Library News

Rinconada Library will be open on Mondays starting February 12! See the Library's news post about this.

All Palo Alto City libraries will be closed for President's Day Monday, Februrary 19.

They've got a nice events calendar with lots of other stuff to do on other days!

-Frank McConnell

 
What's Special for February

The rainy weather kept FOPAL from offering its popular Pop-Up Music Sale in January; as a result, we are overflowing with last month's offering plus more processed for this month too! 100s of vinyl records will be for sale outside and inside the Main Room. Come add to your cool collection! And, when you stop by, be sure to say..."Hi" to George, one of FOPAL's LP experts and former music producer!

Look for a variety of displays in each sale room as we celebrate Chinese New Year, President's Day, Valentine's Day and Black History Month!

Be sure to see the packed shelves in the Main Room's Science sections, as there's a new selection from the huge... United States Geological Survey (USGS) donation. And, two bays in the "Specials Area" as well. Check out the newly filled shelves of Anthropology/Sociology books, as well as a full bay in the "Specials Area" too! From the Classic Fiction section you'll find a bounty of holiday reads that are priced to sell! At these low prices, you could buy several for your sweetheart. Looking for love? Want more heart in your home? Books on matters of sex and relationships can be found in our Psychology/Self-Help section, which is once again brimming with great stuff....Also, look for a nice selection pulled from Psychology/Self-help with with the Valentine Special. Both are located in the bay just to our right as you enter the Main Room.

Love is in the air, and whether you're shopping for a paramour or your best Galentine's Day pal -- or making a wish list of your own to slip to your sweetie -- FOPAL has got you covered, with some of the best ideas for Valentine's (and Galentine's) Day gifts. (Galentine's Day occurs on February 13th, the day right before Valentine's Day. What began as a fictional occasion on a TV show spurred a movement within female friend groups across the nation: celebrating wholesome friendships with favorite gal pals over brunch, nights out, or gifts.) At FOPAL we celebrate it all with books and much more! We have cards, books, puzzles, games, LPs and DVDs...all would be ideal gifts, February 13th or 14th. You'll surely find some heart-warming gems in every sale room this weekend. And, if you're not quite sure what kind of books your valentine will love, you can buy gift certificates in denominations of $5 from the Main Room located in the Valentine Special just outside the sorting room. These special heart shaped gift certificates are adorned with a red and white heart covered ribbon!

-Janette Herceg

 
Self Help and Personal Growth

Some featured books this month are: Right Kind of Wrong; Atlas of the Heart (2 copies); Behave; It Didn't Start with You; Power; How to Change Your Mind; F*ck Feelings; Stolen Focus; Deep Work; A Woman's Guide to Power Unbound. The 'Popular on Amazon' section typically has brisk sales, so check it out early. Newest arrivals are on their own marked shelves. Books from previous months are put into the subsections or on lower shelves. Most books are just $2 and $3 so bargains abound! Come on by, Browse, Enjoy, and have a Fantastic February,

-Marnie

 
Poetry

Little month of February
You are small but worthy - very!
Valentines with hearts and flowers
Help to pass the winter hours.
While books of love right now abound,
Other treasures can be found.
Poets from our Golden State
And many others here await.

https://fopalbooks.com/poetry.html

-Mandy MacCalla

 
Home & Crafts

February Home specials include fashion from Diana Style by Colin McDowell to Dressing the Man by Alan Flusser. You'll also find The Little Black Dress: Vintage Treasure by Didier Ludot. Try a beauty make-over from The Ultimate Beauty Book, or American Beauty by Claiborne Swanson Frank. For the bride-to-be, peruse the classic, Martha Stewart Weddings and The Bride's Book of Etiquette. Other shelves feature home building and remodeling, i.e., The Not So Big House, as well as home maintenance: Better Basics for the Home, Bottom Line's Household Magic, and Clean House, Clean Planet to name a few. There's a variety of resources on interior decorating, such as Mary Emmerling's Quick Decorating, James Huniford's At Home, plus Waverly Inspirations: Your Guide to Personal Style. Look for design titles for the home-office, as well as kitchen and bath.

Crafts books for February include a beautiful floral arts Valentine's gift, Women of Flowers: A Tribute to Victorian Women Illustrators. Or perhaps The Country Diary Book of Flowers: Drying, Pressing and Pot Pourri. We have an excellent ceramic reference: The Encyclopedia of Pottery Techniques by Peter Cosetino. You'll also find many resources for bookmaking, including Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. There are coloring books and paper folding titles such as Origami Butterflies Book Two. Fabric arts to consider: Texas Quilts and Quilters: A Lone Star Legacy, plus Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Road. Other titles feature a book series: The Family Creative Workshop.

Shelf photos can be found at https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html.

-Virginia Perry

 
Antiques & Collections

February Antiques titles showcase: Furniture Treasury Volumes I and II, unabridged, and Volume III, by Wallace Nutting. In addition, look for Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture by Sarah Handler. Other special titles include Indian Carpets by E. Gans-Ruedin. You'll also find: gold, silver, jade, and gemstones, in addition to antique guides for your collecting reference.

