Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

In 2019 I started a thread about "Secret Weapons for Reading". It is here if you are interested https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

The intent was for people to pool their knowledge and help others find resources for books. This is something I am interested in because our one small local library is nice but limited. As ebooks have become a more viable option for locating hard-to-find books I thought it would be nice to have a ready list of places to look.

My favorite online places to locate book are:

Project gutenberg at Gutenberg.org. These books are free and in the public domain. I prefer to read this format on a laptop.

Manybooks.net has books that are free and also in the public domain. These are pdfs to download that I read on my laptop.

I also use Kindle for books not in the public domain. Kindle is available on my phone, laptop, or my Kindle device.

Finally, our library has an app called Libby where ebooks can be checked out electronically for 2 weeks just as a physical library book would be. I have been disappointed with this option. The wait times are unworkable for me and selection is quite limited.

Any good suggestions that I am missing?

I have been hunting throught the Gutenberg.org website and found this interesting feature:


When you go to the website you can find the following lists of downloads. This looks like a fun way to find book recommendations.

Top 100 EBooks yesterday
Top 100 Authors yesterday
Top 100 EBooks last 7 days
Top 100 Authors last 7 days
Top 100 EBooks last 30 days
Top 100 Authors last 30 days

Like you, I also use kindle, kobo, and Libby but I almost always have books open on hoopla and Serial Reader. Archive.org is another source but I find the reading there more clunky. Sometimes my library has ebooks available on other apps.

Thanks Annette. I have not tried Archive.org. One of the first things it lead me to was the librivox audiobook collection. That is very helpful.

1) overdrive.com I don’t know how it works in general, but I am allowed to spend my monthly 3 ebook loans from ereolen.dk on overdrive.com

2) https://manybooks.net/ Most of the books are from gutenberg.org but the formatting is nicer.

3) For new Science Fiction short stories and novelettes
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
A good place to start
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/awar...
(if the story is long, I copy-paste it into a txt file and read it on my tablet).

4) gutenberg.ca sometimes have some other or more books than gutenberg.org
I haven't figured out the system. For instance gutenberg.org has 3 Hemingway titles
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5...
While gutenberg.ca has 6. but only one is a doublet (The Sun Also Rises).
Some of it is a copyright thing, but it cannot be all of it.

5) I use Archive.org mostly as a last resource. There is a lot of stuff but usually as PDF of scans of old library books. Yes, clunky is the word. Some years ago I was looking for Singoalla and could only find it here.

6) I use Moon+ Reader on a tablet. It handles almost any format. I hate reading books on a laptop. You can use “Calibre - E-book management”
https://calibre-ebook.com
to convert formats to something a Kindle can handle.

BTW my tablet is ancient (10 or 11 years). A lot of apps have stopped working. Maybe in the end only ebooks will work.

I use the local library's e-services. Here we have access to Hoopla and AXIS 360. Hoopla is available in various locations throughout US and Canada. Here in my city and perhaps elsewhere library patrons can sign up for e-services from their devices. Hoopla started out more classic/academic leaning which is good for our use at Catching Up.

I use two paid services. Kindle Unlimited which I will stop paying for. The collection at Scribd is going ever larger. Depending on one's interests there may be classic nonfiction selections there as well.

As for classic fiction, there is a growing collection. I have particularly enjoyed the Barnes and Noble collection.

I use the
openlibrary
archive.org
gutenberg (note the australian gutenberg.au sometimes has a different selection)
Librivox for audio of course.
i'm currently reading through the Merril Collection of early speculative and science fiction and fantasy. Its content about 220 pdfs, is listed on my shelf here https://www.goodreads.com/review/list... .
I can't link to the toronto library merril collection page here but you can easily google it then scroll down to digitized items.

On a depressing note, I went to my local library yesterday to make copies on the public copy machine. Things have changed yet again. The public copy machine is no longer public. It has been moved behind the big glass cage that was once a simple counter. The cage was installed during Covid. You now must hand your item to the librarian to copy for you, then pay. I went to walk through the shelves. I was so sad. The book collection has diminished again. There are NO books on any top shelf at all anymore - that is a 20% reduction. It reminds me of the quarantine grocery shelves.

