Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I’m Mike, and this is RiffRaff’s Reading Renaissance.
In today's video i did a MASSIVE charity shop book haul! 📚✨ Four big bags, over 50 books, and I only spent $20 at my local SPCA & hospice bookshops. From classics and thrillers to local South African gems — join me for the first offical Riff Raff's Reading Renaissance Book Haul and Unboxing video to see what I chose.
After months of reading what I own, I couldn’t resist when I found out my local SPCA and hospice charity shops were running a 50% off sale. The result? 4 huge bags of books — from Trevor Noah, Ian McEwan, and Doris Lessing to Jules Verne, John le Carré, and Nick Hornby. You’ll find South African authors, British classics, literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and even some hidden gems I’d never seen before. Stick around to the end for my reflections on thrifted book culture, why charity shops are a reader’s paradise, and the joy of rescuing unloved stories.
💬 Let’s Discuss!
What’s your best charity or thrift book find ever? Have you read any of the books I picked up today? Comment below — I’d love to hear your thoughts on the books i got.
📚 Join the Renaissance: Subscribe for book hauls, reviews, and reading discussions every week!
🔗 Chapters
0:00 Intro - A Massive Book Haul !
1:20 RiffRaff's 1st Official Unboxing Video
3:00 1st Bag: A Feminist Classic, Dramas & Poetry Finds
5:55 2nd Bag: South African Stories & Literary Fiction
11:47 3rd Bag: Thrillers, Comedy & Autobiographies
25:44 4th Bag: Big Books, Local Authors & a Booker winner
44:43 The Final Tally and Reflections on Book Buying
46:44 Final Thoughts & Outro
Booktubers mentioned:
Steve Donoghue - @saintdonoghue
Emily - @emreads25
BOOKS MENTIONED (Deep breath...!)
The Women's Room - Marilyn French
The Dream of Scipio - Iain Pears
An Indecent Obsession - Colleen McCullough
Poemscapes - a poetry anthology edited by Robin Malan
The Plays of Sheridan
Worldscapes - an poetry anthology edited by Robin Malan
Fatherland - Robert Harris
How Shakespeare Spent the Day - Ivor Brown
Modern South African Stories - edited by Simon Gray
When A Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Bonkers, my Life in Laughs - Jennifer Saunders
The Music Lesson - Katherine Weber
The Best of South African Short Stories
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Disgrace - J M Coetzee
Born A Crime - Trevor Noah
The Mission Song - John Le Carre
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
Absolute Friends - John Le Carre
What have I Done? My Autobiography - Ben Elton
Popcorn - Ben Elton
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller
Perv - A Love Story - Jerry Stahl
This Much Is True - Miriam Margolyes
Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby
Solar - Ian McEwan
Homeland - Karin Brynard
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
Solo - William Boyd
The Covenant - James A Michener
Fortunes of War - Olivia Manning
Last Exit to Brooklyn - Robert Selby Jr
Fanny - Erica Jong
The Novels of George Eliot - Barbara Hardy
An Inspector Calls - J B Priestley
Funeral in Berlin - Len Deighton
Spud the Madness Continues - John Van der Ruit
How To be Good - Nick Hornby
Freakonomics - Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner
Best Australian Short Stories
Duluth - Gore Vidal
The Memoirs of a Survivor - Doris Lessing
Journey To the Centre of the Earth - H G Wells
Wilt - Tom Sharpe
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
Frieda and Min - Pamela Jooste
Mao II - Dom de Lillo
On Duty with the Queen - Dickie Arbiter
The Little drummer Girl - John Le Carre
Last Days in Cloud Cuckoo land - Graham Boynton
By Design - Richard E Grant
Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Winds of War - Herman Wouk
South Africa's Brave New World - R W Johnson
And for the Almighty Algorithm -
#BookHaul #CharityShopFinds #BookTube #ReadingRenaissance #RiffRafReads #SouthAfricanBooktube #ThriftBooks #UsedBooks #SPCABookshop #MassiveBookHaul #BudgetBookHaul #BookBuyingBan #BooksOnABudget #BookHaul #CharityShopBooks #ThriftBooks #ReadingRenaissance #RiffRafReads #BookTube #MassiveBookHaul #BookBuyingBan #SPCABookshop #SouthAfricanBooktube #BudgetBookHaul #UsedBooks
I’m Mike, and this is RiffRaff’s Reading Renaissance.
