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?

What's Special for January 2017

Bookish problem #176 - Trying to come up with New Year's Resolutions that don't include reading more books. Did your New Year's Resolutions include reading more books or finishing the books you started last year? Well, this month FOPAL can help you with the former with an especially fine selection of books on almost every subject for you to buy. Look for First Day Print Stamp Books, and interesting reads on Nuclear Politics located in the Specials bays to your right as you enter the Main Room. In the smaller Special bay, near the cashiers, you'll find a nice selection of books from our European Languages area. A large donation of Groovy Media/LPs is available in the Bargain Room/H2, making this section fully stocked. Customers asked, what happened to the Ephemera sale last month? The rain made this sale area unavailable, as a result, you'll see two months of Ephemera donations being offered this Saturday 8am-3:30pm. Finally, it looks like the weather will cooperate this weekend and we'll have our Outdoor Tent Sale (all items $1.00) up and running if the forecast holds true.

 
Non-Profit Book Giveaway - New Year, New Policy!

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to a new year full of lots of donated books for you, our non-profit book selectors, to choose. The non-profit give away is getting more and more popular and we are delighted that so many people will benefit from the generosity of our donors. To ease the crowded conditions we are changing the way we have done things in the past. Each organization that selects books needs to provide their address and email address, cell phone number, the name of one person who will represent them at the giveaway and their address and telephone or email address. That way we will be able to contact you if we change hours, days of operation or limit numbers of volunteers from each organization selecting books. Please send this information to: normalcy@earthlink.net or call 916-936-4580.

Starting with the sale on Sunday, January 15th at 4:00pm, each organization will be allowed one person to select books in the children's bargain room and two people to select in the main bargain room. Each children's bargain room person may fill two paper supermarket bags for the first 45 minutes. In the main bargain room, the books must be selected individually for the first hour and if the large Ikea bags are used, they need to be taken outside as they are filled. If boxes are used, they need to be of a size that does not require the use of a hand truck to remove them. You may have further questions so feel free to call or email me. See you at the sale! -Norma Burchard

 
Stamp Special

"In January we have a unique offering of First Day Covers and Proofcards. We have over 30 complete sets including, from the UK, The Westminster Series covering the years 1979 to 1981, from the US, commemoratives from 1972 to 1979, Flora of the World, Birds, and other categories. The proofcard series covers Presidents of the US. This is an excellent way to add to your collection, start a collection or learn more about the topic areas covered. As philatelic material all the collections are in first class condition." -Nigel Jones

 
Science section

"The Science section is again packed with a lot of great books. This month we have an especially large selection of books on robotics and statistics. Additionally we have many shelves full of popular science books around the corner and in the section. Our usual marked shelves (roughly from the main aisle down towards the corner are): popular science, popular math, advanced math, college math, calculus, geometry/algebra, chemistry, biology/genetics, physics, electronics, hobby electronics, geology, geography, mechanical and civil engineering, aeronautics and the space program, cosmology, practical engineering and science, history of science and technology, biography, Einstein, astronomy, cosmology, and general science writing.

"Additionally, there will be a $1 cart filled with very nice science/technology textbooks. We always suggest that folks look for science books in the Bargain Room. Because we get so many wonderful donations in our section, we never have room for everything in the main book sale room." -Dick Grote/Ed Walker

 
Movies/Entertainment

"The Movies/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. Again this month we have a nice collection of books. For example, a signed copy of Michael Krasny's memoir is available. We also have a large number of film studies and history books. Finally we have a small collection of "lobby books" sold in theatre lobbies in the 1950s and 60s for big productions such as Ben Hur.

"In the section you will find (roughly from left to right in the section): modern culture, film writing, craft and movie business, TV, guides, large format, signed books, foreign film, film commentary and theory, Hollywood and film history, director's corner, choice biographies/memoirs, film tie-ins and scripts, and media and media studies." -Dick Grote

 
2017 January Humor

"In January we have six different versions of the New Yorker Cartoons including the Complete New Yorker Cartoons with DVDs. For classic American humor we have four books by Mark Twain including an anthology, and Gorey's anthology, Amphigorey Too. From the other side of the pond we have six by Wodehouse, also with an anthology. For something Hollywood we have Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and the Three Stooges.

The two books of the month are Ten Thousand Stories in which you open up wonderfully illustrated panels and make up your own story, and a first for our shelves, the large size O is for Obama.

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

 
2017 January Judaica

"Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects. New this month: Doomed to Succeed; The Jewish Century; Jewish Boxers Hall of Fame; Let There be Laughter by Michael Krasny; Unscrolled: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with the Torah; The Hebraic Bible in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts; I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems From Theresienstadt Concentration Camp; Women and the Holocaust: Different Voices.

