In November of 2014 FOPAL implemented the following rules to be followed during the period of the 12-book limit rule. These rules still stand and will continue to be enforced. We ask all shoppers to honor the following rules:

1. EARLY IN THE SALE, each customer may select up to twelve (12) books, sets of books, or other items. They must be purchased and taken outside of the sale room. Customers may then return to the waiting line (if any) and re-enter the sale as often as they like. Note: The FOPAL Sale Manager will announce when this limit is lifted.
2. Adult shoppers may bring in no more than ONE GROCERY-SIZED BAG or ONE GREEN FOPAL BAG.
3. For safety's sake, NO boxes, large backpacks, carriages, or strollers will be allowed. Bags and other large items must not block access to shelves - they are a tripping hazard.
4. Do not take books away from their sections to review them. If you remove a book to look at it, please replace it neatly on the shelf. Covering, hoarding, and/or stashing books are not allowed. Keep your books with you; abandoned books will be re-shelved.
5. Avoid crowding, pushing, verbal disagreements, and aggressive interactions with other shoppers, staff, or volunteers.
6. SCANNER/CELL PHONE USAGE- some customers have voiced their concerns about the use of scanners. Although some book sales do not permit their use, FOPAL permits them with the expectation that all customers will act in a manner that is respectful to other patrons, volunteers, and staff. If you are using a dedicated scanner, please be mindful of the area and other customers around you. If you are not using a scanner, please keep in mind that those who do are also customers.

Our goal is to make our book sales as pleasant and rewarding as possible, for as many customers as possible. We are grateful for the support of most of our shoppers in honoring these rules. We ask for the commitment of our "business clients" in considering the rights of all of our customers and observing our rules.

Many thanks to all of you -FOPAL Book Sale Committee

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

 
Suggestions?

FOPAL Members Get the First Pick at Members' Early Sale

A super big FUN FESTIVE FOPAL Members' Early Sale is scheduled for Saturday, December 8th. Twice a year, FOPAL holds a Members' Early Sale, at which members of the Friends of the Palo Alto Library are admitted early to the Main Room sale. Members enjoy a less crowded Main Room and get the first crack at FOPAL's wonderful collection of materials!

Saturday, December 8th - At our Members' Early Sale, Life and Sponsor Members (and one spouse or guest) may enter at 9AM and can purchase up to 100 books per membership from 9 AM to 10 AM. Other Members enter at 10AM and are able to purchase 25 books at a time. General admission for all including non-Members begins at 11AM. The usual limit on purchasing 12 books at a time lasts until there is no longer a line waiting to enter. Remember, you may renew your membership, or join FOPAL, on the sale day. Renew, or join now at www.fopal.org/join!

 
November 10th: FOPAL Sale & CASP Open Studios

One great location: the Cubberley Community Center! Two great events.... November 10th, FOPAL and Cubberley Artist Studio Program (CASP) come together to offer bibliophiles and art connoisseurs an opportunity to shop/buy FOPAL's art books, framed art...then attend CASP's Meet the Artists Event and Open Studios! Look for more details in FOPAL's November Sale newsletter and on FOPAL's Facebook page. Please "like" and "follow" us when you visit. General info; CASP Open Studios - Wings E, F and U, Artist Presentations 1:00pm–2:00pm, Room H1. Watch fast-paced presentations from all the artists; hear about their work and workshops. Open Studios 1:00pm-4:00pm. Join the artists in their studios for workshops, art, and refreshments.

 
FOPAL Closings for November

In observance of Thanksgiving FOPAL will be closed for donations November 24th and 25th.

 
Fine Art- December sale offering

Did you know FOPAL receives special art pieces each month? Look for a figurative lithograph for sale in December. Pier 39 by Herman Roderick Volz; this print is numbered 15 of 155. Also being offered in December a small collection of oils by California artist Elsie Lower Pomeroy. Although not as well-known as her male contemporaries, her work exemplifies the California Scene Painting movement from the 1920s-50s period.

