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I really cannot oversell how much I personally love Friends of the Library (FOL) book sales. If you love reading, these sales are always better than Black Friday, with incredibly low prices on both used hardbacks and paperbacks in a wide variety of genres. Last I attended, all regular paperbacks were 50 cents and hardbacks were a dollar. The books come from both community donations and "discarded" library books.

I have gotten some genuinely outstanding books from the "better books" section, which holds rarer or more high-quality books for modest prices.  For $8 I got the first American printing of Marquis de Sade's Judith, a book that easily sells for $45. Don't look that book up at work, it's incredibly spicy. I've also gotten gorgeous art books and fantastic cookbooks. My personal favorites are ancient history, so stay out of that section. Just kidding, I want everyone to know as much about Roman emperors as I do. And then let me corner you at a party to talk about it to the annoyance of the people next to us.

Bibliophiles are so intense at these sales that FOL provides not only handbaskets but full-fledged shopping carts. I've filled up a couple myself. And the volunteers are absolute pros at calculating your total and packing the new-to-you books with care.

My husband makes a deeply researched and curated "wish list" of novels to hunt for before we go. It's a good tactic, and we usually find a good percentage of them. I prefer a more breezy, browsing method.

Whatever your method, you can attend the FOL Kris Kringle Sale Friday, December 2nd (members only) or Saturday, December 3rd from 9a -2p, with shopping concluding at 3p. Becoming a member of FOL is very easy and inexpensive and I recommend it.

Happy book hunting!

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