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22 Best Places to Get Free Kindle Books in 2024

Amazon is my first pick, but don't overlook these other awesome eBook sites

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These websites offer excellent free books for your Kindle. I've spent hours finding the best free eBook sites, and these are my choices. They stand out because of their large collections and user-friendly features when you're looking for books.

If you don't have a Kindle and would rather not purchase a brand new one, download the free Kindle reading app on your computer, phone, or tablet.

Massive collection of eBooks.

Customer reviews and ratings.

Many sub-par titles.

Some titles are only free for a limited time.

Easy to confuse Kindle Unlimited titles for free books.

I prefer to use Amazon for free book downloads for two reasons: the $0 price is guaranteed accurate, and the books are sent straight to my Kindle.

There are hundreds of free eBooks on Amazon, with subsections to click through to better find your next read. You can browse in sections like Short Reads, Nonfiction Singles , History , Parenting , and lots of others.

Email subscription will notify you of new titles.

Wide array of categories.

Free filter helps isolate no-cost books.

Sort by date to find newly added titles.

Also lists heavily discounted books.

Many titles only free for a limited time.

Select a book title at BookBub, and you'll get a synopsis, a photo of the book cover, and sometimes its release date.

I absolutely love the all the categories that are available on this site. In addition to the typical ones like fantasy and business are others like Rom-Com , Parenting , Humor, Middle Grade, Dark Romance, Psychological Thrillers , and Time Travel Romance .

One awesome plus about this source is that most of these titles are also available through other sites like Apple, Google, and Kobo, so those links are provided in addition to the Amazon link. If you sign up for the daily newsletter, you'll get these links sent to you directly.

DigiLibraries

Lengthy category list.

Download up to 50 eBooks per day.

No user account necessary.

Pick the file format you prefer.

Instant download; no wait time.

Cluttered appearance.

Big ads on site.

Can't send directly to your Kindle.

DigiLibraries gathers free Kindle books from independent authors and publishers. You can download these items directly from their website in formats like PDF, EPUB, and MOBI.

I like that there are categories ( lots of them) on the left side of the page to quickly see free Kindle books that are relevant only to those topics. It speeds up the work of narrowing down the books to find what I'm looking for.

Millions of books.

Advanced search features.

Includes book samples.

Not available everywhere.

Libraries limited to a certain number of loans per day.

Audiobooks are mixed in the lists.

I like getting eBooks through OverDrive because it's like checking out a physical book from a library, but way easier. However, because of this, it only works if your public library has a subscription to OverDrive; use the Library Search page to find out which libraries near you offer this deal.

As with library books, when you ​check out an eBook here, it'll only be loaned to you for a few weeks before being automatically taken off your Kindle.

You can also borrow books through their mobile app called Libby .

Feature-rich service.

Helpful browsing tool.

Shows time the price was last verified.

Large cover previews.

Lots of website ads.

eReaderIQ may look like your typical free eBook site, but it has many extra features that make it one of my frequent go-to places when looking for free Kindle books.

All the books are updated hourly, meaning you won't have to miss out on any of the limited-time offers. You can even get notified when new books from Amazon are added.

Browsing is a breeze because you can look through categories and sort the results by newest, rating, and minimum length. You can even set it to show only new books added within the last day.

My favorite thing about this site? Under every listing is the elapsed time since the price was last verified. This is a godsend, as you'll find out throughout this list, because many other sites that list free Kindle books are unreliable due to unreported price changes.

Freebook Sifter

Ratings listed.

Frequent updates.

Ad-free site.

Lots of categories.

Outdated layout.

No cover images or details.

Some books are listed as free but aren't.

Freebook Sifter is a no-frills free Kindle book website that lists tens of thousands of titles. Over a dozen categories are available to choose from, and next to each title is the book's average rating, which you can sort to find the top-rated books.

I like the 'Last Verified' column, which shows how recently the book was verified to be free on Amazon, and the long list of helpful categories.

Subscribe to their daily alerts to get emails about new books.

Standard Ebooks

Uncluttered, ad-free design.

Properly formatted for Kindle.

Monthly emails about new ebooks.

Must download the books (no directly links to Amazon).

Lists only public domain titles.

Standard Ebooks has a collection of "carefully formatted, accessible, open source, and free public domain ebooks." It's an excellent source for Kindle books, specifically, because they're available as AZW3 files. It also hosts EPUB files.

One reason I like to use this website is because it's not full of ads. In fact, there are no ads. It's also extremely easy to use. The layout makes finding a book simple. You can pick from a number of subjects that include the normal ones and others like satire, poetry, travel, and memoir.

You can download these books and then transfer them to your Kindle manually, or read them online in your web browser.

Alice & Books

Browse by hand-selected collections.

One page lists all the newly added books.

The search tool is way too simple.

Annoying ads.

This website does an excellent job categorizing its public domain books. You can browse by title and author like most sites allow, but it's the collections that make this website stand out.

