Public Domain Readers discussion

Introduce yourself to the group and tell us a little bit about yourself. Let us know...

Your name? (or what you want to be called)
Where are you from?
Your favorite genre?
Anything else you would like to share!

Hello everyone. I'm Lanelle. I was born and raised in the great state of Arizona. My husband and I have six kids and ten of the cutest grandkids in the world.

I don't remember reading very much until junior high school when my best friend and I decided to see who could finish all the Nancy Drew books our school library had first.

I still love mystery books, but now that I'm older, I prefer some romance in there.

Some of my favorite out of copyright books are:


I look forward to having some wonderful discussions with everyone.

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My name's Mark. I live in Moscow, Russia, though I'm from England. I've been mainly teaching for years but also some translation, and I'm trying to get into the more interesting end of that kind of work right now, not so successfully so far, but The Observer used one of my translations recently.

I'm not set to certain genres but non-fiction stuff interests me, philosophical stuff (maybe William James or something like that), there seems to be a lot of old stuff written by explorers about early contact with natives in the Americas and Pacific/Australia, plus some by the natives themselves, so that seems interesting to me. But also any literature. Generally stuff that stretches my ideas about people and their inner worlds and how they connect with others. Romance can be there, war can be there, crime, daily life, whatever, as long as it's an insight. I guess I like to learn about different types of people in their different contexts. I do enjoy good sci-fi when I want to just relax, though even then it's generally good when it stretches our view of our own existence.

I have various reasons to take an interest in public domain works. One was for teaching, meaning I could use texts easily and legally for that, and I've been thinking about how to expand that. Another is getting into reading on my android phone, nice when travelling and trying to keep weight down. Also lately I've got into using a speed-reading app which just flashes up the text and is convenient even if you set it at a slowish speed and forget about the speed reading, though also I realised that trying to increase your speed is useful, it trains your mind to take the information more directly and I found even reading on paper I was reading faster with no loss of enjoyment/information. This could be useful with teaching too, in that developing reading skills means pushing people to jump to the meaning beyond the words, and just flashing things up can be a kind of fun way of getting this going. It certainly means I can nudge the reading habits of students in the right direction.

Another motivation is just finding loads of interesting sounding stuff. It's always intriguing to look on sites and see what's rated on Goodreads. Lots of old stuff I've never heard of but much of which looks really good. A lot also very important and popular in its day, but forgotten by most now. I really like the idea of organising and presenting quality public domain stuff online somehow so people can browse and find good free stuff that suits them. Hopefully we can gradually develop something like that via this group and in doing so attract more members and assist in bringing good work to people's attention and giving these old texts a new lease of life.

As for good public domain books, I can't really remember what I rate highly that's public domain. I need to make a shelf for my profile. The one author I discovered is all public domain, and probably the first reason I started getting books on my phone, was Rabindranath Tagore, whose work I learned about via Satyaji Ray's films. There are a good few Kindles of his stuff for free, I think, and they're free on Kobo, and elsewhere of course.

Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself, Mark. If there was one public domain book I could share with the world, it would be The Way of the Wind. I want everyone to read it, especially those trained in philosophy and literature. It's a fabulous novella. I think it would be a good book to have your students read. I've given it a gushing review here on Goodreads.

Also, if you have some ideas on how we can improve our group, feel free to state them on the suggestions thread.

It looks interesting. I suspect it's the story that the movie, I think just called 'The Wind', a 20s film, starring Lillian Gish, was based on. I think it's public domain already too, and thus available to watch for free online. As I remember the ending is a hack job forced by the studios, who didn't like the grim ending of the original screeplay (and presumably of this book).

