10 reasons why I love second-hand bookstores:

1) They have a wide and vast collection of books from bestsellers to award-winning works to useless titles. You can basically find any book on any topic. It’ll broaden your knowledge of topics to write about too—if you’re thinking of publishing your own book in the future.

2) It’s quite fun struggling to find which books are not crumpled smelly brown garbage-ish. The thing about thrift bookstores is that books are just placed anywhere so you have to really browse through the piles to get a good read.

3) They have old old titles that are no longer in print and you could not find anywhere else.

4) You’ll never know what book to look for and what to find. It’s one of those instances when serendipity works its way and you just have to flow with it. I swear I found so many good titles because I let the S word guide me. Heehee.

5) It’s dead cheap. The cheapest book I’ve bought so far costs me around P75—and that one’s even a Pulitzer-winning piece!

6) The sales people are friendlier than in your average bookshop. They even recommend good reads to buy.

7) Less people go there—only ones who love books the way you do. Less shoving, no lines, the whole place all belongs to yourself most of the time.

8) They change books almost every month so you’re sure to find more and more new titles whenever you come back. The secret is to buy whatever book you like then come back for another book in another day.

9) You won’t find the same book in the same place. That’s right! Second-hand bookstores often have only one or two copy of the book. Buying tip: try to look for another copy of the book you plan to buy then choose which one looks more decent. That way, you’ll get the good version and leave the rotting one.

10) You’ll never know who you’ll bump into. *wink*

--Photo courtesy of Barnes and Nobles.