"Check the appropriate fiction section if you are interested in literature with a Jewish or Israeli theme though I do display a few folklore books." -Charlotte Epstein

 
January Special: Encyclopedia Judaica

"The January Sets special, in the main aisle, is the complete 16 volume, 1972 edition, of the Encyclopedia Judaica, $35. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, language, scripture and religious teachings. The encyclopedia was written by Israeli, American and European professional subject specialists. Priced separately will be 8 related yearbooks." -Nigel Jones

 
2017 January music books

"Visit the Music section for books on a wide variety of musical topics in the genres of classical, rock, jazz, world music, and dance. New this month - Twyla Tharp: The Creative Habit; Four Hundred Years of Music Printing; The Art of Flamenco; The Undiscovered Paul Robeson; Rock & Roll year by year; The Beatles Unseen Archives; Duran Duran the Book of Words; Time and the Dancing Image; Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across the Border; All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters.

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

 
Groovy Media

If starting a Groovy Media/LP collection is on your 2017 to-do list then FOPAL can help! Check out this article from Buzzfeed, and FOPAL's current offerings from the recent LP donations in the Bargain Room. We have all you'll need to start enjoying the sounds of analog recordings. "Analog aficionados will often attribute a ''warmth'' to pure analog sound." -Janette Herceg

"We have a broad assortment of new titles for January including Jaeger's Paideia, volume II, Nussbaum's Fragility of Goodness, Magee's History of Philosophy, Shorto's Descartes' Bones, Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Hauser's Moral Mind, and a very interesting book, Bender's Chronotypes: The Construction of Time.

January's Special is Edwards's complete Encyclopedia of Philosophy in four volumes for $10.

Don't forget the Bargain Room: there was not enough shelf space in the Main Room for all the books received and there are some excellent books to be found there as well." -Nigel Jones

 
Children's Room

"Many children have their own bookcases in their bedrooms, and for many homes children's books can be found displayed in almost every room of the house. For these families, reading materials are simply a part of everyday family life. For 2017 consider creating a kid reading corner with these things in mind: comfortable seating, storage for books and sufficient lighting. Children may want a place separate from the family library to keep books that have special meaning or value for them. By encouraging children to set aside their personal favorites, you are helping them express their affection for books, and showing them that you respect their reading. FOPAL is here to help the kids in your life develop their own reading space. With donations being strong over the holidays you'll find plenty of books, games, toys, puzzles and more to delight and enrich all the kids in your life." -Janette Herceg

 
Sets for 2017 January

"The most interesting offering in January is 11 volumes from Balzac's Human Condition, 1899, well-illustrated, $3 each. In January complete sets include, The Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, in nine volumes, 1960, $10; Delphian Texts, in 8 volumes, 1926, $10, and Stevenson's Works, limited edition set #176, in 10 volumes, 1906, $15. Also a very well-illustrated Autobiography of Cellini in 2 volumes, 1906, $6.

Incomplete sets with excellent illustrations, covers and bindings include: Stoddard's Lectures, 7 volumes, 1911, $3 each, American Statesmen, The Second Series, 8 volumes, 1911, $3 each. For the pre-1900 collector we have several volumes of Dickens, 1868, for $3 each and 3 volumes of Harper's Magazine, 1889, $3 each. Other sets will be found in their subject areas such as History in aisle 11 and Fiction in aisle 15 with even more Sets are in the Bargain Room. Don't forget, a set only counts as one book when you are buying within the 12 book limit." -Nigel Jones

 
Teen Recommendations from Tristan Wang

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

The ambitious Craig Gilner, New York City teenager, is set to succeed in life. But upon being accepted by the prestigious Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure builds to overwhelming proportions as he sinks into depression. Drowning in a world of too many Tentacles and too few Anchors, Craig is checked into a mental hospital, where he meets new unusual yet colorful acquaintances -- could this be the Shift he was waiting for?

The Tin Horse by Janice Steinberg

After years of resisting, elderly Elaine Greenstein finally decides to move to a retirement home. Packing her bags, she stumbles upon a clue to the whereabouts of her twin sister Barbara, who had disappeared at the age of 18. Plunged back into the past, Elaine recounts the the travails of her family's immigration, the heartaches of her teenage years, and the Depression and War that loomed in the midst of her troubled childhood.

Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan

Darren and Steve, sharing a fascination with the macabre, sneak out in the middle of the night to attend an old-fashioned freak show. But when the show turns out to be more grotesque and supernatural than the boys imagined, Darren finds himself faced with a terrifying decision, for which Steve must pay a serious price.