Hi there. I'm Randi, a 14 year resident of Bellingham, Washington. Previously, I lived in South America for 13 years. I just retired from an administrative position at Western Washington University and hold state certificates for translation/interpreting in Medical and Social Services for English<>Spanish.
I enjoy reading in both English and Spanish. My favorite genre is Science Fiction, though I will have a go at any work that receives a strong recommendation by someone I respect. The Sparrow, by Mary D. Russell is the latest title I have added to that category, though it is not in the public domain.(Mark may find it appealing since the author definitely makes her reader rethink his/her philosophical views.)
My interest in public domain books comes from the 11+ years I worked in the library at Western. Copyright questions around required reading selections placed in the library by professors led me to wonder where restriction-free items might be found.
It seems to me that many of the titles usually found on lists of "books to read before you go to college" are in the public domain, since they are considered classics. Compiling these types of lists could be a good way to start a list of suggested readings here.
Lanelle, thank you for taking up the challenge of moving things along!

Randi, I haven't been able to find a list of books to read before you go to college. Do you have one handy?

Hello Randi. I'll check out that book for sure. Plus you made me think about how making a list just for public domain books by female authors might be a good idea. It seems always worth promoting the 'minorities' who don't get noticed and read enough. We've got a suggestion from Lanelle already (The Wind).

Over the years I've always thought it would be good to find university reading lists (both pre and during the course, I guess). Maybe such things are on the internet somewhere. Maybe lists on Goodreads too, I don't know. A list of stuff like that that's public domain would be a good addition though, as would maybe any list focusing on something in particular, where all books listed are public domain too (Like 'literary prize winners in the public domain', or 'translations of foreign literature in the public domain', or even 'foreign language works in the public domain', or 'science writing in the public domain', etc., etc.

Hello, everyone!

"Your name? (or what you want to be called)"
Please, call me Sawako (it's a nickname I picked after watching "Kimi ni Todoke").
"Where are you from?"
I am from Egypt, Cairo.
"Your favorite genre?"
I consider myself a junior reader. I took reading seriously at the end of last year. So far, my favorite genres are: mystery (Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and recently Dorothy L. Sayers); comedy (like Three Men in a boat); romance (like Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion).
Anything else you would like to share!
I am a shy person. But I hope that I will participate a lot in the discussions. I am reading The Return of Sherlock Holmes. I am also doing my first Goodreads challenge this year. I use moon+reader app to read public domain books.

Did I do it right? I hope so. It's my first time to join and participate in a group on Goodreads.

Hey, Sawako. Welcome to Public Domain Readers. I'm so glad you found us. I look forward to seeing what books you read.

(Your introduction post looks great!)

Lanelle wrote: "Hey, Sawako. Welcome to Public Domain Readers. I'm so glad you found us. I look forward to seeing what books you read.

(Your introduction post looks great!)"

Thank you for your Comment!! I am super happy to be in this awesome group. I have found amazing website links and reading lists.

Hi, my name is Tim. I was born and raised in Northern Iowa. 16 years ago I moved my family to the Rockford, Illinois area because of a job I had in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago for two years before moving them here. A couple years ago my wife and I downsized from a two story house to a two bedroom apartment in Rockford almost two years ago. One of the first things I did was go get a library card with the Rockford Public Library.

I've been reading ever since I was little. My Mom would take my brothers, sister and me to the library regularly to check out books. I continued reading as a kid. My Mom used to get the Reader's Digest condensed books. She would read them first and would put the books on a bookshelf in the living room. I would frequently pull a book out and read it and i would have discussions of the stories with her.

I started reading Public Domain books after one day coming across Project Gutenberg during my lunch break. that was over 16 years ago. Since then I found out about manybooks.org and the Internet Archives.

As for genre, I don't restrict myself to any particular genre. I like both fiction and non-fiction. One genre that I discovered that I enjoy reading are some of the boy series and girls series books that are in the Public Domain.

But like I said, I don't restrict myself to any particular genre. I am about done reading Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis right now and am thinking about reading something by H. G, Wells next.

I look forward to see what the group is reading and join in the discussions.

Welcome to Public Domain Readers, Tim. I think it's a good thing that you don't restrict your to a particular genre. I won't read erotica and I don't really like horror, but I'll at least give horror a try.

