Charity Shop Books | Indulging a Reading Habit on a budget

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About a year ago an Oxfam Books & Music store opened on my local high street and I took pretty much no notice of it. My experience with charity book shopping is fusty old 80's chick lit and big unread books with titles like 'Best of the Churches of North Wales' and other generally crap stuff that noone wants to read. However my Grandma came to stay a few weeks ago and, while I was taking her shopping and lunching in town, she spotted said Oxfam shop and dragged me inside, claiming that the one that's opened near her is absolutely fantastic. Eyebrows raised and skepticism on full I wandered in after her.

How wrong I was! So many wonderful books! Including ones I'd had on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads for ages and ages. I'm an English student and a book lover and a very fast reader so I go through books really quickly and always want more and can't be doing with shelling out £6.99 a time! The general price I saw scribbled in pencil on the inside cover was £2.99 and all the books were in pretty good nick. Though there was an adorable little section called "Distressed but still desirable" which featured slightly more... loved books, a few of which I do have my eye on.

The books I picked up in that one trip were:

Paul Coehlo - Veronika Decides to Die - £2.49
Susan Cain - Quiet - £2.49
Caitlin Moran - How To Be a Woman - £2.99
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated - £2.99
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov - £9.99

Total Spent: £20.95

The last one, The Brothers Karamazov seems pricey but this particular one is an amazing edition created by the Folio Society and I fell in love with the beautiful cover. Although I couldn't find an exact price for this book other Folio editions go for upwards of £20, some for £40 and over! So whatever the price of this was it was a steal! I'm going to estimate the value at £30, which is the price I saw for books of a similar size and age.

I actually went on Amazon.co.uk and saw how much it would be to purchase all of these books brand new from there. The four smaller books came to £21.44, I paid £10.96 for them. Adding the price of the Folio book takes the brand new retail price to over £51.44 and as you can see above I paid just over twenty pounds! What a steal!

I'll definitely review these at some point. I've already ready the top two while I was away on holiday (on top of my summer reads from this post) so I have quite a bit of catching up to do in regards to book reviews!

Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them! 



9 comments

  1. How jealous of you I am right now! You def. wouldn't find these in the thrift stores in states! Can't wait for the Paul Coehlo review! Simply adore his work!

    Dalia

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    Replies
    1. I've already read it so I'll definitely get it up soon my love :) x

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  2. Charity shops are amazing for buying books, I find so many great ones there, you definitely picked up a few good reads! xo

    Hannah | Glitter and Sparkle

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    1. Agreed, I've definitely found a new faith in charity shop books! x

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  3. Veronika Decided To Die is one of my all time favourites. Jealous you've found a copy so cheap!

    Hayley
    Water Painted Dreams
    xxx

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    Replies
    1. Finished it a little while ago and love it to death! x

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  4. Charity shops are the best for finding cheap books! There's one here that sells 3 for £1 - literally a goldmine! Shame the charity shops here aren't up to much in the way of clothes and accessories :(

    ♥ Little Owl Diary

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    1. That's amazing! I think I'd buy the shop ;) x

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  5. How envious of you I am right now! You def. wouldn't discover these in the second hand shops in states! Can't hold out for the John Coehlo review! Basically really like his work!
    rs gold
    WOW Gold Kaufen

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