• If possible, please hold large donations until after our Saturday and Sunday Sale Days.
• Books brought in a day or two before the sale may not make it onto the shelves that month. (If you wish to see them on display, plan accordingly)
• We're crowded. Please limit your Sale Day donations to a bag or two of books.
• No popular magazines, no National Geographic, no Gourmet, no Sunset.... FOPAL is phasing out accepting any periodicals.

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 turns 80 April 2018 & FOPAL Members get first pick at Members' Early Sale!

In celebration of FOPAL turning 80 years young, FOPAL's Members' Early Sale is scheduled for Saturday, April 14th! 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, April 14th - 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!

 
Spring forward this sale weekend

Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, which means you'll want to be sure to move your clock forward by one hour on Saturday night. Otherwise, you'll arrive at our Sunday sale an hour late! Incidentally, the correct term is daylight saving time, not daylight savings time. If you had it wrong, don't feel bad. More people Google the incorrect phrase than the correct one!

For this weekend's sale look for a special from our Philosophy section. This section has almost all new inventory with a subsection of special books. The Philosophy section manager has been working hard this month to process hundreds of books that were donated recently.

The Stamps & Coins section this month is offering a four-volume set of Scott's Stamp Album. Also, check this section for books about stamp and coin collecting.

For Asian Language book fans remember you have two sections to shop from. Both isles 8 and 13th in the Main Room have bays dedicated to Asian Language books with a nice DVDs selection on isle 13. For even more Asian Language books don’t forget to check the Children’s Room and Bargain Room too!

The March FOPAL sale is also going to be a big one for Sets! The Sets shelves are packed full waiting to find their way to homes of FOPAL's Sets lovers. Look for a few more Sets in the High Value / Better Books special in the end bay near the check-out line.

Games & Puzzles shelves are packed! Look for nearly new games and gently used puzzle all priced to sell. This March's selection is one of our biggest!

 
New policy for FOPAL Children's book sale goers

After receiving several complaints, over many months, input from Children's Room long-time volunteers and consideration by FOPAL's Book Sale Committee starting at the April Sale: People, not boxes, are line place holders. Look for a note in boxes and to be handed out to all children room customers this Saturday as a warning. Starting April 14th, on sale Saturday mornings, boxes left unattended on the ramp of the Children's Room will be removed. It is FOPAL's hope that our customers will appreciate our efforts to develop a fair line-up procedure. If you have any thoughts or concerns please feel free to express them by emailing FOPAL at <info@fopal.org>.

 
Sets for 2018 3 March

"The number one set for March is the 54-volume set Great Books of the Western World, 1952, in very good condition for $75. This is only the second time we have ever had the complete set available. Also, we have the excellent 10-volume box set of August Wilson's plays in perfect condition for $125, and the 21-volume Annals of America covering 1493 to 1986, reduced to $25.

"We have quite a range of older individual volumes typically pre-1940 novels selected for their content and decorative qualities.

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

 
Philosophy for March 2018

"March has been a bumper month with more high-quality arrivals than we have seen for a long time, all the books on the right-hand book case's top two shelves are newly offered. Titles include, August Comte: An Intellectual Biography, volume 1, Lent's Patterning Instinct, Berlin's Proper Study of Mankind, Pinker's Better Angels, and Wilber's Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality. On the second shelf, we also have a several very good books on Chinese philosophy.

"Make sure to visit our Bargain Room as about 200 philosophy books are available there this month." -Nigel Jones

 
Postcards

"The Postcard Section has now been relocated adjacent to the Exit door. This month there will be many new vintage and collectible postcards! Most all are unused and in near mint condition. At only 25 cents a piece these wonderful images are a steal. They can be a treasured keepsake or a cherished item to be shared with a special friend!

"We at FOPAL are thankful for any POSTCARDS you wish to part with as a Donation. Someone will appreciate them!" -Rommel Struckus

 
Classics and Modern Literature

"Modern Fiction: One more month for the Nobel winners. On the top two shelves again. Novels by two previously unrepresented authors are included: Imre Kertsz, 2002 Hungary, and Samuel Beckett, Ireland.

"The bottom shelf has lots of Kurt Vonnegut, some nice hard back books. Franz Kafka featured, as usual.

"Also: Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, a four volume set. Giants in the Earth, by O. E. Rolvaag.
Elizabeth Ogilvie's three-volume "The Tide Trilogy".
The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebold.
A very nice Jack London, "Tales of the North" reduced to $2.

"Classics:
This side has two bays of classic authors, also over-size volumes, some boxed and illustrated. Hispanic and Asian and Judaica authors are now shelved with new donations separated from the carryovers. There is a new shelf of volumes by authors that are one of a kind: Basque, Sicily, and others." -Laverne Bornschlegel

 
2018 3 March Humor

"In March, new arrivals include Paradoxes A to Z, A Horse Walks into a Bar, The Best Drawings of Gahan Wilson, The Book of Eleven, Born Standing Up, Crappy Little Nobody as well as Wodehouse, Black Adder, Monty Python, Hippopotamus, the unbeatable classic, Three Men in a Boat and Russia's answer to 1984, Moscow 2042.

