January 2015

"The highlight for Humor in January is a collection of National Lampoon magazines. They are from April 1980 to December 1980, inclusive and are in a bright yellow National Lampoon binder. They are priced at $25 for the set. Other highlights include a biography of Charles Addams by Linda Davis, Herblock's autobiography, Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam, and Letters from a Nut by Jed Nancy. We also have our largest selection of Presidential related humor, 25 very bipartisan books for every taste.

There is even more Humor to be found in the Bargain Room, especially cartoons" -Nigel Jones

 
Greetings from Cards

"Starting this month, all individual cards will be priced at 25 cents. Boxed cards are available across from the cashiers in the main room, just below the postcards." -Marda Buchholz

Here's a big THANK YOU to the dozens of FOPAL volunteers who make this sale possible. It's in part because of our amazing volunteers that the FOPAL book sales are a great success. While attending the sale offer a "Thank You" to the volunteers you see. If you'd like to become a FOPAL volunteer please email jherceg@fopal.org or call 650-494-1266.