About Guide to Indie Bookstores
Our guide to independent bookstores, fall book sales, and local Bookstagrammers.
Tysons Library Quarterly Used Book & Media Sale
Books and graphic novels for children and adults in more than a dozen categories, plus DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, puzzles, and games.
AAUW 51st Used Book Sale
The event benefits scholarships for women.
BIG (Book for International Goodwill) Book Sales
These near-monthly sales fund books for communities in need.
Friends of the Reston Regional Library’s Big Fall Sale
The sale–with more than 30,000 items–does not include children’s books, and kids are discouraged from attending.
Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW) Art & Bookfair
This event is open to the public October 11–12 and 18–19 (and to State Department badge holders other days). Items include used books, art, jewelry, and collectibles donated by Foreign Service families.
Friends of the Beatley Central Library’s Fall Sale
Books for all ages, plus CDs, DVDs, and more–sometimes sheet music and homeschooling materials, too.
Friends of Oakton Library’s Fall Book Sale
Books as well as CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, puzzles, and more.
Friends of Chantilly Regional Library Sale
Gently used books, plus DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks for children and adults.
George Mason Friends Fall Book Sale
Includes books, CDs, and DVDs, plus an entire room dedicated to children’s books.
Friends of the Arlington Public Library’s Fall Sale
This book sale excludes albums, CDs, and DVDs. The library’s parking garage will be closed during the event.
Friends of Fairfax City Library Fall Book Sales
The first weekend is exclusively for children’s books. The second is for both kids and adults.
Books On Our To Read List
Readers hoping to check out a popular title from the library often have to place a hold and join a waitlist. What are buzzy reads right now in the area? Here are some of the most in-demand books in the DC and Arlington public-library systems.
Fiction
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
James by Percival Everett
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Nonfiction
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
This article appears in the September 2025 issue of Washingtonian.
Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.