 
Children's Room

"Alert: The holidays are just around the corner! Thanksgiving is November 22, and we have many Thanksgiving books, most for 50 cents. Hanukkah begins on Sunday, December 2, and we're ready with boxes of giftable Hanukkah books, most priced at 50 cents. Also, this month we offer an abundant selection of beautifully illustrated, gift-worthy Christmas books and holiday DVDs and CDs, all priced to sell. (Come to our December sale for even more.) There are a number of other giftable items, including many brand-new packs of small notebooks, each with a decorative cover--great stocking stuffers. In the School-Age Fiction corner, look for giftable recent Rick Riordan books, and early Harry Potter books for readers just beginning the Potter saga. Also lots of the most popular chapter book series, like Magic Tree House, Geronimo Stilton, and Junie B. Jones." -Carolyn Davidson

 
Vintage Children's Books

"There are lots of interesting picture books for younger ones as well as shelves of novels for those a little older." -Nancy Mahoney Cohen

With Nancy's assistance we have some shelf preview photos for the Vintage Children's Books special.

 
Teen Reviews by Jeff Wang

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In a post-apocalyptic city, there are five factions -- each characterized by a specific attribute. The Abnegation values selflessness, the Candor honesty, the Amity peacefulness, the Dauntless bravery, and the Erudite intelligence. On a teenager's sixteenth birthday, they attend a choosing ceremony to determine which faction they will belong to for the rest of their lives, or suffer the poverty of being factionless. However, Beatrice Prior of Abnegation receives a shocking result for her aptitude test: she was divergent, or displayed signs of three different factions -- Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. What future will she choose?

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss finds out that her actions taken during the games sparked a spirit of rebellion among the districts. President Snow, the leader of the capitol, now wants her to tour the country and that her actions were out of love for Peeta, and not an act of resistance. But as the Victors toured the country, the situation became worse, and fighting has broken out between some of the districts and the Capitol. Now as the 75th hunger games begins, a special twist is implemented—a Female and Male victor from previous years were to compete in another hunger games, and as Katniss was the only female from District 12 to ever survive, she is picked again. Will she be able to survive another hunger games?

City of Ember: Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau

As the months pass by, peace has settled between the Emberites and the People of Sparks, and they lived in both unity and harmony. One day however, Lina and Doon acquired a incomplete book titled "For the People of Ember" by trading with a merchant. Unable to decipher the book's message, they decide to head back to the now-dark City of Ember to find out. When they get there, however, they found something left behind by the Builders of the city that would not only change the lives of the Emberites, but also the very world they live in.

 
Humor

"Without a doubt, November is British humour month! We have 25 books by P. G. Wodehouse including six anthologies, along with Monty Python, Spike Milligan, and Jerome K. Jerome. Then with one foot in the UK and one in the US we have Laurel and Hardy which leads us to Billy Crystal, Peanuts, two versions of the New Yorker Complete Cartoons and the master, Charles Addams. However, book, or box, of the month, and not seen before, is Edward Gorey's astonishing Dracula, A Toy Theatre which ran on Broadway for 925 performances." -Nigel Jones

 
Sets

"New arrivals for Sets in November include six volumes from the 1837 series The Pictorial History of England, $5 each. They are worthy of attention because, although they are showing their age, each is illustrated with hundreds of woodcuts. Reduced for November is the 15-volume numbered set, 1001 Nights, 1901 to $30, and the 10-volume set The Works of Flaubert, 1910, to $20. From now on there will also be a section specifically for books published before 1900. From 1900 to 1940 we have quite a range of older individual volumes typically novels selected for their content and decorative qualities. There are some very good candidates for book arts this month.

"Don't forget, a set only counts as one book when you are buying within the 12-book limit." -Nigel Jones

 
Movies/Entertainment

"The Movies/Entertainment section is in the north/west corner of the book room. It is always easy to find because the African Queen is hanging overhead.

"This month we received a large donation of large format (aka coffee table) books which are very nice. Included are Charlie Chaplin Photo Album and Film Posters of the 60s (in case you weren't there or missed it for some reason). We also have a large selection of "films by" books. Want to know about every movie Bogie made, come and find out.

