Charity Shop Win! Or was it a Fail…?

The plan was clear in my head as I entered the Red Cross shop in Lewisham. Go in, give them a box of books and get the hell out. No hanging around and certainly no looking at the bookshelves, this trip is all about getting rid of books after all. I was doing so well until I caught a glimpse of the bookshelves on the way out… and then I was lost. If that wasn’t bad enough they were doing a ‘two books for the price of one’ deal. Here’s what I ended up with (apologies on behalf of my camera phone as always),





I can see a theme developing on the blog over the next few weeks… :o)

It’s not often that I go into a charity shop and find books that look as if they wouldn’t be out of place on the shelves at Waterstones or some other high street bookstore. Charity shops are more often than not places where good books go to die, at least as far as I’ve seen. Books in a charity shop have maybe one or two reads left in them before the glue on the spine goes and the poor book starts shedding pages left right and centre. Or is this just the charity shops that I seem to find myself in? Who knows, the thing here is that I certainly wasn’t expecting to find books that looked brand new (as well as being books that I’d been after for a long while).

I’ve waxed (kind of) lyrical about my unexpected charity shop finds and it has to be one of the best book buying experiences doesn’t it? Going into a charity shop and finding a book that you’ve been looking for but were never expecting to find. How about you guys? What has been your ‘big find’ in a charity shop or second hand bookshop…? And is there a charity shop/second hand bookshop in London that you think I should be visiting? Comments please!