One of the best things about reading with an e-reader or tablet is being able to accumulate a large library, and never having to pack it around of you move, or need another bookcase to hold it all. Cloud storage has completely revamped having books actually stored in your e-reader. I keep my online books stored in the Cloud, and then download what i want to read. Of course, the e-reader itself holds several thousand books, so even if I didn't store them online, there would be plenty of room to build a library. Kindle apps and Adobe reader are available for just about any kind of computer or tablet that you use. My preference is the Kindle app, but I think the Adobe reader works fine, too. The Kindle store is probably the best place to build your library. Not only do they have a huge amount of e-books, they also put them on sale, and even mark them down to free on some days. Suppose you want to acquire books about gardening, just as an example. You would put in "gardening" as the search, and then run the results by price, low to high. All of the currently free books will show up first, then the 99 cent ones, and so on. If you set up a one-click buying on your Amazon account, then you just choose that, and the book is instantly added to your library. Every day, the free books change; so you should check fairly often to see what new ones are free. I have gotten books that normally were $10 or more , because they were free that day. Another great place for cheap and free books is called Bookbub.com. You register at the website and fill out the information about the kinds of books that you are interested in, and you can be as broad or as specific as you choose in your selection. Bookbub will then send you emails with information about those books that are on special, and fit your catagories. You can also choose where you want to buy books from, such as Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, or most any other onkine bookstore. Adobe has what is called The Gutenburg Project, and they have put almost all of the old classical books online and you can read them for free. As an example, if you have been yearning to read (or re-read) Jules Verne's classical book, Journey to the Center of the Earth; you can find it on Gutenburg. They have lists and lists of these older books, and they are all free to read. If you are looking for a book that is no longer in print, this is also where you are likely to find it. Last, but not least, is your own online library from any large city/county library near you where you can get a library card. Once you register and get the library card, ask the librarian what you need to do to check out e-books (and audio-books). Then, download the Overdrive app for your laptop or tablet, and make an account and link it with your library account. (this sounds complicated; but it is not) Once you have this installed, you can browse the available e-books, and if they are not immediately available, you can put yourself on the list to check it out when it becomes available, just like at the regular library. They book will be checked out for 1-2 weeks, and then will simply "disappear" from your library. This is a mixed blessing. One the positive side, you will never have an overdue library book that you have to pay a fine for. The other side is that, if you have not finished the book, it disappears anyway. Then, you have to get back on the list, and wait for it to come available and check it out all over again , in order to finish the last few pages. Libraries are adding to the amount of available e-books all of the time; so the ones that are available to read online will continue to grow. There are other places online where you can find free books. If you type in the name of the book, and add "free" in the search engine; it will show any place online that has that particular book for free. I have only listed the main ones here, but there are other places to find free books if you search for them.
Bookbubs must be like OHFB (One Hundred Free Books). I get an email every evening with the OHFB picks of the day. Some books are deeply discounted, which is also good, but most are free. I think in the last year I've actually spent money buying one lone book. And most of the freebies I've chosen are as yet unread. Like yours, Yvonne, they are sitting on a cloud shelf somewhere just waiting for me to download them. http://ohfb.com/blog/free-discount-...ail&utm_term=0_b068e15cd4-dd2aa25b92-36063361
These sound like great tips. I will definitely check out Bookbubs and OHFB as well. I have a Kindle and I've pretty much switched over to buying virtual copies of books rather than hard copy because the price is always better. Another thing I do if I am considering buying a book is to order it from my state library. It gets delivered for free to my local library and I can check it out for a couple of weeks to see if I really want the book. If I do, then I can buy it at amazon. If I don't then I didn't waste any money on a book. There are quite a few books that sound really great online but they just don't fulfill my expectations once I get a copy and start reading.
