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

 
Suggestions?

What's special for July 2015

The bi-annual Members Early Sale is scheduled for this Saturday July 11th! 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 the July 11th sale! 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.

For members again special treats: Artisan roasted coffee will be offered again by long-time volunteer and coffee connoisseur Dean Ujihara. Here's a list of the coffee he will likely roast for this Saturday's sale. As per our usual, Dean will be serving five coffees from Sweet Maria's:

• Hawaii Kona Kowali Farm Typica: A nice mild Hawaiian cup, citric acidity, base honey sweetness, white grape, cane sugar, light nuttiness.
• Rwanda Karongi Gitesi: Floral, fruited caramelized sugars, citrus oils, and layered sweetness. Complex, bright, and clean, good for Espresso.
• Mexico Organic Chiapas Jaltenango: A "coffee" coffee, low acidity well balanced, brown sugar, roasted nuts, with hints of black tea.
• Ethiopia Yirga Cheffe Dabub Matebya: A classic Yirga Cheffe, bergamot citrus, raw honey, floral jasmine, stone fruit, black tea, ultra-clean, complex.
• Kenya Nyeri Kigwandi SWP Decaf: Toasted and rustic sugars, orange oil, grapefruit skin and barley tea, structured and complex citric acidity, good for Espresso.

Also, home baked cookies compliments of FOPAL Membership chair Martha Schmidt & daughter!

LOOK for two check-in/ticket lines; one line for renewing members, new members and those members without their membership card, and one line for members with their cards. To speed your way through the ticket line please find and bring your membership card!

Tickets for early arrivers are handled differently at the Members Early sale. Tickets given out are for the 9 am and 10 am 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 $30 levels may bring in their families, consisting of one or two adults and children. No tickets will be given out for the 11 am line.

You may also renew your membership, or join FOPAL, that day!

 
What's what in Psychology?

"Psychology, the study of mind and behavior, offers tools and insight to help you learn about yourself and others, and create the best possible life for yourself in whatever you do. Whether you're more inclined toward research and theory or practical ideas, we have it in our Psychology section.

A Guide To The Psychology Sections - How to find the right books for YOU!

Professional Psychology Section has manuals and clinical texts for counselors/psychologists, books about (or by) Freud and Jung, text-books for psychology students. Non-professionals also find books here to deepen their knowledge.

Self Help Section has psychology books for the lay person offering cutting edge ideas and tools to help you deal with difficult issues and to make positive changes in your life. Each month at least 50% of the books are new and they are typically a third to half off the Amazon price. Most books are only $2-$3, so if in doubt, why not buy it, take it home, and try it out!

Books in the first two bays cover a wide and wonderful range of topics, so browse through the shelves and see what speaks to you! The next bay has labeled sub sections: Happiness, Love, Dreams, Hypnosis/NLP, Emotions, Difficult Emotions and Diagnoses, Creativity, Addictions. Depression, ADHD, Autism, Stress/Trauma, Mind/Brain. Subsections in the last bay are: Inspirational/Spiritual psychology, Career/Business Psychology, Midlife/Aging, Death/Dying, Grief/Loss, and Communication, Relationships (couples, marriage, and family/parenting/divorce issues).

Sex and Gender Section is across the aisle from the Self Help subsections. Here you will find books on: Women's Issues, Men's Issues, Gay/Lesbian Issues, Feminism, Sex/Sexuality, and Erotica.

Of course some books can be put in more than one section, so if you're looking for a specific book, you might want to check all the bays.

Next time I'll share with you some of our more popular books along with my personal favorites. Happy Browsing." -Marnie S.

 
History

"Have you forgotten, or never known, just exactly why we haven't had diplomatic relations with Cuba for over fifty years? Do you want to refresh your memory or learn new facts about the issues which brought the blockade about? Then come to the History section where we have a very timely and varied selection of books about Cuba this month. You will find the books in the "International Politics and History" subsection of History. We've put them on the top shelf for ease of viewing and buying. Of course, don't miss the rest of the History shelves as they are crammed with books on all sorts of topics including more books about Cuba. For instance, in the section on Spain you will find books about Cuba as part of the Spanish empire in the Americas. In the US History section you can read about Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders and Cuba's importance in the Spanish-American War, etc, etc. Happy browsing!" -Suzanne & Irina

 
Gardening

"Waterwise, Drought-Tolerant, Water-Conserving are the current watchwords in making fresh landscape gardening choices. To help you re-think that lawn, escape a heck of a lot of maintenance, and create a garden that actually looks good on twice-a-week watering, take a look at all the books we've got on the WATERWISE shelf. There are many volumes this month about ornamental grasses, California natives, wildflower cultivation, and plants for summer-dry climates (that's us!) And don't forget to check out the shelf below for books on HERBS - they're attractive, tough, smell nice, and are actually useful. Last but not least, to cover your territory with the ultimate un-thirsty element, consider Stone in the Garden and In the Company of Stones!" -Ann Justice

 
Art, Architecture & Studio Art

"Due to an extraordinarily generous donation, the best used art bookstore on the peninsula just got even better. Look for big and little beautiful books on every artists, art style or art movement imaginable. There's also a good selection of museum/exhibition catalogs. If you missed getting a catalogs from an exhibition check out what we have to offer, these catalogs were often published in limited quantities and only available at the art gallery/museum. Per usual, our studio art section is bursting with books on drawing, watercolor and oil painting as well as books on the creative process. Along with our usual great collection of modern and contemporary art books, we have again a huge selection of books on Impressionism and the Impressionists.