Wreade1872 wrote: "I use the
openlibrary
archive.org
gutenberg (note the australian gutenberg.au sometimes has a different selection)
Librivox for audio of course.
i'm currently reading through the Merril Collection ..."



Thank you Wreade

https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/advance...#


This is a cool collection. My use of Manybooks.net kindled an interest in just this type of reading.

The Merril Collection
https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/advance...
has added a few more books by mostly female writers, 22 i think. I added them to my shelf
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
which took an age as many of them had not been heard of by goodreads. But they're on there now. Several by a Marjorie Bowen who seems to do historical/supernatural works? but i've only had a quick glance.

The Norwegian National Library have a very nice collection of hard-to-find stuff as epub:
http://www.epub.no/p/utgivelser.html

The books are in Bokmål, Nynorska or Danish. Just look at that Henrik Ibsen collection....

And Gjennom Sibir (Through Siberia). I have never been able to get my hands on that. And here it is a free download.....

This is a great site for finding science fiction and fantasy available online:

https://www.freesfonline.net/index.html

Janelle wrote: "This is a great site for finding science fiction and fantasy available online:

https://www.freesfonline.net/index.html"

Thank you Janelle. I bookmarked and saved the link.

Sometimes short stories college/university students are required to read are available online at the school's website. The public institutions make these short stories available to many as public institutions are obligated to make resources available at least in limited form to the cities, states, etc. that they serve.

Just search for short story by name + free online. Sometimes just lucky.

The Merril Collection seems to have updated again
https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/advance...
My shelf is now on 277 (it was somewhere around 245 previously), 206 unique authors if i counted right
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Here's a useful one for short stories:
https://xpressenglish.com/short-stori...

Wobbley wrote: "Here's a useful one for short stories:
https://xpressenglish.com/short-stori..."

That one has Children of the Corn – Stephen King, next months short story. Nice! Thank you.

https://xpressenglish.com/our-stories...

I stopped Kindle Unlimited and started Prime which has Prime Reading. I see occasionally books I might read.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Wobbley wrote: "Here's a useful one for short stories:
https://xpressenglish.com/short-stori..."

That one has Children of the Corn – Stephen King, next months short story. Nice! Thank you. "

Great -- well noticed!

J_BlueFlower wrote: "Wobbley wrote: "Here's a useful one for short stories:
https://xpressenglish.com/short-stori..."

That one has Children of the Corn – Stephen King, next months short story. Nice! Thank you.

h..."


I found that one at Wordpress.com

https://morganmash.files.wordpress.co...

Cynda Reads Again wrote: "I stopped Kindle Unlimited and started Prime which has Prime Reading. I see occasionally books I might read."

I also stopped Kindle Unlimited. I never used it.

Lynn wrote: "Cynda Reads Again wrote: "I stopped Kindle Unlimited and started Prime which has Prime Reading. I see occasionally books I might read."

I also stopped Kindle Unlimited. I never used it."

Kindle Unlimited also just increased its prices. Not worth it.


Last Movie: Scary Movie 2 (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2001) 6/10

I know I am repeating myself, but the one online place I go over and over to find public domain free books is manybooks.net. Other than that I spend a few dollars on a kindle version or pick up a hardback copy.

Lynn wrote: "I know I am repeating myself, but the one online place I go over and over to find public domain free books is manybooks.net. Other than that I spend a few dollars on a kindle version or pick up a h..."

Repeat after me, it's okay to repeat yourself :)


Last Movie: Scary Movie 2 (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2001) 6/10

Project Gutenberg, of course! More than 70,000 free ebooks

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Not sure if Roy Glashan's Library ( https://freeread.com.au ) has been listed before.
It's not huge but includes a lot of stuff by unknown authors, also just some general works, many pretty obscure and its ebooks seem to have been personally formatted and are pretty nice.

I just search "XYZ book pdf" on google and a lot of times I'm able to find reliable sources.

The Merril Collection is back up. Its been down since november, i think? Due to cyber attack on canada's library system.
https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/advance...

My Merril Collection Shelf for easier browsing.

Wreade1872 wrote: "The Merril Collection is back up. Its been down since november, i think? Due to cyber attack on canada's library system.
https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/advance......"

Thanks Wreade . I downloaded about 6 things. including:

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

and a fun one about Buck Rogers