There are many hidden gems in Shanghai, offering something unique and special that can't be replicated. In Shanghai Secrets, we're shining the light on a few under-the-radar places that are serving up something special in the city.

Here's a great tip for English- and French-speaking bibliophiles looking for new reading material out there in the city: There's a really great, 24-hour, unstaffed book store on the fourth floor of an office building in Xujiahui, with a surprisingly decent selection of new and classic popular fiction, children's books, parenting books, business and China affairs books, and more.

When you discover it, you're like, "Whoa, this exists!" And then you're kinda shocked about the selection they've got.

(Well, not SHOCKED shocked. More like book-store-shocked. Like, "hmm! This is interesting!")

Check this out. Just in time for the season...

And this...

And this...

And these...

And these...

And of course this...

All the books are second-hand, with a strong emphasis on holiday reading vibes. It's like a backpacker hostel take-a-book-leave-a-book library, but a surprisingly good one, with a wide selection, particularly in YA, sci-fi, and fantasy. One gets the impression that the selection is the result of a bunch of people moving on from their China lives and unable to take their leisure reading with them. Or maybe they've just finished their copy of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and are gifting it forward to anyone ready to have a long soak and cry in their tub.

A few that popped off the shelves to us: deep cuts in the Frank Herbert Dune series, Star Trek and Star Wars hardback novels, a ton of Game of Thrones tomes, four or five entries in the Percy Jackson series, at least five entries in Charlie Higson's young James Bond series, Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and more.

Of course, classics of the dad wave beach reading genre are represented as well: John Grisham, Michael Creighton, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz and Ian Rankin.

As are classic classics: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Charlotte Bronte and Stephanie Meyer.

This second-hand book store is an initiative from À Pleines Mains (APM), a charity organization that helps orphans, the handicapped and other underprivileged groups by making use of donated goods and money. All the proceeds here are going to their good works. All books in the shop – including kids' books, comics, hardcovers and soft-backs – are priced between 5 yuan (US$0.70) and 40 yuan, depending on the page count.

The charity bookstore is entirely self-serve. Meaning, there are no cash registers, or ladies helping you check out. There is a little desk at the front where you can calculate your own total and pay by QR code.

On Finding the Place:

It's a bit of an adventure! Particularly if you're coming at night. It's on the fourth floor of the office tower at 18 Caoxi Road N., in office "G." If you're coming at night and the front office door is closed, facing the front door, go around the right side of the building to a side door just past their garbage pick-up. Go in there and down the corridor to the elevators in the lobby.

Address: 4/F, 18 Caoxi Road N. 漕溪北路18号

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