Shelf photo can be found at https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html.

-Virginia Perry

 
Medicine

A terrific variety of books await you in addition to texts in every medical specialty. A Shot to Save the World: the Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine is enlightening. Becoming a Neurosurgeon, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: the Story of the Penicillin Miracle and The Ultimate Challenge: Surviving Cancer, will inspire you.

Some impressive additions to our collection is a book by the greatest medical illustrator- Frank Netter's Internal Medicine, also the handy Dengue Fever and Zika: a Traveler's Guide, and the very useful Visual Diagnosis and Treatment in Pediatrics.

Featured history volumes include The Scientific Revolution in Victorian Medicine, the notorious The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide and lastly, Taking Care: the Story of Nursing and its Power to Heal the World.

-Pamela Parke

 
Children's Room

We can help you celebrate February holidays--look on the display rack next to the front door for Valentine's Day and Lunar New Year books, and in Non-Fiction for books about Black history and Lincoln, Washington, and other presidents. If you're looking for Valentine's Day "stocking stuffers," our Activities section offers suitable small toys.

In World Languages, the Dutch shelves are particularly full this month. There is also a box of "big books" in Spanish, super-oversized picture books appropriate for beginning readers. (If you're a teacher, these books are just the right size for easels. And the price is right too!) Our Asian languages expert has returned from extended travel, and the Asian languages sections have been refreshed. There's a treasure trove of Chinese picture books, both simplified and traditional, and a fully loaded cart of books in Korean and Japanese for all levels and interests. We also have a sampling of Farsi language-learning books.

If you read with a fan of the following series, look for more in the Picture Books section: Pete the Cat; Spongebob; Bob the Builder; Pinkalicious; Berenstain Bears; Panchatantra; Franklin; Clifford the Big Red Dog; Froggy; Alf; Little Critter by Mercer Mayer; Fancy Nancy; The Magic School Bus; Thomas the Tank Engine; Curious George; Barney; and Arthur. You'll also find Disney story collections and individual stories in hardback; poetry collections for young ones; books on First Words, Numbers, and Colours; board books galore for small hands; and--last but definitely not least--a special and unopened set of The Complete Peter Rabbit!

This is the month for blocks and wooden toys in the Activities section. There are Duplo blocks, containers, and a building board; several sets of wooden blocks; and a large wooden doll house with plenty of furniture and dolls. We also offer musical instruments such as a tambourine, a triangle, and bells, to make a toddler marching band. And as always, the graphic novels shelves are well stocked.

School-Age Fiction is featuring several gift-quality classics: Illustrated Tales of Shakespeare; Robin Hood, beautifully illustrated by N.C. Wyeth; a special collection of Winnie the Pooh; and Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig and The Art of Freddy, by acclaimed illustrator Walter Brooks. There are two very nice boxed sets of Harry Potter. For fantasy fans, browse a good selection of Warriors books by Erin Hunter, lots of Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, and plenty of Rick Riordan's popular titles. Check out the brimming Popular Authors cart, as well.

The Beginning Readers section is full, including many books packaged as inexpensive sets perfect for classrooms or families. You'll find more "big books," picture books in English for early grades, in a box near the Beginning Readers section. The DVDs section offers your favorite Harry Potter and Disney movies, among many other titles.

-Carolyn Davidson

 
Children's Vintage

Stories about Robin Hood have endured since the 12th century reign of King Richard the Lionheart. Originally an honorable man loyal to his king, Robin Hood later became the familiar folk hero who "stole from the rich to give to the poor." Over the centuries, his character has been taken up by Henry VIII and Shakespeare until finally he was portrayed on film by Erroll Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks and Daffy Duck. This month, children's vintage has two entire shelves of Robin Hood books of all kinds and for all ages! There is a Windermere edition of the Howard Pyle version and a Scribner's with color plates by NC Wyeth. In addition, there are historical academic reviews, versions for the younger set and some nice collectibles. February is definitely Robin Hood month! Shelf pictures are available at www.fopalbooks.com.

Other things of note: a collection of Enid Blyton's Secret Seven series (paperbacks), two Laura Ingalls Wilder histories, and two Muddle-Headed Wombat books from Australia (The Muddle-Headed Wombat and The Muddle-Headed Wombat on Holiday). The stack of Rand McNally elf books has been refreshed with some really nice titles and Beatrix Potter fans might be interested in The History of the Tale of Peter Rabbit. And finally, we have a 12" Replogle globe - definitely vintage as it shows the USSR and Rhodesia as countries (for starters)!