The collections are hand-picked books from different authors compiled into common themes. Movies based on books is one. A few others includ e inspiring female writers , the greatest villains in classic literature , and Pulitzer Prize for drama winners .

Similar to collections are series. These are book sets from the same author that should be read in order. Examples include the Oz books , the Sherlock Holmes series , and Tolstoy's autobiographical trilogy .

Most of the books here are available in a variety of formats like PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, but you can also read them online if you don't want to deal with downloading them.

Sign up to get daily free book alerts.

Choose favorite genres.

Updates to say when titles are no longer free.

Titles might only be free temporarily.

Several website ads.

When I'm feeling uninspired, I appreciate the daily email alerts from eBookDaily. Each email includes three free Kindle books from genres like Teens & Young Adult, Business & Investing, Self Help, Fantasy, Children's Books, and Religious & Inspirational Fiction.

Amazon's star rating and ​number of reviews are shown below each book, along with the cover image and description. Getting the free book on Amazon is just a click or two away.

You can browse the past day's free books, but they'll likely no longer be free.

Popular titles.

Reader ratings and reviews.

Several download options.

Must create an account first.

As much as I don't like the ads, ManyBooks is an excellent place for free Kindle books. It scours the internet to find the greatest and latest titles; currently, there are over 50,000 books listed here!

I like the sorting options that let me quickly find the most popular or highest-rated books in any category.

Browse by author, title, or language, and then download the book; some are available as an AZW3 Kindle file, others as PDF, EPUB, FB2, etc. They can also be read in your browser, and I've seen a few titles include a link to Amazon to get the free book there.

Another way to search is from the genres or  Recommendations page .

Centsless Books

Contemporary titles frequently updated.

Large category list.

Little information before you click the link.

Some aren't really free.

Updated every hour with fresh content, Centsless Books provides over 30 genres of free Kindle books to choose from, and the website couldn’t be easier to use.

All the books are listed on a single page with thumbnails of the cover image and direct links to Amazon. I wish there was more information about a book before I click through to Amazon, but it’s not a dealbreaker.

If you’d rather not check Centsless Books’ website for updates, you can do what I do and subscribe to their email updates .

New books added often.

Multiple genres available.

Download directly from the original store.

States the day the book is free.

Largely used to promote books.

Some eBooks are only sample chapters.

Fewer genres than some sites.

Incorrectly labels some paid books as free.

Freebooksy is a free eBook blog that lists primarily free Kindle books but also has free Nook books, in addition to free eBooks from Kobo, Apple, and Google.

There's a new book listed at least once a day, but often times there are many listed in one day, and you can download one or all of them.

Something I like about this site is that the download links aren't to the book files but instead to the store the book is being given away on, such as Amazon for Kindle books, Google Play, or Apple Books. This means you can download it to your device using those apps.

A few genres available here include  Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, and Literary Fiction , and Cookbooks & Nutrition.

Project Gutenberg

Titles not found elsewhere.

Thousands of free eBooks available.

Copy directly to a cloud storage site.

No website ads.

Unable to download directly to Kindle.

If I haven't found an interesting read thus far, I like to open Project Gutenberg. I come here for the 70,000+ free books, but I stick around because there aren't any ads!

Use the search box to find a specific book, or browse the detailed categories for your next great read. You can also view titles by top downloads or recently added.

Something else I like is that I can easily copy these books to my Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive account. No download then upload dance necessary.

This website focuses on older works where the US copyright has expired. Most of them are available as EPUB or PDF. You can also read some of them online.

The Fussy Librarian

Useful email newsletter.

Few titles.

There aren't a ton of options here, but the website is free from ads, lists all the free Kindle eBooks on the same page, and does a decent job showing only truly free titles.

Where The Fussy Librarian really excels, though, is the newsletter. Much like my other choices in this list, I recommend signing up for the newsletter to get email alerts when new free books are available.

One great thing about this site's free Kindle book newsletter is that you can customize which days you want to hear from them, including daily, plus choose the categories you want to be informed about.

Open Library

Tremendous number of books available.

Variety of classic and academic literature.

Scans from hard-copies can be difficult to read on Kindle.

Titles might have waiting lists.

Most books are available for renewable 1-hour loans.

Open Library is a free Kindle book downloading and lending service that has well over 1 million eBook titles available. I recommend checking out Library Explorer ; it's a neat way to visualize these books in a virtual library.

They seem to specialize in classic literature, but you can also browse recipe books and fantasies, among other genres. Searching by keyword is also allowed, as is browsing by subjects, authors, and genre.

One thing I like is that some books can be borrowed for up to two weeks at a time. However, most of these ebooks are available as 1-hour loans that you have to keep renewing to continue reading.

Each book can be read online or downloaded in various file formats like DJVU, EPUB, plain text, and PDF.

Helpful categories and keywords for search.

