When you find a library or a bookstore that you love, you just feel it deep in your bones. That’s how I felt walking into this little book thrift store that’s tucked away on the side of a small, cozy road. I spent so long talking to an employee around my age about books that are on my TBR and ones that are on hers. We talked everything from our favorite historical romances to favorite thrillers.

The thrift store itself was magical. There’s aisles up on aisles of books, most of which I’ve never heard of. I think that the main difference between a bookstore and a second hand book store or thrift store is that with a bookstore, you recognize more titles than you do with a thrift store.

Bookstores are organized and while thrift stores are also organized, the sheer quantity of books in thrift stores leaves you with the impression that you’ve walked into a hidden cave full of mountains and mountains of books rather than a room full of carefully curated books. The likelihood that you’ll recognize books from social media or wherever you get your book recommendations from is rare in a thrift store.

When it comes to book shopping in a thrift store, you rely on strangers’ recommendations, gut instincts, and the feel of the spines on your fingers as you pull each book out to see what story it hides away in its tightly packed shelf.

I picked out quite a few books from my trip to the thrift store so I thought I’d share what I got with you all.

Women Centered Fiction

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

I actually have heard of this book before but there’s something that was holding me back from picking it up earlier. Political reads aren’t exactly my to go sub-genre and this book is pretty big, so all in all it was intimidating to me in more than one way. One of my recent favorite YouTuber’s mentioned that they’re a huge fan of Curtis Sittenfeld and so I decided that maybe it’s time to take that jump and pick it up. This book follows Hillary Clinton if she never said yes to Bill and was never a Clinton. We get to follow Hillary Rodham as she makes her way into American politics and often times, put in situations where she’s got to work or deal with Clinton. I’m curious to see where Sittenfeld takes Hillary’s journey and how things unravel.

Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict

As a history lover, I’m no stranger to the contributions of Winston Churchill in the Allied efforts of WW2 but I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never thought about his wife. From watching the Crown, I know that his family life is one stained with loss and tragedy and his tumultuous political career, I’m sure, didn’t help either. He’s a loud man when it comes to all things political. But his wife, I’m sure, is even more powerful. I’m excited to pick this book up and get to learn more about Lady Clementine and her take on all of her husband’s career and involvement in WW2. I know that while Britain sided with the Allies during WW2, there were still atrocities committed on the side of the Allies. I know from previous research that some of these actions really affected Churchill so I’m curious to see if it’s explored in this book and to read it from a different perspective.

Historical Romance

I also picked up two historical romances because the employee in the store said that she really likes Lisa Kleypas. Unfortunately, the ones that she recommended were sold out but I picked up some other books that she’s written that interested me. I haven’t had the best time with historical romances recently and it’s been so long since I read one that I loved so I’m hoping I find a new favorite among these two.

• Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas
• Stranger in my Arms by Lisa Kleypas

Adult Fiction

Possession by A.S Byatt

I think that this book is going to be the most challenging of my reads and the most exciting. This book is aged, it has that old book smell, and it’s thick in size with sprinkling of annotations. The annotator signed the book saying that they owned it in the year 2000 and it was for her husband. This book follows two academics I believe who traceback and follow two poets and their histories. I don’t know much about poetry but I have a feeling that this book is going to deep dive me into the genre. I can’t wait to pick this book up because with the annotations, it feels like I’m reading along with someone twenty years ago. Isn’t that crazy?

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

This author isn’t an author that’s unheard of and rightfully so. Hanya Yanagihara is known for her work of art known as “The Little Life”. It’s the huge daunting book with the cover of a crying man that’s famous for causing such emotional pain amongst it’s readers that the line between emotional and physical pain is blurred. As someone who cries in rom com book’s, you can imagine why I find “The Little Life” more than just daunting. It’s been one of my reading goals of 2022 to finally pick up and finish “The Little Life”. I want to read more big books and I don’t think I can think of a book bigger than “The Little Life”. I decided that the best way to enter the Hanya Yanagihara secret society of tortured and enamored readers is to pick up her debut, “The People in the Trees”. I have absolutely no idea what this book is about but I feel that if I can conquer this book, I can conquer “The Little Life”.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

This is a book that I picked up previously but wasn’t in the mood for. I think I got five pages in before I got distracted by another book. When I did pick this book, it was pre 2020 so the world at the time, didn’t know what it would mean to have lockdowns, quarantine periods, masks, or any idea what is and what to do in a global pandemic. This book, I believe, is some sort of an apocalyptic book of sorts. I believe it’s similar to “Station Eleven” in that we follow a set of characters through out a period of time when fiction blurs with their reality.

Creepers by David Morrell

This was a suggestion by one of the employees in the thrift store. A man had actually come by and was expressing his love in the design elements and the aesthetic of historical romances such as Bridgerton to me and the female employee. Another employee overheard our conversation and came by with this book, “Creepers” thinking that the aesthetic this Bridgerton loving man would appreciate is that of haunted houses. It was a cumulative decision that the aesthetics of these two different genres isn’t equivocal and I ended up taking the book with me. I’m not much of a thriller reader, more less a horror reader, so I’m quite excited to pick it up. I also am excited about the so called “aesthetic” the employee with the recommendation was talking about.

Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is one of my bucket list authors. The fact a female author outsold the Bible has me itching to support her. As stated, I’m not one for mysteries but I feel like modern day mystery is far more commercial. When I think of Agatha Christie, I think of the merger of two genres I’m diving into this year unhesitatingly and I want to see what I make of her work. I feel as though Agatha Christie’s work is a mixture between a classic and that of a slow burn mystery. I think that as shorter reads, they’d make for the perfect after work or Sunday afternoon escape. There’s also so many adaptations coming out in homage to her popular works that I want to do my part and try to keep up with them.