I found yet another great place to add to your online library from Amazon Kindle Books. It is called "Kindle Buffet", and it lists books that are either free or on special every day. It is similar to the Bookbub program, except that Buffet does not send you out a list every day, you just go and look on their website and download any books that you want. The only source for these books is Kindle; but I have discovered that they show me different books than Bookbub sends out for me to look at; so I think it is a good idea to check both of them. Here is the link. It is called "weber books" , but it is actually the Kindle Buffet webpage. http://www.weberbooks.com/kindle/
I guess I'm old fashioned but I still prefer reading paper books. However I've got a small collection of free books I've downloaded for "Kindle for PC". Unfortunately I've never found time to read any of them, so I wasn't really looking for more. But I went to look at Kindle Buffet anyway (thanks @Yvonne Smith ) and downloaded a Knitting Box Set. Hopefully that will push me to make something a bit more challenging than the basic beanies I've been knitting for charity lately. I'll be visiting the site to see if there's more of interest in future. Maybe that will finally make me stop buying more paper books all the time and cluttering the house with books I'll never find time to read.
Michelle, I was really looking at that set of knitting books, too ! I may go back and download it yet myself. If you go to the Kindle store and do a search for knitting or crochet, they have other free books as well, and some have patterns in them. I try to remember to check for new ones on there. The search function is what I like best, because if you want to find gardening books, cook books, health-related books, or just about anything else; it is extremely easy to do. I usually run the search by price low to high to see all of the free ones first; but i also like to search by relevancy so that i don't miss anything good just because of price.
Another great source. I will have to check it out. I do have a Kindle. It is hard though to find the time to read books. My sister says she reads several books a week! I have NO idea how she finds the time to do that. She is also writing her own series of books.
Kindle has a free reading app that will work with any computer, laptop, or iPad . I think it also works with any other tablet or smart phone. You just download the free Kindle app to your device, and then you can read any of Amazon's multitude of books on any device that you have; so it is NOT necessary to even own a Kindle to use bookfinders like Bookbub or Kindle Buffet. For several years, I did not have a Kindle, and read all of the books on my ipad Kindle app. However, for reading a book, I do prefer the size of the Kindle. My iPad is larger and heavier, and the iPhone is too small to even try and read on comfortably (at least for me).
OK, Guys.....So, I was browsing around on a Kindle Fire forum this afternoon, and someone had recommended another good site to find cheap/free ebooks at. It is called E-reader IQ, and I was just looking it over. It has topics you can choose from , just like the Kindle store does, and looks like it might be a very good website to add to "favorites" and browse for books. Here is the link: http://www.ereaderiq.com
I have used both the Kindle and Adobe on my phone or tablet to read my books. As mentioned earlier they are both good. I do still like to have a book in my hands and turn the pages. I also like the audio books when I need to do alot of typing, my hands are busy but I can listen to the story.
@Yvonne Smith Thanks for another useful link. Between the two you've provided, I've found quite a few free books that look really interesting. Now I just need to find time to read them. I think I'll need to invest in either a Kindle or a tablet now as I really don't want to spend all my reading time stuck at my computer.
Thanks so much for all the information and websites for kindle books, Yvonne, and the OHFB info and website, Allie. Very much appreciated. I had been using my ipad like you were, Yvonne, and it was heavier, so I bought a Kindle Whitepaper e-reader and I really like it. I have been getting library ebooks books too.
Pat, I did that exact same thing. The little Kindle e-reader is perfect for reading paperback-type of books; but when I had a book that had illustrations in it; then it was a problem because they were only in black and white, and you can't stretch them to see them larger like you can on the iPad. Next, I saved up and found a used Kindle Fire ($50) on ebay and bought that. It is a little tiny bit larger than the e-reader; but works fine with illustrated books or recipes, or anything that has pictures. I gave the e-reader to my friend, Joyce McGregor, and she uses it for reading "paperback" novels. Since it is so lightweight, she can hold it , even with having one bad arm from a fall and breaking it. Then, I saved up again, and just got a Kindle Fire HD, ($50) which also has bluetooth; and is again, just a tiny bit larger than the plain Kindle Fire. So....I am now instructing Joyce in the use of a Kindle Fire for online, so she doesn't have to try and carry around her old dinosaur laptop (it weighs a TON !) Even though the Kindle Fire does not have an external keyboard, it still has to be better than trying to use the heavy laptop. Since I have the external kepboard for my iPad; I still use that for everything except reading, and it is almost like having a mini-laptop. Another thing that I really like about reading with an e-book reader is that you can change the print to the size you want it , and not be stuck with the size that comes with the book like when you buy a printed one.