Members-Early Sale Saturday December 8

The annual Members-Early sale is scheduled for Saturday December 8. If you're a member of the Friends of the Palo Alto Library, you'll be able to get in early to the Main Room! At this once-a-year event, Life Members are allowed to enter the sale at 9am and can purchase up to 50 books. Members at all other levels can enter the sale at 10am and purchase the normal 12 books at a time. Enjoy a less crowded main book room and get first crack at our wonderful collection of materials. Books are always a welcome Holiday treat!

Tickets for early arrivers are handled differently at the Members-Early sale. Tickets given out are for the 9am and 10am lines at the Main Room, since most people who come early are Members of the Friends. Each Member will get just one ticket, although Members at and above the $25 levels may bring in their families, consisting of one or two adults and children, while Life Members may bring in their spouses. No tickets will be given out for the 11am line.

You may renew your membership, or join FOPAL, that day. Renew, or join now! Our membership rates are scheduled to increase on January 1, 2013.

 
Preview Our Shelves

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

 
New Bargain Room H2 & H3!

This month look for the FOPAL Bargain Room at its new location in rooms H2 and H3. With support from the FOPAL Board and the City of Palo Alto and with help from Coulter Construction Inc., DR3 Recycling / St. Vincent de Paul and Polaris Building Maintenance Inc., plus our amazing FOPAL volunteers, we have moved! As mentioned in November's newsletter, this new space offers us: on-site storage, internet access for book research and best of all...a bathroom just down the hall for our dedicated volunteers. What I failed to mention is how fresh and bright this new space is for all our customers and our wonderfully low priced books. Please take a moment to stop by H2/H3 and I'm sure you'll find terrific books you won't be able to pass up.

For parking use the lots at the Cubberley north entrance near Middlefield Road, or the one in front of the FOPAL Main Room.

 
Ephemera Exploding

Althea Andersen, our Empress of Ephemera, gets 5 gold stars for all her hard work this month. While moving our Bargain Room this past November we unearthed an enormous amount of large packets of Round-the-World poster sized photos, nautical charts, and vintage Playboy magazines. All these treasures are being offered outside in the Ephemera sale tent. Our regular Ephemera customers already know about all the great deals you can find in this sale area. Now you know too that most items in Ephemera are only 25 cents! The Ephemera Sale begins at 8am. If you are here then you can help push carts out the filled to the rim with assortments of tempting goodies.

 
Classic & Modern Literature

Long time FOPAL volunteer and community activist Scottie Zimmerman writes:

"In Classics I have a handsome set, 5 volumes, 3 titles, by Victor Hugo. There is another, larger set by Washington Irving who wrote in many genres and occasionally used pen names. (E.g., Jonathan Old-style; funny that Yossarian used 'Washington Irving' as a pen name in Catch-22.) Irving was one of the first American writers to be admired in Europe. He wrote fiction, history, biography, and travel narratives of a sort. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Spain for four years. I also have a lot of Folio classics: a nice group by Dickens, another group by Thackeray, and many by less prolific authors. Folio does a beautiful job; many of the books are illustrated, and most come in sturdy slipcases.

In Modern Literature I have a large selection of books that are signed by the author. Some are quite famous, others almost famous. Some are nonfiction, not purely 'literature,' but all signed. (See shelf photos for details.) I also have a terrific section of 20th Century British Authors, including Doris Lessing, Penelope Lively, Iris Murdoch, and Muriel Spark. If you haven't read these women, you have a treat in store!"

 
Home & Crafts

Nancy Welch, textile, jewelry, paper, assemblage artist and FOPAL volunteer has been looking forward to getting the word out regarding her section Home & Crafts. For the December sale, Nancy writes, "The Home & Crafts section has a special shelf devoted entirely to books that will help make your holidays a breeze. These include gifts to make, gift basket and wrapping ideas, seasonal flower arrangements, and ways to simplify entertaining plus books that would make someone on your list very happy. In addition the Home section is overflowing with beautiful books offering interior design ideas for the New Year." Thanks Nancy for the reminder that this is an excellent time to be creating holiday cheer with crafting.

 
Special Seasonal Selections

One of our newer section managers, Camille Sorrant, having just returned from France, has been working hard to bring out all the seasonal books & CDs we've been collecting these many months. You'll find a large selection for Hanukkah and Christmas. If you are looking for great ideas on how to liven up your holidays look no further. This section is for you.

Holiday cards will be on sale this month at bargain prices in this Seasonal Selection and outside in Ephemera. Look for the festive red and green display as you enter the Main Room on the right. Also, because we have even more Hanukkah and Christmas donations still coming in, look for some of our collection to be put on super sale in the new Bargain Room. Camille took extra time this month to arrange this section as well, come check it out and the new Bargain Room too.

 
Special Signed Books offering

FOPAL staff and our on-line sale guru, Jerry Stone, dipped into the on-line archives to bring you a super selection of signed books. Jerry writes this about what he's offering for sale in the Main Room. "Look for an eclectic assortment of signed books from the obscure to the famous. There is plenty of variety, from novelists like Steve Martini and Jennifer Weiner to politicians such as Newt Gingrich and George Shultz. Some of the more famous names in the sale are: Andy Rooney, Eugene Cernan, and Isabel Allende. Worth a look and priced from $3.00."

 
Making Merry in the Music Section

Incoming FOPAL board member and longtime section manager Charlotte Epstein writes, "If you enjoy listening to music, you might enjoy reading some of the books written by others who love music. On our shelves you will find Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, Why Classical Music Still Matters by Lawrence Kramer, The Inextinguishable Symphony, A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany by Martin Goldsmith and For the Love of Music by Michael Steinberg.

If you are fond of popular music there are books for those who followed The Grateful Dead, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones along with critical looks at rock music, such as Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic - Rock 'n' Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'n' Roll by Lester Bangs.

If you want to know more about earlier popular music we have The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter and All You Need is Love The Story of Popular Music by Tony Palmer which is a history of all forms of 20th century popular music." A big thank you to Charlotte for mentioning these musical book finds. You are right, these books would be great gifts for music lovers.

 
Children's Room has got BONZ

Some smaller donations are worth mentioning in the monthly newsletter and this is true of the several new BONZ Wooden 3-D Skeleton Puzzle Kits we received. On Amazon these amazing puzzles go for $50 to $75 depending on their size. The Children's Room will be selling these for far less. If you are interested in one of these 3-D puzzles consider being in line at the Children's Room 10am Saturday when they first open.

The Children's Room is located at the south end of the Cubberley Campus in the portable behind the pavilion and in front of the track and field.

 
Health Books for the Holidays

The dynamic duo of Verne & Ed Rice are FOPAL's Health and Medicine book section managers -- between these two volunteers we are fortunate to have 100+ years of medical experience. Verne often jokes that they feel every year of their age. Verne also had this to say about the Health section selection this month. "We have an amazing display of brand new books from the Stanford Medical Bookstore at our low, low prices. In addition to our usual broad-spectrum collection -- we also received lots of especially handsome books: they'll make fine holiday gifts. Look for stimulating fitness titles, elegant herbals, fine (and healthy) foods, even a medical mystery or two. Also look for books on yoga, meditation, Asian medicine, medical journalism and history. Many of these are so attractive that you won't even need gift wrap. Just tie a ribbon around them and give them caringly. Health is, after all, is the best gift of all!"

 
FOPAL Happy Holidays to all

I'd like to extend a warm holiday greeting to all our loyal customers and supporters. It's only because of each of you that we are able to make such a huge difference in our community. Here's wishing you all peace and joy this holiday season.

Warmly, Janette

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