Updated often.

Thousands of free books.

Large ads are often in the way.

OHFB gathers several thousand free Kindle books from Amazon and gives you some excellent features to easily find your next great read.

You can search by category or keyword to quickly sift through what's available. Books can be found through typical categories like horror, young adult, and fiction, but I particularly like the unique sections such as crafts, hobbies & home, women's fiction, and cookbooks.

There are ads on this site, but otherwise, it feels pretty clean. Large photos of the book covers make it especially easy to quickly scroll through and stop to read the descriptions of books you're interested in. Every page also shows related books to help you find something else you'll like.

Free-eBooks

Search by author or title.

Multiple categories, including textbooks and academic publications.

Registration required.

Limited to five free downloads per month.

This option provides only five book downloads every month, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're just a casual reader.

I love how many categories I can pick from, many that I've never seen on another book download site. Dozens of subcategories are organized by broader category like fiction, non-fiction, classics, etc. They keep a Best Books Overall list if you're not sure where to start.

You'll need to be a member of their site to download the books, but it's free.

Kindle Buffet

Features new titles.

Email subscription available to learn of new posts.

Read info on the book before visiting Amazon.

Unfriendly site design.

Can't search for titles.

Ads overwhelm the site.

Kindle Buffet from Weberbooks is updated daily with the best free books available from Amazon. You can see the book cover, summary, genre, and author.

This website is nowhere near my first pick because the ads are very much in your face. Still, it could be a good choice if the other free Kindle book sources in this list haven't been helpful for you, especially because it updates daily.

The eReader Cafe

Ratings provided.

Titles might not be free.

The eReader Cafe has daily listings for free Kindle and a few bargain books.

Sometimes, I'll take a slow scroll through this website and click through to the books with a high rating. Every listing also includes the book cover, genre, and synopsis.

Daily email subscriptions and social media profiles are also available if you don't want to check their site daily. If you sign up for the emails, you can choose which genres interest you.

BookGoodies

Updated weekly.

Free download end dates listed.

Includes synopsis.

Limited time free eBooks.

No advanced search options.

BookGoodies has lots of fiction and non-fiction Kindle books in various genres, like Paranormal, Women's Fiction, Humor,  and  Travel , that are completely free to download from Amazon.

The time frame a book is available as a free download is shown on each download page, as well as a full description of the book and sometimes a link to the author's website. However, some books are free forever .

Social media pages help you find new additions, but they also have an email service that will send free Kindle books to you every day.

Thousands of 100% discounted books.

Huge list of categories.

Useful search tools.

Easily find other titles from the same author or publisher.

Not everything is free.

Requires a user account.

Smashwords has been around since 2008. It started out as a store where authors could publish and sell their ebooks. Not only can you buy books here, but there are also thousands of free titles and even snippets of the paid ones.

I've included this website in my list for two main reasons: The enormous list of categories and the advanced filtering options. This site can sort the books by newest, most downloaded, and highest rated. It'll also find ebooks under a certain word count.

Readers can leave reviews and comments, which most of these Kindle book sites don't include. Everything is available as an EPUB file.

PixelScroll

Dates clearly listed for limited-time freebies.

Paid and free titles listed together.

Can't trust the deal end date.

PixelScroll lists free Kindle eBooks daily, including their genre listing, synopsis, and cover. You can also see when a free book will start to cost again.

I like this site because I can browse a one-page list of all the titles it has available, and there aren't any ads.

One thing I don't like, and the reason I've listed this website so far down the list, is that it does a poor job updating the date that says when the book will stop being free. It's either too early, in which case I click through to Amazon to find that it isn't free anymore, or it's too late, and the book is still free!

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December 8, 2022

Written by Sarah Elison

The best ebooks available with your Prime membership

All the best new books available to Kindle Unlimited members

Explore the latest releases and enjoy popular books and authors right now with Kindle Unlimited, our binge-worthy literary subscription service that offers unlimited reading and listening.

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Explore what Kindle can do

Millions of titles at your fingertips

Browse books, magazines, and comics, and sample them before you buy. Shop now

Read on all your devices

Sign in with your account to access your books and other content on any device.

Designed for every reader

Customize your Kindle experience to fit your reading needs and preferences.

Read the way you want

Adjust text size, font, layout, margins, background color, and more so you can read comfortably.

Record notable moments

Make notes and highlight your favorite lines. Kindle makes it easy to find and revisit your annotations.

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Search for words, phrases, or names to see where they’re mentioned and jump to that page.

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5 ways to get free books on your Kindle, from classics to new releases

• The easiest way to get free books on your Kindle is to browse Amazon's library of free books.
• You can also rent eBooks for free from your local library, or share books with your friends using the Amazon Household feature.
• If you have an Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can rent books for free from Amazon's library, without due dates.
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories .

There are many ways to get free eBooks on your Kindle , from borrowing titles from your local library to swapping books between friends.

