Evie Viola
How to Obtain Cheap Books: From a High School Student from Arlington VA
June 9, 2026
If you've read any of my reading wrap-ups, you've probably seen that I get a lot of books for less than 4 dollars, sometimes even for free! I think that it's really important to find ways to read books at cheap prices, especially now, with the prices of everything rising and Booktok promoting extreme overconsumption of books. I have a few main methods I use to get books, and while I know that not every place has access to the same resources, I hope that this guide can inspire you to look into how you can get books in your city.
Full Price
This is the most straightforward category. The way to buy books at full price is to buy them from bookstores. However, I do have a point I would like to make about bookstores. I know that not everyone has access to good independent bookstores nearby, but if you do, I hope you try to support them. There's obviously nothing wrong with Barnes & Noble, or any other big book chain, but in a world where corporations own pretty much everything, I think that it is important to consider where we can spend our money to support people and small businesses in our community.
If you live in and around Arlington, VA, I do have a list of independent bookstores nearby. Please note that the only ones I have been to are Fonts Books and Gifts and One More Page Books, so I am not able to confirm how good the selection is at any of the others. If you are able to get to either of those two (or any others!), I highly recommend paying them a visit.
| Store | Address |
|---|---|
| Bards Alley | 110 Church St NW Vienna, VA 22180 |
| Big Planet Comics | 426 Maple Ave E Vienna, VA 22180 |
| Birch Tree | 11 W Market St Leesburg, VA 20176 |
| Bonfire Bookstore & Yarnery | 108 N Main St Woodstock, VA 22664 |
| Books & Other Found Things | 13 Loudoun St SW Leesburg, VA 20175 |
| Curious Iguana | 12 N Market St Frederick, MD 21701 |
| Fonts Books & Gifts | 6262 Old Dominion Dr McLean, VA 22101 |
| Friends to Lovers | 301 Cameron St Alexandria, VA 22314 |
| Hundred Acre Books | 307 S Main St Culpeper, VA 22701 |
| Middleburg Books | 17 S Madison St Middleburg, VA 20117 |
| Old Town Books | 130 S Royal St Alexandria, VA 22314 |
| One More Page | 2200 N Westmoreland St Unit 101 Arlington, VA 22213 |
| The Open Book | 104 Main St Warrenton, VA 20186 |
| Scrawl Books | 11911 Freedom Dr Reston, VA 20190 |
| Spelled Ink | 132 W Main St Orange, VA 22960 |
| West Side Stories | 201 N 23rd St Unit E Purcellville, VA 20132 |
| Winchester Book Gallery | 7 N Loudoun St Winchester, VA 22601 |
| Wordplay | 50 W Main St Wardensville, WV 26851 |
Cheap
I've found that cheap books are the most limited category, but can be plentiful if you know where to look. In Arlington, the Aurora Hills, Central Library, Cherrydale, Columbia Pike, Courthouse, Glencarlyn, Shirlington, and Westover Public Library locations have a Friends of the Arlington Public Library (FOAL) bookstore. These are usually books that have been taken out of library circulation, or books that have been donated to FOAL. These books range in price from 1 to 4 dollars.
| Adult Hardcover | $4 |
| Adult Paperback | $2 |
| Teen Hardcover | $2 |
| Teen Paperback | $1 |
Even if you're not in Arlington, look into your local library and see if they sell discounted books. You can also check thriftstores like Goodwill and Half-Price Books in your area.
Free
Finally, free books, my favorite category. Who doesn't love free things?
There are a few ways to get these. First, the most obvious: the library. You obviously don't get to keep these books, but it's a great way to have access to a wide selection of books, with no worries about cost or storage.
The only downside is that if you're a slow reader or simply have a lot to do, the time you're able to keep a book checked out might not be enough time to get through it.
If you live near Arlington and don't have an Arlington Public Library card, visit this site to learn how to get one for free.
The next method I suggest to get free books is the most unpredictable, but can pay off well. Reading challenges. This can be through your school, your library, or any other organization you can find.
These challenges can come in many forms, but usually involve reading for a certain number of days, reading a certain number of books, or reading books that fufill certain criteria.
These are most accessible if you read quickly and often, and that's why I don't recommend them commonly. Sometimes, the prize isn't even book-related, but they're a good thing to keep an eye out for, since usually you don't have to pay to enter.
In Arlington, the library always has the winter and summer reading challenges, which are free to enter, open to all ages, usually also donate to a charity, and can have a variety of prizes available.
Lending Libraries
These felt important enough to warrant their own category. Lending libraries are a great resource for finding and donating books. A general rule of thumb is that if you take a book from a lending library, leave one to replace it.
Not everywhere has a lending library, and if you don't know where they are in your area, check out the Little Free Library World Map
If there aren't any in your area, you can be the first to start one! Check out this link here to get more information: How to Start a Little Free Library!
Conclusions
There you have it, all of my strategies for sourcing books in the cheapest, most sustainable ways I can. At the end of the day, I think that readers should be promoting sustainable collecting and avoiding overconsumption. Reading is a mindful hobby, and while I don't think every person who reads needs to be a vegan, living on a farm, making everything from scratch hippie, I do think we should all be more mindful about what we buy and how we help our communities.