Library News

The Library is celebrating all sorts of things in February:

• Black History Month
• Lunar New Year
• Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr

The Library (all branches) will be closed on Monday, February 16 for the Presidents' Day holiday.

You can find out about these sorts of things in a slightly more timely manner from the Palo Alto City Library Blogs page. Or you can subscribe to them with an RSS reader.

You could find out about other things by subscribing to the Library's mailing list. Like us, they send one or two messages per month, more usually one.

There is also the Library's events calendar that has a lot besides when the Library is closed.

-Frank McConnell

 
Sci-Fi/Comics

I had some complaints last month that the shelves were a little empty, due to December's massive sale and donations being a little slow through the holidays. Not a problem this month! Shelves are packed with new donations. In Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comics, look for a three-volume deluxe Complete Calvin and Hobbes. In the Alternate History section there's a huge collection of the 1632 books by Eric Flint and others. Over in Science Fiction, a set of the Expanse books, and first editions of the second Dune trilogy. (Is a God-Emperor one notch up from a Priest-King?) For Fantasy, we've got a DVD of the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings, and what I think is the best book about Tolkien, John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War.

-Rich McAllister

 
Cameras

Lots of great cameras this month:

• Burke & James large format camera with a spare lens
• 2 Olympus OM-1 SLR 35mm cameras
• Porst 35mm
• Miranda 35mm Sensorex
• Kodak Brownie with flash, and flashbulbs!
• Kodak Flash Bantam
• And More!!!

-Squeegee

 
Tools

A bunch of Tools and accessories:

• Garden Tools
• Shop Tools
• Power Tools
• Electronics Tools

-Toolcan Sam

 
Politics

There's a lot of political turmoil to navigate in the cold February month. With the Russian and American nuclear agreement ending, it seems that the question that we're all asking about is how does this change the political playing field, when we already have so much going on at home? Good thing for us, we have the Politics Section of the main room. On our shelves we have books about the nuclear war between nations, and to back it up, we have many books about the tumultuous domestic American business. Questions about Russia? We have a whole section on political ideologies of Russia, come and check it out. We look forward to seeing you this month, here in the Politics section of the Main Room.

-Emma Chen

 
European Languages

European Languages has a lot of Simenon this month. We also have lots of books in Italian, mostly fiction, including books by Pavese and Ginzburg, and lots of translations from writers like Yehoshua and I.B. Singer.

-Susan Strain

 
Home & Crafts

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's not too late to buy a how-to book and create something wonderful for your sweetheart this Valentine's Weekend. There are loads of finds on our shelves to help you make a perfect gift!

To assist you with a project, or to give a book to your Valentine, there are beautiful Craft titles including Papercutting, Card-Making, The Complete Watercolor Artist, and Making Your Own Great Earrings, to name a few. If your loved one is a potter, there are several new titles on ceramics. Who doesn't like flowers? Try Color Me Floral: Stunning Monochromatic Arrangements for Every Season. Browse to find several new origami titles. Interestingly, there are two resources for painting on silk. Other fabric arts include: needlepoint, cross-stitch, and embroidery, plus all your favorite guides in knitting, including Stitch 'N Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. Quilting titles include The Complete Book of Quilting and Collectible Quilts. Look for airplanes, plus coloring and drawing books for all interests.

On the Beauty shelf there are many resources for make-up, hair, style, and weddings. Fashion design includes Four Hundred Years of Fashion and The Fashion Book. There's a tiny Home title with a big impact: Frank Lloyd Wright: Life and Home. Here's another great title: House / Thinking: A Room by Room Look at How We Live. We have books on entertaining, and books on cleaning up such as Salt, Lemon, Vinegar, and Baking Soda. For organizing try The Martha Manual and Storage & Display. Whether you're expanding or contracting, we've got you covered with Adding to a House and Downsizing the Family Home. For design inspiration try our international home titles, from countryside to city, featuring: England, France, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Japan, and China.

eShelf photos can be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html>.

-Virginia Perry

 
Antiques & Collections

In the month of February you find a book on Official White House China, dating from 1789, plus the 2024 Handbook of United States Coins. In case you're traveling to Europe, there's Laura Morelli's Made in France: A Shopper's Guide to France's Best Artisanal Traditions from Limoges Porcelain to Perfume, Pottery, Textiles, and More. To help you anywhere you are looking, we have Miller's Understanding Antiques. Regionally, there's the Collector's Encyclopedia of California Pottery. Then there's the beautiful Handcrafted Indian Textiles: Tradition and Beyond. Discover these and other resources including jewelry and watches, stamps and other coins, furniture and rugs, toys and dolls, plus much more for your collecting reference.

eShelf photo can be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html>.