In fact, if you're savvy enough, you can find an endless amount of books for your Kindle without ever spending a penny.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Amazon kindle from amazon $99.99, how to get free books on your kindle.

Here are all the ways you can find free books on your Kindle, and start reading.

Search the Kindle bookstore on your device or Amazon.com

On the Amazon website, you can navigate to the Free Kindle eBooks section to find free books. You'll find books organized into categories that you can browse through at your leisure. 

Many of these books are classics in the public domain, and feature similar cover art. They'll have a button that says "Buy for Free" on their individual payment pages.

You can also find many of these same titles in the Cheap Reads section of the store. In addition to free books, this section also includes Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading books, which you can read more about in their sections below.

Finally, you can simply search for "free kindle books" on Amazon's website. You'll be shown a host of free books, many of which are temporarily on sale.

To find these books on an actual Kindle device, unlock your screen and tap the shopping cart to access the store.

On the homepage alone you'll find the Deals category, along with Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading options. The Deals page organizes books into daily, monthly, and exclusive deals where you can often find free or reduced-price books.

You can also manually type "Free" in the search bar at the top, which will automatically populate search results such as "Free Kindle Books for Kids."

This list will include free books and those that fall under the Prime and Unlimited subscriptions as well. 

Tap on any book to open it and follow the steps to download it for free.

Use an Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited subscription

Most people know Amazon Prime for its free shipping features. However, a Prime subscription also gives you access to Prime Reading.

Prime Reading is essentially the book equivalent of other popular services like Prime Video and Prime Music. Being a Prime member will open up hundreds of free book options that you can find both online and on your Kindle device.

You can browse the Prime Reading section for new books that are added each day. 

Additionally, sign up for Amazon's First Reads newsletter and you'll receive exclusive access to new Prime titles before they're even published.

Kindle Unlimited, meanwhile, is a separate subscription option which lets you rent up to 10 books, magazines, or audiobooks a month, with no due dates.

The monthly subscription costs $9.99 , but you can opt for a 30-day free trial before you decide to commit. 

Whether you use it just for a month or decide to begin paying, you'll immediately gain access to a wide variety of eBooks.

Look at resources like Project Gutenberg, BookBub, and Scribd

A resource outside of Amazon is Project Gutenberg , a collection of public domain books that have been made available in eBook form — including forms compatible with Kindle devices and Kindle apps. 

BookBub is an email service that will alert you of free books in its online bookstore catalog. When you sign up for the newsletter, you'll select your favorite genres, so you can stay on top of the latest free versions of your favorite books.

Lastly, Scribd is a rival to Kindle Unlimited — another $9.99 per month online database with thousands of eBooks. In addition to books, Scribd also offers magazines and audiobooks.

Rent eBooks for free from your local library

Not all libraries are equipped with an eBook database, but searching on OverDrive helps you find the ones that are. 

Enter your city or zipcode in the search bar and the website will provide links to any nearby locations with eBooks available. Click on the library's link to open its website in a separate tab. 

Depending on the library, you may have to go through some extra steps in order to obtain a library card, either online or in person.

Share books with friends or family by adding them to your Amazon Household

Sharing books is a great way to get titles for free. To do so, you'll have to add family members or friends to your Amazon Household . 

Each household has a limit of two adults, four children, and four teens. You can sign up for Amazon Household online or on your Kindle device.

Once book sharing is enabled, new books will begin to appear in your Cloud. When someone buys a book, it'll be available for everyone in the household automatically. 

This virtual book swap is a great way to read new books for free by trading titles amongst your new network.

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to buy books on kindle through your computer or mobile device, how to reset your kindle paperwhite to its factory settings in 5 simple steps, how to change the font size on your kindle device in 2 ways, how to connect your kindle paperwhite to wi-fi in 5 easy steps, how to sign out of the kindle app on your mobile device.

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The best free Kindle books for 2022

With Amazon’s Kindle , you can tote around a book for your every mood and location, all day every day, without putting a load on your back or shoulder. Engage in a little light reading for the checkout counter, a more serious and engrossing work for the airport lounge, catch-up reading for your school assignments on the train, or something to occupy you at the cafe. The fact that you can carry multiple books conveniently in a lightweight tablet gives you an excuse to put away your smartphone, at least for a while.

A note before you begin

Jump straight to a category, books for kids, science fiction & fantasy, historical and historical fiction, mystery, thriller, and suspense, action and adventure, politically-charged, philosophy and science, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Amazon’s Kindle, the most popular e-book reader in existence, has been around since 2007, and that means kids have grown up with them. Even though Amazon has made a slew of more general-use tablets over the years — most recently, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Edition  and Amazon Fire HD 10 — the Kindle deservedly remains the company’s flagship.