I have read few of the boy series and girl series. I think that would make a good monthly themed read. I'll look into scheduling it soon.

Hey everyone, I'm Stephen, and I'm from the Kansas City area. If we're talking classic books, I love science fiction and old school Gothic horror.

Hi!
I am Sruthi from India.
I've been an avid reader since I was a kid.
My favourite genres are mystery and adventure but I can read anything that is clean, actually.

Some of my favourite authors are Rinehart, C N and A Williamson, Mrs George de Vaizey, Mary Holmes...........

I'm way behind on greeting everyone! Welcome to Public Domain Readers, Stephen, Sruthi and Ella. If you have an idea on how to make the group better, please feel free to make a suggestion.

Hey there everyone. I joined this group last year and thought of posting a comment here but couldn't find the chance until today.

Your name? (or what you want to be called)
I'm Asma but people call me Azuma-chan online

Where are you from?
I'm an Asian born and rised in KSA

Your favorite genre?
I love mystery, thrill, classics & supernatural.
I also love reading comics and books about self development.

Anything else you would like to share!
I started reading when I was in high school as a break from studying then stopped for a long time. After meeting with my good friend Sawako in my journal, she encouraged me to start reading again. We're doing reading challenges since last year and she motivates me a lot. She's also the one who introduced me to goodreads, moodreader and many awesome books to start on with. I used to read only Arabic books and now I read English too. This first English book I read was The Jungle Book

My favorite authers are: Ahmad Khalid Tawfiq & Agatha Christie
Looking forward to participating in the group's future discussions.

WOW! A year ago. Sure time flies very quickly. Thank you! You also motivate me to keep on reading. And I am looking forward to reading your future comments.

Azuma-chan, thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself. It's nice getting to know you.

I also enjoy mysteries, classics, and supernatural books. I have never read The Jungle Book. We should read books where animals play a large part in the story as one of our monthly themed reads.

Lanelle wrote: "We should read books where animals play a large part in the story as one of our monthly themed reads."

Great idea!

Hi there. My name is Shino.
I was born and raised in Japan.
My favorite genre is fantasy.

Now I'm reading Doctor Dolittle, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
And since I'm a mom of 2 small kids, I read picturebooks to my children in both Japanese and English.

Sawako told me about this group.:) Thank you!
I'm looking forward joining the discussions.

Welcome to Public Domain Readers, Shino. You joined at just the right time. Our theme this month are fantasy books. I think Doctor Doolittle would qualify. I haven't read it, so I would be happy to hear your thoughts about the book.

Hey there, Shino!

You're welcome. I'm super happy that you joined the group.

Hi, I'm Andrew.

I'm an engineer, freelance writer and editor, and author of "How Things Are Made: Automobiles to Zippers".

I've been an avid reader since I was a kid, mostly sci-fi and fantasy. My tastes have expanded to include classic literature, especially works in the public domain, which has brought me here.

Lately I've been listening to public domain works on librivox.org, which is a wonderful resource.

Cheers,

Andrew

Welcome to Public Domain Readers, Andrew. I'm so glad that you found us. I read mostly sci-fi and fantasy, too, when I was growing up. And then went on to other genres.

Aren't Gutenberg.org and librivox.org amazing! We are so lucky to have these resources.

Welcome, Andrew. I hope you'll have a marvelous reading time with us.

I'll have to check out Guttenberg.org!

Andrew wrote: "I'll have to check out Guttenberg.org!"

It's an amazing site. I use it a lot. I also use https://openlibrary.org/ which I knew about from here.

Sawako wrote: "Andrew wrote: "I'll have to check out Guttenberg.org!"

It's an amazing site. I use it a lot. I also use https://openlibrary.org/ which I knew it from here."

Hey everyone!
My name? Aqsa
Place? I'm from Pakistan and residing in Oman
Genre? ALL!!