-Virginia Perry

 
Sociology

This book sale features 526 carefully selected titles devoted to sociology, anthropology, social theory, and cultural history. The arrangement itself tells a story: clearly labeled sections on theory and method, cultural and physical anthropology, U.S. self-reflection, urban studies, and social movements invite thoughtful browsing rather than hurried scanning. Among the stand-out titles is Thomas W. Laqueur's The Work of the Dead, a powerful exploration of how modern societies have understood, honored, and cared for the dead. Moving from burial practices to monuments and collective memory, Laqueur argues that the treatment of the dead lies at the moral core of modern social life. Also featured is Jürgen Habermas's The Theory of Communicative Action, a foundational work of twentieth-century social theory. Habermas rethinks rationality, arguing that communication and mutual understanding--not only markets or power-- are central to social coordination and democratic possibility. Together, these books exemplify a sale rich in ideas, debates, and enduring questions—ideal for readers who enjoy slow discovery and intellectual depth.

 
Poetry

February, a month so small
With days that quickly seem to fall.
Let's help the winter days to flee
And celebrate bad poetry.
(Rod McKuen, how ya doin'?)
Or on a more familiar theme,
Sing a song of love's young dream.
However you decide this time,
Come to the sale and buy some rhyme.

<https://fopalbooks.com/poetry.html>

-Mandy MacCalla

 
Puzzles

This month the Puzzles section has something for everyone. 5 boxes of puzzles not yet sold over the last couple of months were temporarily removed to make room for the dozens of new and different ones we received. Included in the new donations were many for the true puzzle enthusiast and competitors among you--11 almost new 2000 piece puzzles and one each of 3000 and 4000 pieces! For those recreational puzzlers who want a bargain there are marked shelves stuffed with $2, $3, and $4 puzzles. For you regulars, lots of new-to-us puzzles on the middle shelves.

-Vicky Evans

 
Children's Room

There's still time to find books at all age levels for Valentine's Day. Other holidays we're featuring this month include Ramadan (2/17-3/19), Purim (3/3), Holi (3/3), and St. Patrick's Day (3/17). And the month of February is Black History Month, so be sure to check out the display in Non-fiction.

February is also fabulous in School-age Fiction. The Classics shelves boast loads of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five series; a beautiful collector's edition of Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White; a like-new boxed set of Edward Eager's Tales of Magic; a complete set of The Chronicles of Narnia; and pristine copies of the Mary Poppins series, by P.L. Travers. Nearby the classics, you'll find many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books including the latest, #19, Hot Mess. Fantasy and Science Fiction are stocked with the Warriors series, by Erin Hunter, and with many of the popular Rick Riordan books. And don't forget to take a peek at our Popular Authors cart, full to the brim.

Along the south wall of the room you'll find lots of inexpensive sets of Beginning Readers, along with DVDs of Disney favorites, Harry Potter, and other classic movies for kids. Our Parenting section offers many books on parenting teens and helping kids navigate social and emotional challenges, in addition to fun books on family travel.

Game on! Our Activity shelves sport more games and puzzles (including Ravensburgers) than ever before--there's something for all ages, including loads of poker chips. Did you know the chips can be used in a classroom for counters and for teaching negative numbers? If you're looking for other "academic" items, we have a world globe, and don't miss our math/science table featuring collections of math contest problems, as well as series ranging from Bedtime Math to Beast Academy. Shop for a wide selection of LEGO, several nice wooden toys, Play-Doh extruders, and two T Rex dinosaurs. Look for literary stuffies including Alice in Wonderland, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Angelina Ballerina, and Max in his wolf-suit. Gaming fans will find many, many Minecraft books along with tins of Pokemon cards at prices much lower than you'll find anywhere else. And as usual, our graphic novels shelves are packed--including a large selection of hard-cover French-language graphic novels!

In the Picture Books section you'll find a collection of 10 Lynn Reiser hardbacks, various titles; a collection of the original 26 Thomas the Tank Engine stories; and classic favorites such as Ferdinand the Bull and books by Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, and Leo Lionni. We offer a number of Golden Books, along with Peppa Pig; Froggy; the Percy's Park Tales, by Nick Butterworth; and the Meg Mackintosh Solve-It-Yourself mysteries.

As always, we have a large selection of gift-worthy hardback picture books, displayed not far from the cashier's table. And if you're looking for books for the youngest readers, you'll find a great selection on the counter under the front windows.

