I didn't think that I would enjoy using one and was pretty resistant too. I love my books - the feel of them; having bookcases filled with them; having a stack of books beside my bed. But I'm really enjoying the Kindle Fire that my daughter gave me for Christmas!
I usually read science fiction and fantasy, with an occasional foray into other genres. I rarely read a purely romance novel, and never the Harlequin variety and I don't see that changing.
And I don't think I'll ever replace my art books, my craft books or 'coffee table' type of books with ebooks. And then there are just some books that cry out to have notes made in the margins, passages underlined or highlighted, with a beautiful beaded bookmark nestled between the pages.
But I find, with the Kindle, that I'm definitely reading a wider range of books. And I'm finding that I don't have to worry about running out of reading material, even when my book budget is non-existant.
I've found a variety of ways to acquire free books for my Kindle and I'll list the ones that I use most often here.
My favorite resource for free e-books is a newsletter called Kindle Buffet. The newsletter is published daily and generally runs two to three pages long. There are selections from just about every genre - science fiction, chick lit, mystery, action, romance, cookbooks, self help, Christian, etc. and there are usually a few children's or young adult selections as well.
When you click on the link that takes you to the Amazon listing for a book, be sure to look for the page count. Some selections are just samples or extremely short and, in most cases, I prefer full length books. Some books are part of a series, so if you get hooked into a story you'd have to make a purchase to continue reading.
Then there's your local library. The library here in Ontario, Oregon is sadly out of date and extremely limited in the reading materials that I prefer. I've tried several times to access inter-library loans as a way of getting more up-to-date books, but my requests just seemed to disappear into the ether.
But, they are part of the Library 2Go system, which allows you to check out e-books, audio books and video. The selection available is much better, and much more current, than in the actual, physical library! Most libraries either participate in Library 2Go or a similar program, so be sure to check with yours.
Manybooks.net has over 29,000 eBooks available for Kindle, Nook, iPad and most other eReaders. Mostly classics, but I love my classics and my collection of antique books (all of which are 100+ years old!). You can do a search by genre, by author, by language and more. They even have a library of classic bookcovers, which I love to browse through.
Project Gutenberg also features classics and is perhaps the best known online source for free books, with more than 42,000 free ebooks and 133 categories. Definitely worth exploring!
Click the links in my post, explore and download to your hearts content, and tell me...what kind of books do you enjoy reading? Do you have an e-reader or are you planning to get one?
Shared on the Friendship Friday link-up
