Thousands of books are available as free e-books |
Sign Up at Your Local Library
Most public libraries today are a great source of all types of free reading material. Of course, there are the traditional books you can check out and enjoy. However, many of them also will arrange for you to check out e-books which you can read on your own tablet or phone. Your local librarian can show you how to download them. This is especially useful for people who are home-bound and find it hard to make frequent in-person trips to the library. You can sit at home, browse through the selection available from your library system, and download the ones you want to read, including many best sellers which are "hot off the press."
Romance Novels
Many people love to read a great romance novel, but cannot afford the cost of constantly buying new ones. The best place to find free copies of this type of e-book is:
harlequin.com/articlelist.html
Once a week, Harlequin posts chapters of their new books. You can open a free account on your computer, or download the free Book Breaks app on your tablet or phone. The site will even ask you what type of "mood" you are looking for in a novel, to help you narrow your search.
Classic Books
Older books with expired copyrights are in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has digitized many of these books and you can download them to your computer, tablet or phone in HTML format. Check out their list of the the Top 100 eBooks at:
gutenberg.org
However, do not limit yourself to the most popular ones. They have a library of over 70,000 books including titles like Moby Dick, Little Women, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the Kama Sutra, Jane Eyre, Peter Pan and thousands more! So, if you missed reading a classic, or want to re-read a favorite, this is a good way to read them for free!
History Books and Other Reading Materials
Do you love reading rare and hard to obtain books from the past? You do not have to go to Washington, DC to see what is available from the Library of Congress. Browse through their catalogue at:
loc.gov/collections
There is simply no way of telling what unusual works you may be able to download and read, including old newspapers.
Free Newly Released Books
Want to be among the first to discover a new title or author? If you are already a member of Amazon Prime, be sure to sign up for Amazon Prime Reads. It is a wonderful perk that comes with your Amazon Prime membership. Every month, Amazon will send you an email with a selection of free books. You can download one or two of them to your Kindle or Kindle app on your phone or tablet. That means you will have a steady stream of new books every month for you to enjoy. Sign up at:
If you don't belong to Amazon Prime, another good source of newly released books is the Goodreads Free Shelves site. They let you preview free e-books and excerpts. You can find them at:
goodreads.com
Audio Books
Do you enjoy listening to books instead of reading? Go to your local library and see if they offer that option, in addition to allowing you to download free e-books. Many people have discovered the joy of listening to novels, instead of reading them, and many library systems are now making that option available at no cost to their members, too. They will also teach you how to do it, and provide you with written instructions. Listening to books is particularly delightful for people with limited vision. There is no reason for them to give up enjoying books.
No matter where you live, how limited your finances, or how difficult it is for you to get out of the house, there is no reason why you should have to give up enjoying your favorite books. There are a wide variety of ways for you to access an almost limitless supply of high quality books for free!
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