Further reading

• Best sites for downloading free audiobooks
• Best e-book readers
• How to read EPUB books on your Kindle

Thankfully, for Kindle owners, there are thousands of titles currently available via Amazon, Google Play, and an array of other online sources. To help you sort through it all, we’ve rounded up some of the better free offerings, including public domain works and self-published titles. Never before has it been so easy to become a master of literature without trekking to your local library.

Google Play does not offer books using Kindle’s proprietary format in the way Amazon and Project Gutenberg do. Instead of AZW and KF8 files, users can directly download Google Play books as PDF files, thus rendering the books compatible with Kindle. To do so, navigate to your Google Play book library, click the two dots at the lower-right corner of any title, and select Download PDF from the resulting drop-down menu. Then, select your desired save location, and drag and drop the resulting file from your computer to your device once you finish downloading.

For other formats, check out our guide to reading EPUB e-books on Kindle .

• Science fiction and fantasy

The Mystery of Smugglers Cove by Paul Moxham

Paul Moxham’s The Mystery of Smugglers Cove is an interesting middle-grade-level mystery for kids who love suspenseful, adventurous stories. Set in 1950’s Britain, it offers a page-turning thrill ride featuring a bunch of kids getting caught up in unexpected adventures. Fans of the Nancy Drew and The Famous Five series particularly enjoy this book as it covers a similar detective-action theme. The best part? At just 165 pages, it’s a quick read so kids can enjoy the story without getting bored.

Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie

Inspired by Barrie’s friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family, Peter and Wendy is essentially the classic tale of Peter Pan, a boy who can fly and whisks a group of young children away to Neverland. All the usual suspects make their debut (Tiger Lily, Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, etc.).

Project Gutenberg

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

There are very few people who are oblivious to Dorothy’s cyclone-fueled romps in Oz with Wicked Witch of the West, yet revisiting the Kansas native’s harrowing quest for the Emerald City is always somehow reassuring. The Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow all add to Baum’s descriptive and vivid world. Victor Fleming’s music doesn’t quite do the novel the justice it deserves.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A touchstone in the realm of children’s literature, Burnett’s classic has been adapted time and time again for both the stage and the big screen. It revolves around heroine Mary Lenno, an orphan who’s shipped off from her colonial India to live on a dingy county estate in Yorkshire. There she learns the healing power of friendship through plant cultivation in her secret garden. So heartwarming, yet insightful.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

The Brothers Grimm wrote fairy tales that were aptly, rather grim, but many of the beloved tales have undergone edits and numerous alterations to the point where they’ve become suitable for children rather than the darker stories they once were. You know the tales — Rapunzel, Cinderella, Hansel, and Gretel — but there are also plenty of great standouts that weren’t made into animated films.

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Taking place in grubby Victorian New York,  Little Lord Fauntleroy  is a rags-to-riches story about a young boy named Cedric, who unexpectedly becomes royalty. While Cedric is whisked away to England by his grandfather to learn the ins and outs of the aristocracy, he ultimately manages to teach his grandfather to become a more compassionate leader.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

It should go without saying, kids love animals. Kipling’s tale, culled as a stand-alone story from The Jungle Book , follows a valiant mongoose who works to defend his adopted family of British colonials from a menacing pair of cobras upon their arrival in India. Sure, you may need to explain some of the subtle Victorianisms to younger audiences, but the harrowing story exhibits some of the most vibrant and sharp personifications of any novel in existence.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

As one of my favorite childhood books, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside knowing Grahame’s classic is readily available free of charge. It’s about four anthropomorphized animals — Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger — and their various escapades in the English countryside. It’s chock-full of adventure, companionship, and moral reasoning, written by the former secretary of the Bank of England as bedtime stories for his son Alistair.

A Grateful Heart – A Colorful Rhyming Book Teaching Kids About Gratitude by Solape Adebajo and Wuraola Fagbamiye

A Grateful Heart is a gorgeous illustrated book created with younger kids in mind. It includes a short set of rhyming words on gratitude to encourage children to learn about gratefulness. It is quite interactive, including a word puzzle on gratitude for kids who prefer hands-on learning, nine ways of saying thank you for kids who are learning how to communicate, and numerous cute illustrations for visual learners.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

First published in 1895, The Time Machine is considered one of the earliest science fiction novels, and the first of the time travel subgenre. The Time Traveller (a nameless Victorian scientist) is sent back to the year 802,701 by his steampunk-esque time machine. He finds a world peopled by the fairylike Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks, who prey on the Eloi. If you enjoy the book, check out the 1960 movie — we’d give the 2002 remake with Guy Pearce and singer Samantha Mumba a wide berth.

City of Endless Night by M. M. (Milo Milton) Hastings

This prescient dystopian novel, written by an American at the end of World War I and published in 1919, depicts the city of Berlin more than a century later when millions of people live underground as the city wages war with the rest of the world. Life is not pleasant. Food is strictly rationed for workers, religion is banned, and the population is tightly controlled via eugenics. What’s the natural response to all this misery? Revolution, of course, in the form of a young American chemist who infiltrates this closed society. Much of the plot predicts elements of Germany’s resurgence, the rise of fascism, Nazi ideology, and the concept of a master race, and is seen as a precursor of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis , Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World , and other classics of the genre.