Excited for the group!

Aqsa wrote: "Hey everyone!
My name? Aqsa
Place? I'm from Pakistan and residing in Oman
Genre? ALL!!

Excited for the group!"

Welcome Aqsa to our group. We are super happy to have you here.

We are currently reading The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes as a part of our Yearly Reading Challenge . And we are reading any book written by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Have fun and happy reading! :D

Sawako wrote: "Aqsa wrote: "Hey everyone!
My name? Aqsa
Place? I'm from Pakistan and residing in Oman
Genre? ALL!!

Excited for the group!"

Welcome Aqsa to our group. We are super happy to have you here.

We a..."

Thanks! I'll see if I can join these!

Aqsa wrote: "Thanks! I'll see if I can join these! "

You're very welcome. :D Great!

*waves* Hi, Aqsa. I'm so glad you've found our group. I'm looking forward to having some good discussions with you.

Lanelle wrote: "*waves* Hi, Aqsa. I'm so glad you've found our group. I'm looking forward to having some good discussions with you."

Hi Lanelle! I'm looking forward to it too!
I'm also glad I found this group!
I'll join you guys in the discussions soon!

Hello, my name is Leslie, and my mother tells me I need to try something other than romance novels. Hopefully, I will find a few to read with my kids.

Welcome to Public Domain Readers, Leslie. Don't worry, we'll help you find some awesome stories to read. Maybe even some romances :)

Are you interested in playing Tag, You're It?

Leslie wrote: "Hello, my name is Leslie, and my mother tells me I need to try something other than romance novels. Hopefully, I will find a few to read with my kids."

Hi Leslie,

How old are your kids?

Have you read Jane Eyre yet? Wonderful book :)

JenniferFour wrote: "Hi Leslie,

How old are your kids?

Have you read Jane Eyre yet? Wonderful book :)"

Grandma (me) can answer that question... 14-years-old to 9 months. I don't remember if Leslie has read Jane Eyre. I do remember that she didn't care for Wuthering Heights. And I know that they read/listened to Heidi this past month for school.

I stick with Jane Eyre then as a recommendation (I read it when I was 12- my 7th grade teacher gave it to me). How about Anne of a Green Gables? Anything by Frances Burnett Hodges? Lovely books and appropriate for all ages (like Heidi!).

Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi.

To be honest, I don’t usually read public domain books. I love contemporary authors, and those are usually what I read. But ever since I became a teacher I’ve had the need to access books legally so I can share with my translation students, and so I’ve been discovering amazing books in Project Gutenberg, and recommendations will certainly always be welcome. The most recent public domain book I read was ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese and other love poems’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Carol wrote: "Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi.

To be honest..."

Welcome to the group Carol! I read sci-fi books that are in the public domain at times. Two of my favorite authors are Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Carol wrote: "Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi.

To be honest..."

OMG! Welcome to the group. I'm so happy that you joined. I looked over our Science Fiction Shelf and there are five books there.

And if you want more books, you can post in Book Recommendations

I'm SUPER excited to have you here!

Sawako wrote: "Carol wrote: "Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi...."

Thanks, Sawako! I took a peek at your scifi shelf and wrote down 3 books to eventually read. ;)

Tim wrote: "Carol wrote: "Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi...."

Thanks, Tim! H. G. Wells is awesome, I've read 'The Time Machine' and 'The Invisible Man', and I keep saying I'll read 'War of the Worlds' but I just keep putting it off.

Carol wrote: "Hi! I heard about this group from Sawako and decided to join so I can get some recommendations. :)
My name is Carol, I’m from Mexico and my favourite genre (at the moment) is sci-fi."

Welcome, Carol.

I read A Honeymoon in Space a few years ago. I loved it. I laughed a lot though. It felt like a B movie, if you know what I mean :)

It seems this group is all but inactive. I find that sad, although I have no real idea how to get people engaged. My GoodReads 'stuff' can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2...