-Lisa Heitman

 
Book Reviews, from a kid, for a kid

Magic Treehouse: Dinosaurs Before Dawn

By Mary Pope Osborne

Brother and sister Jack and Annie, stumble upon the magic of a treehouse that can magically teleport them through time and space! They are teleported to the home of the dinosaurs, thousands of years before their bedtime! Can Jack and Annie make it home before dinnertime? Or will they have to stay in the dangerous realm of dinos? (Recommended for Grades 1-3)

The Unwanteds

By Lisa McMann

Could you imagine a world where just by doing something creative, you would be sent to death? This amazing story speaks of a young boy named Alex who lives with his twin brother Aaron, when Aaron betrays his brother. Alex is sent to death, and arrives, not at the cold hands of death, but in a wonderful and new home. Follow Alex in his quests in discovering what is truly black and white in this colorful world. (Recommended for Grades 3-7)

-Emma Chen

 
European Languages

We have lots of books in French, including Paris allemand and Chartier and Martin's history of French publishing, and a lot of books on history (mostly popular), philosophy (esp. Heidegger, Levinas, and Merleau-Ponty), lit-crit (esp. Genette), and other subjects.

-Susan Strain

 
Humor

Humor has to be P. G. Wodehouse month, he has taken over the third shelf!

We have received two anthologies of around 700 pages and one of around 300 pages. If you want to have a series of his short stories on your bedside table this is the way to go. On the other hand, we have 30 individual titles from the standard Penguin series so if you want to dip into PGW and check him out, or read a story you haven't had a chance to read before this is another excellent way to go. They are all well used at a bargain price.

Also we have a lot of new arrivals on the top shelf cartoon section including some never seen before real oddballs offerings.

Want an unusual Valentine gift? We have some.

Shelf pictures at https://fopalbooks.com.

-Nigel Jones

 
Judaica

Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion and culture including editions of the Torah and other basic texts, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, memoirs, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects.

Special interest this month - We Are Children Just the Same; Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World; Eyewitness to Jewish History; The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture 1880-1950; Pictures of Your Soul; The Bible for the Clueless But Curious; Words of the Uprooted: Jewish Immigrants in Early Twentieth-Century America.

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.

Shelf photos at https://fopalbooks.com/judaica.html

-Charlotte Epstein, Judaica Section Manager

 
Philosophy

We have a very unusual group of books which we have not had before both in terms of content and individual authors. These are all on the top shelf of the right hand bookcase.

They are all focused on the topic of emotion drawing from the classics, such as Aristotle, to contemporary books by modern philosophers. They show a detailed breakdown of definitions, the historical record, and the various non-philosophical schools of thought that are affected by this area of study.

And for something completely different, we have had a box of books on Marx show up. These are from a wide variety of writers and points of view. It seemed fitting that they are on the left bookcase, however being on the bottom shelf is not to be construed as a comment.

Shelf pictures at https://fopalbooks.com.

-Nigel Jones

 
History

History has an embarrassment of riches this month. We got some large donations of academic books on US Founding Fathers - including some obscure ones - Chinese history, and French history, all marked at much lower than on-line prices. To accommodate this largesse we've had to re-organize the history shelves, so it's worth scanning all of them to see what's new. We've also expanded the "Exploration" section to include Colonialism and Imperialism.

Check out the History Red Carts if you're looking for the Library of America classics of U.S. history - or books on the lighter side of the past. If you're interested in antiquarian books, there are some volumes of the works of Thomas Jefferson from the 1850s (not a complete set) in fair to good condition.

And there's even a copy of Schama's Embarrassment of Riches!

-Lin McAllister

 
Puzzles and Games

First of all, thank you to all of you that saw our shelves were thin the last two months and donated or re-donated many qualitry puzzles. The shelves are again full! if you missed out on the 6,000 piece puzzle last month, at least we have several new 1500 and 2000 piece ones for you. Stock up for the rainy days ahead.

In games, lots of Dungeons and Dragons manuals, some recent adult board games and some old favorites are in stock. All are priced well below resale prices.

-Vicky Evans

 
Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Comics

>Science Fiction and Fantasy have reorganized a bit to reduce the space for mass-market paperbacks which haven't been coming in as fast as they once did. Hardcover SF, books by and about J. R. R. Tolkien, and boxed sets have occupied the liberated shelves.

Notable books this month are a complete set of Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire books three novels and a story collection; a fine copy of the scarce first edition/first printing of Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow (with "karstic" on page 16, corrected in all later printings) with a companion first printing of the sequel, Children of God; and a omnibus volume of Jo Walton's Plato's Republic trilogy.

In Comics and Graphic Novels, there's a pretty 4-volume boxed set of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, some rarely seen R. Crumb volumes, and a full shelf of freshly-arrived manga.

Shelf pictures on fopalbooks.com.

-Rich McAllister

 
Donations

We accept donations on Monday through Saturday from 3-5 pm in the Main Room. But we close to donations in the week before the sale so that we can prepare the Main Room for the sale. Which means that we are closed for donations from Sunday February 4 through Sunday February 11. Please hold your donations until Monday February 12.

Please read our donation guidelines before you bring materials to us.

 
Suggestions?

We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale. Please email us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org.