I am a voracious reader. Those who know me well know that reading is my thing. I can escape the doldrums, learn, relax, pass time, wait, study, and more just by reading.
I read almost anything – many years ago, while I was still single and broke, I even asked for a Chilton Auto Repair Manual for my 1973 Ford Pinto for Christmas. Yes, I know I just severely dated myself. That car had a bumper sticker that said, “This Is NOT An Abandoned Car!” It matched my Army uniform, even. It was Olive Drab. I wore the wheels off that car, cleaned and fixed it up, added a honkin’ stereo and booming speakers installed by – you guessed it, ME – and then sold it for more than I paid for it. *Grin*
One thing that excites my Thrifty Soul is the thought of free books. Cheap books, too. Traditional or digital, to me, books are books, and I am interested. Sure, you can key “free books” into your search engine and see how many millions of results you get, but I’m here for you. I’ll help you sort and sift through the myriad listings and save you some time.
First, of course, you should go to https://amzn.to/2SDqLiE and see what pops up. When I do this with this link, I see over 50,000 resulting free books! Their logarithms will find books that match your interests if you’ve bought some from the site previously. If you don’t have a Kindle tablet, have no fear. Amazon kindly offers a download of their Kindle app free for you, so you can read on your computer. Fun! And these books are yours – you don’t have to return them like a library book. So many choices, so little time…
Children’s books are especially important for their development. Reading to your kids is not only good for your own family bonding, but it helps with their educational progress, as proven by a multitude of empirical studies that aren’t my purpose to go into here. One of the very special sources of free children’s books available to those who have limited resources is Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Head to https://imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability/ to see if your area is included, and follow the prompts. This service is available in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. What an angel…
If you aren’t a member of GoodReads already, perhaps you should be. This is a great source of book reviews, synopses, and author information, as well as giveaways. Check out this page for freebies: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway?sort=featured and be surprised at the breadth and quantity of what you find!
If you are willing to make a trade, you can exchange a promise of a review for free books at a number of sites, such as NetGalley, LibraryThing, and again, GoodReads. Keep your word, or your free books will dry up! For kids’ books, try Natural Enquirer and Barnes and Noble. Do a search for free books sent to you by mail and see what pops up. You will be surprised at the ways you can get free physical books, not just ebooks, but of course there are many thousands of ebooks to be had.
There’s no reason not to be reading, and not just classics from The Gutenberg Project!
thriftysoul 