Popular Favorites
Popular books have a place here too. If readers continue talking about a story, there is usually a reason. Find My Story includes widely loved and talked-about books alongside less familiar discoveries.
Find My Story by Secondhand Stories
Inside the Library
More than 3,500 books, chosen to give readers more ways to discover something unexpected.
The Find My Story library is not meant to be a list of every book ever published. It is a growing, personally curated collection designed to bring together popular favorites, overlooked stories, indie authors, vintage books, new discoveries, and plenty in between.
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A Growing Collection
The goal is not simply to have more books.
Find My Story currently has a growing collection of more than 3,500 books, with at least 50 additional books typically added each month as new stories are discovered.
But a larger number alone does not make a better library. The collection grows intentionally. I look for books that can add something useful, interesting, different, surprising, or simply enjoyable to the reading possibilities already available.
My own reading taste is only one reading taste. Find My Story is meant for many different kinds of readers, so I work to build a collection with variety rather than filling it only with books I would personally choose for myself.
On the Shelves
There is room for more than one kind of great book.
Hidden Gems
Some wonderful books never become the title everyone is talking about. The library makes room for stories that may have slipped past bestseller lists, social media trends, or your own bookshelf.
Indie Authors
A wonderful story does not need to come from the biggest name in publishing. Independent and lesser-known authors are part of the collection because great books can come from anywhere.
Vintage & Older Books
Books do not stop being worth reading because they are no longer new. Stories from decades past—and much earlier—have a place beside contemporary releases.
New Discoveries
The library never stays still. New books, new authors, interesting finds, and reader suggestions continue to give the collection more possibilities.
A Wide Range of Reading
Different readers want very different things. The collection is intentionally built across genres, moods, themes, styles, time periods, and reading experiences rather than around one person's taste.
Stories Worth Rediscovering
New is wonderful. Older can be wonderful too.
There are incredible new authors and new releases being published, and they absolutely deserve space on the shelf. But I also believe books from the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, the 1800s, and other periods deserve the opportunity to be discovered again.
Social media can introduce millions of readers to a wonderful book, but it can also mean that the same group of titles appears again and again. There are generations of stories sitting outside today's recommendation cycle.
Sometimes trying something older, quieter, unusual, or simply unfamiliar is exactly how a reader finds the story that surprises them.
Finding the Books
A good story can turn up almost anywhere.
I am always paying attention to books. Sometimes I am intentionally searching for them, and sometimes an interesting title simply catches my eye while I am somewhere completely unexpected.
✦Bookstores
✦Library sales
✦Thrift stores
✦Antique and vintage sales
✦Reader recommendations
✦Social media and book communities
✦Independent and emerging authors
✦Everyday places where an interesting book happens to appear
The point is not where a book is found. What matters is whether it might become a worthwhile discovery for a reader.
Beyond the Stars
Ratings help. Readers decide.
I generally look for books with reader ratings of three stars or higher, and many books in the Find My Story collection are rated four stars or above.
Ratings are useful information, but I do not believe they should be the only reason a story is discovered—or forgotten.
Occasionally, I may include a lower-rated book because I believe the story deserves another chance or could connect differently with the right reader.
Reading is deeply personal. Someone else's five-star read might be your three-star read, and a book another reader rated three stars could become one of your favorites.
Other readers can help point you toward a story. Only you can decide what that story means to you.
More Than One Possibility
Why Find My Story gives you up to three matches.
Even a carefully considered recommendation cannot predict exactly how someone will experience a story.
That is one reason Find My Story can return one to three thoughtfully matched books for a recommendation request. The goal is to give you a small amount of meaningful choice without handing you another enormous list to sort through.
Maybe one book immediately feels right. Maybe two make it onto your reading list. Maybe the least expected recommendation is the one you end up loving.
Readers Have a Voice
Help the library discover something new.
I can search bookstores, library sales, shelves, social media, recommendations, and reading communities, but no single person can discover every wonderful book.
Request a Librarian gives Find My Story readers a way to suggest books, authors, or ideas they think should be considered for the collection.
A book you discovered and loved could eventually become the book another reader would never have found without you.
Your Turn
Somewhere in the library, your next story may be waiting.
Tell Find My Story what you're looking for and discover what the collection finds for you.