The Legend of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles

The true origins and subsequent merits of the late King Arthur are controversial, to say the least. Knowles’ version of the legendary British leader is considered one of the most revered, though, grounded in knights, damsels, and a sword most peculiarly wedged into a stone. The older language can be cumbersome, the repetitiveness a bit drab, yet the source material remains a poignant take on Middle Ages. Camelot doesn’t do it justice.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

It was a toss-up between Twenty Thousand   and Journey to the Center of the Earth , with the latter possibly losing due to the terrible film with Brendan Fraser back in ’08. However, Verne is renowned for his work in the sci-fi field, in both prose and creativity, and Captain Nemo’s trek through the Antarctic ice shelves, the Red Sea, and other fictional and real-world locations is extremely engrossing. This is one of those classic books everyone should read.

The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

The Call of the Wild

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

If you’re looking for a philosophical novel that dabbles in math and exists in a two-dimensional fantasy realm where all inhabitants are geometric shapes, then Flatland is surely for you. It’s a satirical look on society and class distinctions in Victorian England, with one inhabitant trying to grapple with the concept of third and fourth dimensions, but it’s still laid out in a manner that is easy to grasp no matter your knowledge of the field.

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The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper

Piper may have committed suicide in 1964 — often attributed to financial woes and marital problems — but not before he wrote a series of stellar short stories and several novels in the sci-fi vein. Cosmic Computer , one of his last, is about a struggling, poverty-stricken post-war society that believes its survival depends on finding a computer known as MERLIN. The problem is, returning colonist Conn Maxwell knows otherwise. Troublesome.

The Crystal Crypt by Philip K. Dick

Thirty-one pages don’t make a marathon of a book, but Dick’s novels have inspired everything from Blade Runner to The Adjustment Bureau . In the novel, Mars and Earth hang on the verge of war. The last ship bound for Earth is stopped by Martian soldiers searching for three saboteurs who supposedly destroyed a Martian city. The three aren’t found, but it doesn’t mean those harboring the secrets of the Martian city’s demise aren’t on board.

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

It’s impossible to ignore the similarities between Doyle’s work and Spielberg’s. However, the Victorian-era The Lost World offers a greater scientific basis than the blockbuster film created nearly a century later, even if it does see a young journalist and a small team scouring a remote Amazonian plateau in search of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beings. Doyle’s prose is dry and somewhat stale, whether he’s describing a band of ape-like humanoids or rehashing the genius exploits of Professor Challenger, but his tone is anything but.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

Living in Portland, you can’t turn a city corner without being reminded of Lewis and Clark’s fabled journey across the Northwest. They traversed a nation with the aid of Shoshone guide Sacajawea in the early 1800s, chronicling all the flora, fauna, tribal encounters, and vast landscapes they encountered along their journey. The language can be difficult to decipher at times, but it’s a richly detailed account of our nation’s early natural history and exploration. There are plenty of other great history books if you’re looking for more options, though.

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was always renowned for his eccentric and intriguing personality, whether he was dabbling in electricity, drinking beer, or serving as Postmaster General of the United States. Needless to say, he remains a hallmark of American history more than 200 years after his death. His autobiography offers personal stories, exploits, and general insights into his life in the days before the American Revolution, making it an excellent non-fiction book worth reading.

Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt

There are few people involved today that boast a background as sprawling and diverse as good ol’ Teddy Roosevelt . He was the leader of the Republican Party and the short-lived Bull Moose Party of 1912, as well as an acclaimed naturalist, cowboy, hunter, author, and soldier in the Spanish-American War. The man is considered an American legend for both his exploits in office and outside of it — and his autobiography tells it all. We’ve found more of the best biographies if you’re looking for something similar.

The Life of Buffalo Bill: An Autobiography by William Frederick Cody

Buffalo Bill is one of the most iconic and colorful characters epitomizing the American Old West. Although he was a plainsman, buffalo hunter, and scout (who had his Medal of Honor revoked and reinstated years later), his claim to fame was his Wild West show. His deeds were many, his prejudices few, and his autobiography follows his story from the time of his birth in 1846 until he was 44 years old. It’s not all of his life’s work, but it’s the foundation.

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Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.

After being stricken by measles and subsequent vision damage while attending Harvard, Dana enlisted as a sailor on a two-year voyage around Cape Horn on the brig Pilgrim. He kept a diary of his travels along the way, known as Two Years Before the Mast , and filled it with passages of practical naval jargon, animated imagery, and some of the first descriptions of 1830s California. However, it’s more so a historical tale than one of adventure.

Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

One of Virginia Woolf’s earlier works, Night and Day explores the lives of two women in Edwardian London. Night and Day is a nuanced exploration of the political and personal lives of women in the early 20th century. While some of Woolf’s later novels can be a challenge, Night and Day is an excellent read.

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

The Mississippi River had a profound and pivotal on Twain from the time he was a little boy until his death in 1910. Life on the Mississippi is a memoir, a steamboat-era novel that summarizes the river’s discovery by Hernando de Soto in 1541, Twain’s time as a steamboat pilot, and his eye-opening return to the river many years after industry and greed had befallen upon the surrounding banks. It revels in Twain’s knack for observation while providing a backdrop for the author’s classic tales.

South: The Story of Shackleton’s Expedition by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

It seems like almost all stories coming out of Antarctica either deal with penguins, polar bears, or survival. Being a first-hand account of 28 men marooned on polar ice following a nearly fatal shipwreck in unforgiving waters, Shackleton’s tale represents the third option. It recaps the journey, from Shackleton’s burning desires to traverse Antarctica to the subsequent catastrophe and ensuing struggle to survive, albeit with descriptive prowess and sea-log flare.

The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne

You may not have expected the author of Winnie the Pooh to write a crime novel, but he did, and it’s a good one — although this is the only one he ever wrote. This is an excellent locked-room mystery set at a country house. During a dinner party one of the guests, the black sheep of the family, is found murdered by a shot to the head. Comedic at times, rational and by-the-book at others, Milne follows the chief inspector and his sidekick as they interrogate guests to solve the crime.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

Published anonymously in 1824, nothing can prepare you for this deliciously clever gothic mystery book about the rivalry between two brothers in 17th-century Edinburgh and a powerful stranger known as Gil-Martin who stirs it all up. It’s a work of metafiction that delves into the psyche of religious fanaticism and presents a series of supposedly discovered documents, challenging you to unravel the enigma and make sense of what happened.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

An increasingly nightmarish journey on a steamboat in the Congo turns into a disturbing journey into the human psyche. This novella served as the inspiration for the thriller movie Apocalypse Now , which shifted the action to Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War, instead of 19th-century Africa. It’s a haunting tale, as a steamboat captain, Marlow, struggles up the river to find the insane Kurtz. Later criticized as a xenophobic dehumanization of Africans, it reflects colonial attitudes.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle did not invent the fictional detective archetype — that arguably goes to Edgar Allen Poe — but he certainly helped bring it to the mainstream with this classic mystery book . The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes encapsulates 12 original tales featuring Holmes first published in The Strand Magazine, including classics like A Scandal in Bohemia and The Adventure of the Red-Headed League . Holmes’ astute reasoning and knack for forensics are fleshed out in easily digestible snippets only Doyle could write.

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

As the first of five novels featuring the beloved action-hero Richard Hannay, Buchan’s Thirty-Nine Steps has long been heralded for creating the man-on-the-run character we often see in literature and blockbuster films. It follows a retired mining engineer who becomes wrapped up in an international plot upon discovering a body in his home and fleeing for his native Scotland. It offers a short read, with a tense introduction into the world of espionage novels.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Collin’s classic is a must if you’re looking for a tale of mistaken identity encased in a shroud of mystery. It’s considered among the first mystery novels ever written, incorporating elements of Gothic horror and psychological realism, and narrated by multiple characters. The book opens with teacher Walter Hartright encountering a mysterious woman in white upon a London road, but it unravels into a sensational love affair with subtle undercurrents of political commentary.

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Having written more than 80 detective novels during her lifetime, it’s safe to say Agatha Christie is considered a household name when it comes to the genre. Her second novel, The Secret Adversary , introduces the reader to Tommy and Tuppence, two characters who reoccur in other Christie tales down the line. Their goal? To find a woman who vanishes with government documents — and without becoming completely entrenched in a tangle of secret intelligence, false evidence, and dubious affairs.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe

Considered the first detective story ever written, the short tale is centered on a man named C. Auguste Dupin and his work to unravel the mystery surrounding a baffling double murder on a fictional street in Paris. Although numerous witnesses heard the suspect, no one can seem to agree on the language spoken, and the only other piece of apparent evidence is a lone strand of hair Dupin believes to be nonhuman. It’s captivating despite its age and serves as a prototype for numerous fictional detectives.

Murder on the Mind by L.L. Bartlett

It’s not surprising Murder on the Mind is a fitting title given the book’s main protagonist, Jeff Resnick, gains the ability to see murders happen through a series of psychic visions after sustaining a traumatic brain injury during a mugging. He, along with his brother, sets forth to investigate the crimes and unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of his brother’s banker and another unsuspecting victim. It’s stark and well-paced, with twists to match.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky’s second novel following his return from exile in Siberia proposes more moral quandaries than any mystery or suspense novel on our roundup. It revolves around a penniless man named Rodion Raskolnikov who executes a plot to kill a corrupt pawnbroker to alleviate his financial woes and rid the world of corruption. Is murder warranted if it serves a higher purpose? It’s tough to say, but Dostoyevsky’s wordy tale and elegant style leave the question open.

