Friday, February 1, 2013

Finding Free E-books for Your Kindle

Have you jumped on the e-reader bandwagon yet? 

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  The library here in Ontario, Oregon is sadly out of date and extremely limited in the reading materials that I prefer.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?



5 comments:

  1. Thanks Cynthia for the links.....I'm always on the lookout for free books for my Kindle and I also buy Kindle editions, in fact I've just bought The Life of Pi after seeing the movie and loving it.

    I am a lover of books, real paper books, I have way too many of them and I've taken to reading what I want from my local library, but they don't always have the many items I'm interested in. When I want to hold a book in my hands, look up things more than a few times and just 'own' a book, I'll buy it in hard copy....I don't think that will ever end.

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    1. Kat, I've so missed being able to buy books! Now that I have somewhat of an income, I can budget for one or two each month - and those will definitely be physical books.
      The Kindle (and free ebooks) allow me to indulge my love of reading, no matter what my financial situation is, but I agree with you - they will never replace hard copy books.

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  2. So, there's hope in this zebra changing her stripes? I'm like you, I LOVE my hardcovers and paperbacks. I do! I do! I do!
    In spite of my children having a Kindle I never once even considered picking it up to read anything. I hardly even touch it. But after reading this post, I think I may give it a whirl.
    Thanks for the links. I've been needing to download more readers and this is just what I needed! Gonna have them get on there and get some new material! See you soon!

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    1. Mari, YES!! There's always hope, lol!
      I'm loving my Kindle and it's even helping me with my creativity (a post on my other blog about that: http://creativeartitudes.blogspot.com/2013/01/creativity-with-kindle-fire.html).
      I'm hoping to find more ways to use my Kindle to make life a bit less challenging.
      You'll have to let me know if you enjoy using the Kindle for reading!

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  3. I love e-books and have the Kindle reader on my iPad. I just bookmarked the links. Thanks so much!

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