"Make sure to check out the Bargain Room for Humor and look through the large collection of books and cartoons." -Nigel Jones

 
Movies/Entertainment

"The Movie/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.

"Our shelves are again full this month, but there are a few sub-sections which have an unusually large number of interesting books:
Screenwriting, craft, and business on the top shelf of the smaller books case on the left of the section.
Film guides including 500 and 1000 Films you need to see before you die on the bottom shelf of the same bookcase.
Foreign film, directors, and film analysis all on the tall bookshelf
Biographies including a full cart that will be outside.
Media studies which is on the bottom shelf on the smaller book case on the right." -Dick Grote

 
Children's Room

"Hop over to the Children's Room for holiday books: St. Patrick's Day, Passover (begins March 30), and Easter (April 1). We have many decorations and stuffed animals you could add to an Easter basket, too. For Nancy Drew fans, there’s a marvelous selection of like-new mysteries. The Activities section has giftables galore, including three sets of nesting Russian dolls. There's also a Brio construction set and many mathematics books including Danica McKellar's Hot X: Algebra Exposed. And our Non-fiction section has books on a great variety of subjects, with real bargains on like-new dictionaries and desk encyclopedias that make good gifts for budding scholars." -Carolyn Davidson

 
2018 March music books

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

"New this month - Blue Note: Album Cover Art; Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records; Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond; Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday; Made In The UK: The Music of Attitude, 1977-1983; A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead; No Direction Home: The Life And Music Of Bob Dylan; History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs.

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

 
2018 March 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: Kohelet's Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes (2017); The Jewish Calendar: Its Structure and Laws; Station Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio in the United States; Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots; Sweet and Low: A Family Story; Rebels in the Holy Land: Mazkeret Batya, an Early Battleground for the Soul of Israel.

"The Modern Literature section has shelves for Judaica Fiction. Books in Hebrew with no English translation will be found in European languages." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Religion

"The Aprocyphal Jesus, great courses, CD and book.
Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church, text and music.
Kristin Heyer's Kinship Across Borders, a Christian Ethic on Immigration.
Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.
Look on top shelf of Christianity for classics from the 1800s." -Nancy Cohen

 
Nature March 2018

"The shelves in the Nature section are overflowing this month! You'll find the usual favorites- local guides on birds, hikes and native plants, heartwarming animal stories, dog training and more. Our 'Just In' shelves and window display features: Sixth Extinction, Handbook of Nature Study, On Trails, Climate of Hope, What a Plant Knows, Parasite Rex, The Education of Will, Cat People, The Richness of Life, Naming Nature, Smarter Than You Think. Mushroom fans will be interested in titles we don’t normally offer: North American Truffles, Magical Mushrooms, Mushrooming With Confidence, and Mushrooms of Western North America. Book and collage artists will enjoy our many 'vintage' books (not all on nature) with beautiful covers and images waiting to be re-imagined into art!" -Karen D.

 
Biography/Memoir

"Donations to the section this month have yielded a bonanza of current bestsellers! Check out the top 'New Arrivals' shelves in each subsection to find: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, Logical Family by Armistead Maupin, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, Hunger by Roxane Gay, and The Best of Us by, and SIGNED BY, Joyce Maynard. All titles are mint condition hardcovers, priced well below internet prices!" -Ann Justice

 
Art

"The Art section received a wide assortment of books including an impressive collection of New American Paintings magazines. Each magazine presents a new group of American artist's work. The collection goes back several years.

"There are some special art books this month which include Maxfield Parrish Poster Book with 29 full color plates and The Louvre: All The Paintings displaying 3,022 museum paintings. Other fantastic books include American Watercolors an overview of American watercolor artists with wonderful reproductions.

"As a reminder, we have great collections of Asian Art books, Modern Art, How to, and collector books." -Andrea Lozano

 
Teen Recommendations by Tristan Wang

Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

In the small town of Waymer, ten-year-old boys receive the honor of becoming wringers, collecting wounded pigeons during the annual Pigeon Day shootings and wringing their necks to end their misery. So when a pigeon shows up outside his window, Palmer LaRue is faced with an ultimatum. Should he decline the pigeon to gain the acceptance of his friends? Or should he follow his conscience -- and take up the dreadful burden of keeping an unspeakable secret from everyone around him?

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

By sixth grade, best friends Miranda and Sal have learned to navigate the restless, labyrinthine New York neighborhood. But then, for obscure reasons, Sal shuts Miranda out of his life. Shortly after, enigmatic notes begin to find their way into Miranda's hands. Each more urgent than the one before, Miranda is led to believe that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think it may be too late.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Thirteen-year-old Margaret "Meg" Murry sits wide awake in her attic bedroom, disturbed by the thought of her absent scientist father. Utterly depressed, she descends to the kitchen where a bizarre and unexpected guest, Mrs. Whatsit, tells her of the existence of tesseracts. Such are wrinkles in time, a means of traveling via the fifth dimension, and the only means of rescuing Meg’s father from the captivity of the Black Thing, an evil universal entity. Will she succeed?