Art in the Bargain Room is full to the brim and you'll also find two carts of $1 books in the outside $1 tent sale. Enjoy" -FOPAL team ART!

 
Philosophy for July

"New arrivals in Philosophy includes Voltaire's Bastards, Cosmos and Psyche, The Mind of Kierkegaard, The World's Will of Schopenhauer, a very fine edition of Rousseau's Emile and an introductory overview, The Philosophy Book. We also have four unusual papers on Logico - Conceptual and Logico - Systematics. This month we have two box sets, Jowett's classic 2-volume edition, The Dialogues of Plato, and the 5-volume 1973 edition of the Dictionary of the History of Ideas.

Over in the Bargain Room we have the largest collection of philosophy ever with six packed shelves, including 19 books from Copleston's highly regarded series, The History of Philosophy." -Nigel Jones

 
Music for July

"As usual we offer books on a wide variety of musical topics including classical, rock, jazz, world music, and dance. New this month: additions to the Beatles shelf; death of a rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs; What the Songs Look Like; The Kiss Years; British Beat; Eddie Van Halen: Know the Man, Play the Music; Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar; The Rock'n'Roll Singers Survival Handbook; The Glenn Gould Reader and Wagner books on the Opera shelf.

Also come to browse our wide selection of sheet music." -Charlotte Epstein

 
July Judaica

"Come to the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion, literature, Jewish history, the Holocaust, Israel and other related subjects.

New this month - Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America; Jewish Wisdom by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin; Mandarins, Jews and Missionaries: The Jewish Experience in the Chinese Empire; Rashi's Daughters in a three-volume paperback set; The Jews in the California Gold Rush; Einstein on Israel and Zionism; Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle; The Rise of American Jewish Literature; Never Again: The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Health for July

"Who'd have thought that a book about posture and physical therapy could also be a top seller in Dance, Photography and Human Kinetics? Check out Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, a beautiful book, primarily about dance, in perfect condition. Also, continuing the musical theme: The Roar of Silence: Healing Powers of Breath, Tone and Music and Microtonal Healing: Spirit of the Healing Voice (about singing and chanting, known worldwide as effective healing rituals)" -Verne Rice

 
Nature July

"The Nature section is overflowing with terrific summer reading this month! In the New Arrivals Section - Bottled and Sold, The Beak of the Finch, In the Company of Crows and Ravens, Inside of a Dog, etc. New arrivals are not limited to one section however...you will find all Nature sections bursting with great new titles this month. Animal story lover, we have Dewy, Marley and Me, Modoc and over fifty more. Be sure to check out Nature's red cart in the tent sale. Each book there is one dollar - real bargains we couldn't fit on our shelves inside. As always, we have dozens of "Green Dot" books - these are books by well-known authors, award winners, and/or bestsellers, at our usual low FOPAL prices." -Karen D.

 
Humor July 2015

"New arrivals in the Humor section include books by Amy Sedaris, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, and Jimmy Buffett. New titles include Spy - The Funny Years, The Complete Peanuts 1955 - 1956 and The Geography of Bliss. In the British section new arrivals include five books by Wodehouse and an anthology of humor by Frank Muir, one of the greats of the pre-Python era. Make sure to check out the Bargain Room and look through the large collections of cartoons." -Nigel Jones

 
Teen Recommendations by Tristan Wang

The Navigator by Eoin McNamee

Owen is a young boy who does not understand why people regard him so strangely. His father having disappeared (presumably committed suicide), Owen lives with his sickly mother and suffers from hydrophobia. One day, on a usual visit to the Den, a deserted room that is Owen's secret hideout, he finds it teeming with activity. The Resistors, a band of enigmatic warriors, have awoken from the Sleep and have set up their base of operations there. Soon after, a bizarre phenomenon occurs as time begins to move backwards, and everything Owen had ever known vanishes before his eyes.

The Sub-Commandant, a Resistor leader, explains that the Harsh, archaic haunting beings, have emerged and wish to purge the world of all life by reverting time. To prevent this, Owen must join the battle alongside the Resistors as the Navigator, his father having played the same role before him. Can he prove his loyalty to the cause?

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

For Milo, life is a dull experience devoid of excitement and intrigue. One day, after returning home from school, Milo finds a strange package in his bedroom. The parcel includes a miniature tollbooth, a curious map of the "Lands Beyond", and a note addressed "TO MILO, WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME".

Upon driving past the tollbooth in his toy car, Milo suddenly finds himself on a country highway in a magical land. He quickly befriends Tock, a noble "watchdog" (quite literally), visits Dictionopolis (the kingdom of words), and is given the impossible charge of restoring Rhyme and Reason. The sheer vibrancy and peculiarity of the foreign land soon convinces Milo of one astonishing truth: life is not quite as boring as he thought it was.

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

Haven Hospital and Halls, a mysterious walled institution established in 2020, incarcerates teenagers known as Terminals. Never having known anything outside the hospital premises, every aspect of the teens are strictly regulated by a watchful faculty, from their education to their daily intake of food.

All such efforts are made to control the Disease the Terminals have: one that displays no symptoms yet claims the victims' limbs, organs, and memories. But as four Terminals: Shiloh, Gideon, Daniel, and Abigail, become obsessed over the possibility of living amongst the healthy, they secretly delve into the inner workings of the Haven.

Their search engenders nothing but more questions, and soon the teens begin to have doubts about the hospital's true purpose. What if all they've learned about their own conditions are fabricated? And what if the Haven is not what it claims to be?