Classic Books: How to Legally Get Your Faves Online, For Free!

, , No Comments
Everyone knows that the fastest, most indisputable way to prove that you are extremely classy & much better than everyone else in the room is to quote classic novels. Obviously.
The problem is usually how to get them when you're spending most of your budget on buying action figures of the Fast & Furious 7 cast. We understand, and we gotchu. #CheapskateTips

Gangster Cat
Cheapskate Game STRONG. pixgood

The good news is, most classic books are now Public Domain, which means it is completely within the law to distribute/acquire them, making them available all over the internet.
Walk with us for how to get your mitts on said books 100% for free so you too, can live Like a Sir.

First Things First

The internet can be a cruel, scary place.
With downloading things from the internet, whatever it may be, there's always the risk of getting a nasty virus that will brick your phone or computer.

Ryan The Office Threat
This is where you start taking notes. mtv

One easy way to get around this is to go to your browser settings under "downloads" & make it so every download has to be approved before saving. Then, make a point of checking the format tag of the download: anything ending in ".exe" is pretty much guaranteed to be a malicious program (virus in Swahili) and all you have to do is click "cancel".

Also, if you'd like to use e-books but not buy a dedicated device to read them (for convenience or because you're a card carrying cheapskate like yours truly), you always have your phone.
Essentially every OS out there has e-reader apps you can download for free & bring your books with you wherever you are.

One good one I've had for ages is FB Reader, though recent unnecessary & unfortunate updates have had me switch to Aldiko, which continues to serve me well. Which brings us to:

Apps

Smart phone scroll

Some (deathly awesome) e-readers, like the very same Aldiko, have the provision to let you download a decent selection of free books directly from within the app. 

Simply searching your specific app store for free books should yield results as well: for Android, I've used Moon+ Reader with decent results and LibriVox during an audio book phase. Apple and Windows phone users, please feel free to share some of the free book apps you've found on your side as well. Thank you!

Online

Cat on computer better than you
We've established that if you're reading this, you are a literal cat. weknowgifs

There are an eleventyfive million sites where you can search for, learn about and download books that you'll be awkwardly referencing at children's birthday parties for years to come. Thus far, these sites have never failed me:

All five are searchable sites that have books in pretty much any format your e-reader takes. I've been using them sites for years and can personally vouch for their quality, variety and lack of viruses/programs that can otherwise harm your dear electronics.

This is not to say that there are no other options: a  very comprehensive list of e-book resources by genre and book format can be found here on Gecko and Fly, but aside from the above named Big Five, we cannot speak to the safety/free download availability of each individual site mentioned therein. Do make a point of checking it out, though: there is some useful information on searching for books online and you might find your new favourite download source either way. 

Righto, for Monday Like A Sir, this has been Evey G. Cheerio, and remember:

Marceline Fin peck
Yes, you specifically. Call me. giphy


0 comments:

Post a Comment