In today's video i did a MASSIVE charity shop book haul! 📚✨ Four big bags, over 50 books, and I only spent $20 at my local SPCA & hospice bookshops. From classics and thrillers to local South African gems — join me for the first offical Riff Raff's Reading Renaissance Book Haul and Unboxing video to see what I chose.
After months of reading what I own, I couldn’t resist when I found out my local SPCA and hospice charity shops were running a 50% off sale. The result? 4 huge bags of books — from Trevor Noah, Ian McEwan, and Doris Lessing to Jules Verne, John le Carré, and Nick Hornby. You’ll find South African authors, British classics, literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and even some hidden gems I’d never seen before. Stick around to the end for my reflections on thrifted book culture, why charity shops are a reader’s paradise, and the joy of rescuing unloved stories.
💬 Let’s Discuss!
What’s your best charity or thrift book find ever? Have you read any of the books I picked up today? Comment below — I’d love to hear your thoughts on the books i got.
📚 Join the Renaissance: Subscribe for book hauls, reviews, and reading discussions every week!
🔗 Chapters
0:00 Intro - A Massive Book Haul !
1:20 RiffRaff's 1st Official Unboxing Video
3:00 1st Bag: A Feminist Classic, Dramas & Poetry Finds
5:55 2nd Bag: South African Stories & Literary Fiction
11:47 3rd Bag: Thrillers, Comedy & Autobiographies
25:44 4th Bag: Big Books, Local Authors & a Booker winner
44:43 The Final Tally and Reflections on Book Buying
46:44 Final Thoughts & Outro
Booktubers mentioned:
Steve Donoghue - @saintdonoghue
Emily - @emreads25
BOOKS MENTIONED (Deep breath...!)
The Women's Room - Marilyn French
The Dream of Scipio - Iain Pears
An Indecent Obsession - Colleen McCullough
Poemscapes - a poetry anthology edited by Robin Malan
The Plays of Sheridan
Worldscapes - an poetry anthology edited by Robin Malan
Fatherland - Robert Harris
How Shakespeare Spent the Day - Ivor Brown
Modern South African Stories - edited by Simon Gray
When A Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Bonkers, my Life in Laughs - Jennifer Saunders
The Music Lesson - Katherine Weber
The Best of South African Short Stories
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Disgrace - J M Coetzee
Born A Crime - Trevor Noah
The Mission Song - John Le Carre
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
Absolute Friends - John Le Carre
What have I Done? My Autobiography - Ben Elton
Popcorn - Ben Elton
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller
Perv - A Love Story - Jerry Stahl
This Much Is True - Miriam Margolyes
Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby
Solar - Ian McEwan
Homeland - Karin Brynard
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
Solo - William Boyd
The Covenant - James A Michener
Fortunes of War - Olivia Manning
Last Exit to Brooklyn - Robert Selby Jr
Fanny - Erica Jong
The Novels of George Eliot - Barbara Hardy
An Inspector Calls - J B Priestley
Funeral in Berlin - Len Deighton
Spud the Madness Continues - John Van der Ruit
How To be Good - Nick Hornby
Freakonomics - Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner
Best Australian Short Stories
Duluth - Gore Vidal
The Memoirs of a Survivor - Doris Lessing
Journey To the Centre of the Earth - H G Wells
Wilt - Tom Sharpe
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
Frieda and Min - Pamela Jooste
Mao II - Dom de Lillo
On Duty with the Queen - Dickie Arbiter
The Little drummer Girl - John Le Carre
Last Days in Cloud Cuckoo land - Graham Boynton
By Design - Richard E Grant
Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Winds of War - Herman Wouk
South Africa's Brave New World - R W Johnson
And for the Almighty Algorithm -
#BookHaul #CharityShopFinds #BookTube #ReadingRenaissance #RiffRafReads #SouthAfricanBooktube #ThriftBooks #UsedBooks #SPCABookshop #MassiveBookHaul #BudgetBookHaul #BookBuyingBan #BooksOnABudget #BookHaul #CharityShopBooks #ThriftBooks #ReadingRenaissance #RiffRafReads #BookTube #MassiveBookHaul #BookBuyingBan #SPCABookshop #SouthAfricanBooktube #BudgetBookHaul #UsedBooks
