Hey, Hey, I'm back again! If you missed my first posts in the series, you can find them here:
Have you read anything new and exciting? Are you always looking for a new book to read, something for your voracious reader, or something for your struggling reader?
Today I am going to quickly highlight some of my favorite places to find free reading material. Other than the obvious "Visit your local library," most of my resources today will be of the electronic variety.
I mentioned the local library for actual hard-copy books, but many libraries now offer "Rentals" (for free) of electronic books. My daughter just recently downloaded the apps necessary to borrow books from the library, and has enjoyed reading a few mysteries via the OverDrive Media Console™ app. A bonus with these electronic borrowed books is that they are automatically "returned" to the library once your time is up.... no late fees! :)
One of my very favorite things these days (I never thought it would be possible a couple of years ago.... either that I would own one, much less like reading from one), is my iPad. I use the Kindle app extensively (love the ability to read at night with the lights out... DH has a different schedule than the rest of us, and this way I'm less likely to disturb his sleep). 
However, even if you don't have a wireless device, there is something you need to know: You don't need a Kindle to read a kindle book! You can download a Kindle app to your desktop or laptop, and away you go(You can also "store" them in the Amazon cloud until you want to read them)!
Various Kindle books are offered for free for a limited time. My favorite places to find them are the Pixel of Ink family of blogs/facebook pages (I'm going to include some thumbnails of books that are free as I write, but they may not be free tomorrow...).
Pixel of Ink:Somewhat hit or miss, but I've found quite a few great books highlighted here... be aware that there is a fair amount of junk, but it doesn't take very long to peruse the lists each day (Pixel of Ink posts about 3 times a day on average). Looking forward to this continuation of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice~ I'm curious about Mr. Collins' wife! :) 
Inspired Reads: This is one of my favorites~ Generally speaking the books appearing here have a higher likelihood to be my cup of tea(From publishers like Bethany House and Abingdon Press). BTW, in addition to those books that are self-published, and apparently not edited, there are some first class books being offered at each of these sites, ~ Siri Mitchell's new historical novel, just published in paperback last month showed up here! 
Pixel of Ink~ Young Edition: A variety of books show up here, from young adult fantasy(And be prepared to sift through a bunch of vampire novels.... sigh... lots of dross), to middle school chapter books, to early readers.... This is a great page to subscribe to so you don't miss anything. :) 
Power Reads: Non-fiction~ memoirs, biographies, and more. I haven't gotten too many books from here yet, but it's a fairly new focus.
Dining Downloads~ Cookbooks anyone? Same here... I haven't gotten too many books from here just yet, but I do have a few that I need to check out!
Another option is to simply search Amazon for free Kindle books. There are loads of the classics to be found there (Including a bunch of Henty books!). You can overwhelm yourself by just going to the Kindle Store and "sorting" price from low to high, or you can browse by age or category, and THEN sort by price~ Slightly less overwhelming.... ;)
Moving on, Project Gutenberg and The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project were my original "Go-to" sites before we had the lovely little electronic devices in our house. The Baldwin Project includes a Ambleside index, which is very nice. Eldest was very pleased to find a bunch of Laura Lee Hope titles (Think Bobbsey Twins) some time back on the Project Gutenberg site.
Another site to check out is ManyBooks.net There are almost 2500 "Young Readers" available, including Tom Swift stories, Burgess books, Mark Twain, and so much more!
The American Literature Library features classics from American and around the world.
And if you have an audiophile, You could check out Lit2Go, which is a free online collection of stories and poems in mp3 format. MyAudioSchool offers about 20% of their classic books, old-time radio theater, historical radio and television broadcasts, and more for free. There is some neat stuff in here! :)
Blessings~
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks so much for letting me know you were here. I appreciate "thoughtful" comments. :)