When it comes to thrifting, most people might think of vintage clothes, flipping old furniture, or stumbling upon a valuable Corningware dish. There are so many tiktoks and other videos online about people sharing their tips, tricks, and best finds, and I honestly live for watching these shortened, highlights-only reels giving me all the joy of finding hidden treasures, especially since I’m not all that great at thrifting these things myself.
But what about thrifting books?
A friend of mine well-versed in the art of vintage clothing took me to an independent thrift store a while back. After skimming the racks with her to no avail, I wandered off to the book section, leaving without a single piece of clothing but with what is now one of my favorite books on my shelf: a gorgeous hardcover copy of The Life You Save May Be Your Own (which I have been working on for almost a year now and have mentioned here way too many times, I know). I was hooked on this underrated part of thrifting where I was in my element.
I have thrifted dozens of books since then, filling my former classroom’s shelves with Classics and Young Adult Books, picking up bestsellers on my TBR, and even using thrifted hardcover books as the main element of my wedding centerpieces.1 It can be overwhelming going into a place like Goodwill or a used bookstore, not knowing where to start, but the feeling of coming out of a store with a stack of books that cost a fraction of one new hardcover book is exhilarating. It’s more affordable, more sustainable for the environment, and most importantly, MORE BOOKS!
When I thrift for books, I feel incredibly aware that my English degree and my time as a high school English teacher have given me an edge in finding the hidden gems nestled among the countless cringey discarded, donated books in a thrift store. So, to help you find your next read and know some of what’s out there to score, I present to you the English Major’s Guide to Thrifting Books!
Be familiar with top titles recommended on Goodreads, BookTok, Bookstagram, or here on Substack.
Many times, people will buy trending or viral books and then immediately drop them off at Goodwill after reading them. I found Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner this way after hearing it raved about on social media, bestseller lists, and among friends and colleagues in conversation. More recently I saw a copy of Long Bright River by Liz Moore, which has been all over my Instagram feed, catching my eye with its beautiful cover. I also snagged copies of The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles from my local Goodwill and 2nd Ave, respectively, after they were shouted out by one of my favorite Substackers. Keeping an antenna up for good popular books will help you spot them out in the wild, bringing them home for less than the cost of the latte you would get at the Barnes & Noble Starbucks.Look for authors of note.
By knowing which authors are worth reading, you can find titles that may not have jumped out to you but will be a great read. This step might also require some prep work if you aren’t already familiar with prominent authors, which to me fall into two categories: Classics and Contemporary.For Classics, think back to your college syllabi or books that are synonymous with high school English class. Students will often donate their books after they’re done with them, and I have found multiple copies of Night by Elie Wiesel and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (both of which I personally taught), as well as Hamlet, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. (I have also found multiple copies of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis as well as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and I know I’m not alone in considering these contemporary classics.)
For Contemporary books, keeping up with recent releases helps, along with again relying on our pals Goodreads, BookTok, or Bookstagram. I’ve recently found earlier novels by Jesmyn Ward (Sing, Unburied, Sing and Let Us Descend) and Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See), and I’m looking forward to delving into their earlier work knowing the acclaim their recent writing has. Additionally, I picked up a book by Louise Erdrich on a whim because her name was familiar and the plot sounded interesting. For folks searching for YA books, it’s great to lean on the big names like Jason Reynolds, John Greene, Sarah Dessen, Nic Stone, and others. Their books are constantly on thrift store shelves—although millennials’ YA books are more likely to be donated now as 20 and 30 somethings finally clean old stuff out of their parents’ houses.
Judge a book by its cover, but not by its dust jacket.
When I was restyling my bookshelves a few years back, a stumbled upon the advice that books become a work of art on your shelf when you take off the dust jacket. While I know this does make the book more susceptible to, well, dust, I found some of my favorite books this way, especially the ones we used for our wedding centerpieces.
A book with a tattered and dated 1990’s dust jacket will often be hiding a beautiful cloth cover beneath, like the copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison that I recently picked up. Or maybe a small and oddly-colored jacket with Times New Roman font will be hiding gorgeous black and gold binding, like the copy of George Eliot’s Middlemarch I found and hope to start reading this month. I also found a copy of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh in a used bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, that had the 2008 movie photographs on the cover but a striking red cloth cover beneath. Even the most boring books, ones you might not even want to read at all, can be beautiful pieces of decor when you take off the dust jacket.
A note especially on YA books for teachers shopping for their classrooms: judging a book by its cover is so okay. The kids will do that, so you want to find well-designed covers that will draw them in!Understand the store you’re going to.
Different stores have different strengths. Goodwill’s books are cheapest at $1-2, but their collection is often cluttered and limited. 2nd Ave has the biggest selection for sure, with their books being slightly more at about $3.99 or $4.99 a book but boasting a “buy four and get the fifth free” policy that I have always taken advantage of, walking out with stacks of books. Used bookstores will by far have the best selections, at still affordable but higher prices, so your focus can be more on looking for high quality and potentially rare hardcovers, titles on your running wishlist of books, or specific authors you love.Roam with an open mind ready to be surprised.
You truly never know what you are going to find when you walk into a Goodwill, 2nd Ave, local thrift store, or used bookstore. If you go in looking for one specific thing, you almost certainly won’t find it (like when I went looking for Harry Potter, which I have seen in every thrift store since that trip). Even huge travel books with landscape photographs can be repurposed to create wall art if you look closely enough! Having a wishlist is helpful; having a single target can lead to frustration. Scanning the shelves a few times with these tips and an attitude of thinking outside the box can help you find things you had long wanted or didn’t know you were looking for.
I’m so glad I found my hardcover copy of Brideshead Revisited in Asheville instead of impulsively grabbing an overpriced paperback from Barnes & Noble. I was excited to find Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward when her most recent book’s plot wasn’t as gripping to me. It felt like providence when I found JPII’s On the Threshold of Hope or Benedict XVI’s The Yes of Jesus Christ nestled among religion sections. And, most of all, the classics that I was able to have extra copies of in my classroom and style my shelves with have been such a gift.
That’s everything I’ve got, folks. Have you ever thrifted a great book before? Let me know in the comments. And until then, happy thrifting and happy reading!2
Which was also a brilliant idea from Mary, the friend who had taken me thrifting when I found TLYSMBYO!
Or happy book hoarding. I certainly will not judge my fellow “book dragons.”
Great tips! My only addition would be: Always stop at Little Free Libraries! 📚