If you're anything like me, you love a book and a bargain. What does a charity shop offer? Both! I love welcoming in used books to my bookshelf home. I've mentioned on Instagram how I cannot fathom why people look down on secondhand pages of wonder. If they still have all the pages, guess what? It's still a book, and still worth your time and love. It's whats on the inside that counts. I got quite lucky this time and didn't get too many that were badly beaten (my only gripe was with The Girl On The Train, as the front was a little frayed - I say little, so when you look at it, you may be going "Little?!" but, I'll be honest, my cat got to it. The little bugger.). All books in this post cost me a grand total of £1 each from my local Hope House charity shop.
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The Girl On The Train
by Paula Hawkins
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens.
She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess' and 'Jason', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it -is perfect. If only Rachel could be happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar. Now they'll see: she's much more than just the girl on the train.
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The Vanishing Witchby Karen Maitland
Lincoln, 1380. A raven-haired widow is newly arrived in John of Gaunt's city, with her two unnaturally beautiful children in tow.
The widow Catlin seems kind, helping wool merchant Robert of Bassingham care for his ill wife. Surely it makes sense for Catlin and her family to move into Robert's home?
But when Robert's wife - and then others - start dying unnatural deaths, the whispers turn to witchcraft. The reign of Richard II brings bloody revolution, but does it also give shelter to the black arts?
And which is more deadly for the innocents of Lincoln.
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Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
A few little lies never hurt anyone, right? Wrong. Paul has a plan.
He has a vision of a better future, and he's going to make it happen. If it means hiding or exaggerating a few things here and there, no harm done.
But when he charms his way on to a family holiday.. and finds himself trapped among tensions and emotions he doesn't understand.. By the time he starts to realise that however painful the truth is, it's lies that cause the real damage. Well, by then, it might just be too late.
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by Sarah Winman
This is a story about Marvellous Ways, an eighty-nine-year-old woman who sits by a creek in Cornwall, waiting for a last adventure.
And it's about Francis Drake, a young solider who washes up there, reeling from war and broken-hearted.
It's about the magic in everyday life and the lure of the sea, the healing powers of storytelling and sloe gin.
And most importantly, how we carry on when grief comes snapping at our heels.
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Wild
by Cheryl Strayed
At twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family drifted apart and her marriage crumbled.
With nothing left to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America and to do it alone.
She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise: a promise of piecing together a life that lay shattered at her feet.
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Dear Amyby Helen Callaghan
Dear Amy,
I've been kidnapped by a strange man.
I don't know where I am.
Please help me,
Bethan Avery.
This must be a hoax. Because Bethan Avery is another young girl, who went missing twenty years ago. As more letters arrive, Margot becomes consumed by finding the sender and - unlike the police - convinced that the girls' disappearances are connected.
Solving this puzzle could save someone's life - but it could also cost Margot her own.
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The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary happy family. But the night Dr David Henry delivers his wife's twins is a night that will haunt five livers for ever.
For though David's son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Down's syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal whose consequences only time will reveal, he tells his wife that their daughter died while secretly entrusting her care to a nurse.
As grief quietly tears apart David's family, a little girl must make her own way in the world as best she can.
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Travelling To Infinity: The True Story Behind The Theory of Everything by Jane Hawking
The incredible story of Jane and Stephen Hawkin.
His mind changed our world. Her love changed his.
Complete with exclusive photographs of the couple, this moving and engaging memoir written by Stephen Hawking’s first wife covers the turbulent years of her marriage with the astrophysics genius, her traumatic divorce, and their recent reconciliation.
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So there you have it. Have you read any of the books on this list? If so, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. I'm currently 1/3 of the way through Wild and I'm enjoying it thoroughly (that is why it isn't in the top photo, in case you'd noticed. I completely blanked as it's on my bed). If anything, I hope this post inspires you to pop into your local charity/thrift store and have a glance at the books. The money goes to a good cause and you're re-homing something that ought to be loved. (Unless it's 50 Shades of Grey.. kidding. Kind of.).
If you're looking elsewhere for some book bargains, why not check out my post on Best Places To Buy Books: UK Edition? I'm gonna get back to reading now. Adios!
- Anne x
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