-Carolyn Davidson

 
Children's Vintage

Pick up one of these Children's Vintage sweet Valentine's Day treats for your book-loving honey (or yourself!):

• Sesame Street readers for younger readers featuring Ernie, Bert and the whole gang
• One of the books from our robust collection featuring world languages. There is the usual Spanish/French/German but also some fine Norwegian, Polish or Russian choices
• Several Hitchcock anthologies (spies and scary stories)
• Peanuts and Gang paperbacks
• Twin thriller Nancy Drews
• Sims 2 and Sims 3 CDs for both PCs and Macs

Shelf pictures are available for all of these items at <fopalbooks.com>.

And you can find even more children's vintage books at our eBay store: <https://www.ebay.com/str/friendsofthepaloaltolibrary>

-Lisa Heitman

 
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 this month -

• Jews in the Garden: A Family's Search for Truth After War
• Early Judaism : the Exile to the time of Jesus
• State of Siege: User's Manual
• Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960s
• Freud's Moses
• Cain v. Abel: A Jewish Courtroom Drama
• Jews Who Rock
• Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood

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

 
Self Help/Personal Growth

Featured books: Tiny Experiments; Convent Wisdom; US; Life in Three dimensions -all 2025! Plus: The Book of Alchemy; Creative Art; Beyond Wisdom; View from the Crow's Nest. I got an Abundance of books this month so I have 5 shelves each of Popular on Amazon (including 11 workbooks) AND New Books, some of which I moved to subsections (like Relationship, Happiness, Addiction, Grief/Death) due to the overflow, so look there. And of course it's February, so check out the Relationship shelf AND the top shelf (marked ‘LOVE’) for some books you might like. If you’re still struggling with your New Year's intentions, check out the 17 Workbooks and 3 Books With Workbooks sets. And don't forget the Red Cart which has some great books. May LOVE be in your heart and extend out to family, friends and All Beings,

-Marnie

 
Computers

A massive donation from the library of a computer scientist has stuffed our shelves. Look for fresh recent works on every category shelf, and especially in the AI/NLP section, security, math and Java.

-David Cortesi

 
Mysteries & Thrillers

There are two top shelves of only 2025 mysteries, the best written. Most all of the other mystery books on sale for $2 or $3 are from the last 10 years. The exception is the two shelves of Agatha Christie on the red cart, at the end of the section, and the shelves under the 2025 books. These Agatha are mainly paperback.

Come and find a great read which usually centers on solving a puzzle by following a person who through investigation finds a resolution.

-Cathy Swan

 
Pop-Up Music Sale

Our popular monthly Pop-Up Music Sale continues in February with a large selection of freshly curated vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and DVDs in multiple genres: Pop, R&B/Soul, Country, Folk, Jazz, Classical, Easy Listening, Film and Theater, and Spoken Word. Once again, we will be featuring a special selection of curated releases that have been meticulously cleaned and graded.

Plan on paying us a visit at our tables set up next to the entry ramp to the Main Room where we will be happy to help you find those special musical gems that you are looking for.

-George Chaltas

 
History

February is Black History Month! We have a large collection of related books, ranging from biographies of enslaved people to works on the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and beyond. There are also several nice books on the Latino and Indigenous history of the US. A large donation of books on Cuba and Latin America meant the shelves had to be rearranged to accommodate them, so check all the history shelves! If modern histories get you down, check out the collection of Penguin editions of ancient (or at least, older) historians - or the collection of historical atlases for when you get that time machine working!

-Lin McAllister

 
Bargain Room

We have tons of books and other items in the Bargain Room this month. Children's books: lots of middle grade and YA books, fully loaded sub-section of kiddies Vintage books, games, puzzles and more (please no more complaints that we don't have enough Parenting books, these are in the back of the room). Computer books, Vintage & Magazines: Overflowing! Mystery paperbacks, Fiction, Religion, Self Help, Psychology, Games: Full! Art + DVDs: Tons! CDs: approximately 900! Vinyl: somewhere between 500 - 1000 records! (Vinyl is still being processed as of this writing.)

-Sven-Erik Geddes

 
Maps

Waterproof maps, vintage maps, topo maps, we've got them all!

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at." -Oscar Wilde

"The map is not the territory" -Alfred Korzybski

-Mapman Crothers

 
Donations

We accept donations on Monday through Friday from 3-5 pm in the Main Room, and on Saturday with extended hours from 1-5 pm. 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 8 through Sunday February 15. Please hold your donations until Monday February 16.

Please read our donation guidelines before you bring materials to us. Also look at that page if you need to bring us a donation larger than six boxes or outside our usual donation times, it has information on scheduling appointments and requesting a pickup.

In addition to books, vinyl, DVDs, CDs, toys, etc. We now accept the following types of donations:

• Cameras
• Tools
• Watches
• Clocks
• Typewriters

See our full list of accepted donations at fopal.org/donate.

 
Suggestions?

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