"In the film criticism area, there are several Cinema Journals.

"We have several books on grand old movie theatres.

"Finally, check out the signed books. Included are books signed by Leonard Maltin, Alan Alda, and Marlee Matlin.

"Books are arranged:

Small bookcase: modern culture, film writing, craft and movie business, TV, guides

Tall bookcase: radio, "films of" books, signed books, large format, foreign film, Hollywood and film history, film commentary and theory, director’s corner, choice biographies/memoirs

Smaller bookcase: Paperbacks, film tie-ins and scripts, and media and media studies." -Dick Grote

 
Music

"Visit the Music section for books on a wide variety of musical topics in the genres of classical, rock, jazz, opera, American music, and dance.

"New this month - Capturing Nureyev: James Wyeth Paints the Dancer; The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music; Two by Two: Tango, Two-Step, and the L.A. Night; The Cello Suites; Stradivari's Genius; Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday; Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello; The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy; Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus.

"Also browse our wide selection of sheet music neatly sorted by instruments including violin, piano, trumpet and guitar." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Judaica

"Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, memoirs, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects.

"New this month - Our Father Our King: Drawings by Saul Raskin; Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof; Jewish Schizophrenia in the Land of Israel; If All the Seas were Ink; Rescue: The Exodus of the Ethiopian Jews; Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad; Voyage of the Damned.

"Most fiction with Jewish themes will be found in Modern Literature, Classics, or current Fiction. Books entirely in Hebrew are shelved in the European Languages section." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Religion

"Several new better books such as Royal's Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy and divine spirituality); Barth's Church Dogmatics I.1 2010; large format Popes through the Ages; Metz & Moltmann, Faith and the Future; Losskey, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church and Augustine, The City of God Against the Pagans." -Nancy Mahoney Cohen

 
Philosophy

"New arrivals for November include: The New History of Western Philosophy, The Restless Mind - de Tocqueville, Humanistic Geography by Tuan, and the five-volume Later Works of Dewey. Unusually we have received books signed by the following authors: Jacques Derrida, Konrad Lorenz, Maria Petrosyan and one signed and inscribed from Fred Suppe to Pat Suppes. We also have 6 books on various aspects of Asian philosophy." -Nigel Jones

 
Asian Languages

"Asian Languages section has two locations. One is in aisle 13. This aisle displays many Chinese CDs and DVDs of music, movies and dramas. The other location is in aisle 8 hosting a lot of books in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and Vietnamese.

"十一月，我们有不少有收藏价值的书。为了纪念金庸大师仙逝，我们的书架上有若干套他的书籍， 如《射雕英雄传》《神雕侠女》《笑傲江湖》《鹿鼎记》等等。还有一些历史名著， 如《东周列国志》《儿女英雄传》《真本金瓶梅》等。" -Haiyan Chen

 
Historical Fiction

"Lots of books by Alan Furst; spy stories" -Marian Urman

 
European Languages

"We got several boxes of books about the Castro regime, in Spanish, probably from the Hoover Institution." -Susan Strain

 
Military History

"The Military History section is once again brimming full of uncommon items: WW I, WW II, Vietnam and our wars in the Middle East. There are many biographies and memoirs of the key players! We have an unusual amount of books on the American Civil War, many of which are vintage and collectible! Also for sale are scarce WW II metal 'recognition models' made exclusively for the U.S. military under contract with Authenticast Comet Metal Products Company. These are little pieces of history, ships and tanks, priced to sell! There are also some Dinky Toy Aircraft! Look for them at the outside Ephemera sale table adjacent to the cashier." -Rommel Struckus

 
Postcards

"The Postcard Corner is once again brimming full of cards; 500 new cards have recently been donated and are standard size chromes, but many earlier postcards are linen ones. All are ridiculously priced at only twenty five cents each! The Postcard section is located right by the exit door - check it out! Just a reminder, we also are grateful for your postcard donations." -Rommel Struckus