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

If you like your tragedies bloody and grim, look no further than the Elizabethan playwrights, particularly John Webster. His play The Duchess of Malfi is a gruesome tale of corruption and the perils of being a woman in a world dominated by men. The central characters are Antonio, a man of low birth but high character, and the smart, kindly Duchess, with whom he falls in love and marries in secret. When the Duchess’ brothers discover the marriage, they decide to end it, violently.

Volpone by Ben Jonson

Jonson’s most performed play, Volpone  (or The Fox ), is a brutal satire of greed and lust set in Venice. The plot centers around The Fox, a Venetian gentleman on his deathbed, and the action follows a series of men who attempt to gain his favor to win his fortune.

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

First published in 1812, The Swiss Family Robinson tells the tale of a family of Swiss immigrants who are shipwrecked on an island in the East Indies en route to Australia. Spanning over 10 years we follow their life on the island as they survive and thrive, building a treehouse and rescuing a young woman shipwrecked on another part of the island. We’re not sure whether the 1960 Disney movie of the book will be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s certainly fun.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels is a classic satirical travel narrative that digs at many aspects of 18th-century life. This tale appeals not only to adults, but children too, and is said to be the inspiration for George Orwell’s Animal Farm . It tells the story of Gulliver in four parts — at the start of the novel, he’s shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput, where the inhabitants are just six inches tall. Many of us are only familiar with the first part of the novel, which has been the focus for countless movie, TV, and stage adaptations.

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Moby Dick by Herman Melville

This awe-inspiring adventure concerns Captain Ahab’s obsession with the great white whale, an obsession so powerful and furious that it consumes him. Melville captures that spirit so well that “white whale” has passed into common usage to describe something you’ve been searching for obsessively. Having served on whaling ships, Melville paints a detailed picture of life at sea in pursuit of whales, largely for oil that was used in lamps, soap, and many other products. This classic book is also packed with references and clever narrative techniques that have proven very influential in the years since its publication in 1851.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, and Dumas’ story of the false imprisonment and vengeance of Edmond Dantes is one of the coldest. Wrongfully imprisoned by his best friend and various conspirators, Dantes vows to escape the confines of Château d’If, unearth the treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and reclaim what was once his. It’s one of Dumas’ most famous works alongside The Three Musketeers , and for once, we actually enjoy the 2002 movie that goes with it.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson’s classic is described as “buccaneers and buried gold,” but that’s not all it is. Yes, it helped set the bar for iconic pirate stereotypes — treasure maps marked with the letter “X,” tropical islands, etc. — but it’s characters like Long John Silver that add a level of complexity and moral depth to an otherwise straightforward children’s tale. Plus, it’s filled with historical allusions and wry, moral commentary that should entertain adults and young audiences alike.

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

It’s hard to argue Call of the Wild isn’t Jack London’s magnum opus. Based on London’s experiences as a prospector in the Klondike, it follows a St. Bernard-Scotch Collie named Buck who is stolen, sold, and forced to survive as a sled dog in the harsh realities of the Arctic. It’s an endearing story, awash with themes of moral good doing and loyalty, and filled with London’s incredibly descriptive accounts of the terrain during the bustling gold rush of the late 1800s.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Huckleberry Finn gets a lot of hype, but it’s the prequel that helped set the stage for later acts. It carries a somber note amid the air of Twain’s iconic humor and English vernacular, recounting the tale of a young boy growing up on the Mississippi and the various escapades he encountered doing so. Although it often revels in the innocence of childhood and bittersweet nostalgia, it’s still teeming with adult themes and the harsh realities of slavery, starvation, and murder.

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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

We will probably never know the inspiration for Defoe’s classic castaway tale, but it has certainly inspired an abundance of film adaptations and literary spinoffs. The main character, Robinson Crusoe, becomes stranded on a desert island following an intense storm at sea, equipped with no more than a pipe, a knife, and an inch of tobacco. Needless to say, 24 years pass before he confronts anyone, and when he does, it’s certainly not with open arms.

The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft

Written in 1924, The Shunned House is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft’s finest early novellas and an important work for anyone interested in his development as a writer. Written while he lived with his wife in Brooklyn, and nostalgic for Rhode Island, it tells the tale of a notorious house that’s an object of fascination for the narrator. He collects lore that his uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, has gathered about the house, including details on a number of strange, unexplained deaths and sicknesses. It’s a short read at just 33 pages, but a haunting one and a must for Lovecraft fans.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

No more Twilight . Stoker’s novel defined the classic vampire, epitomizing Gothic horror and solidifying the character as one of the most iconic horror icons for years to come. The novel is written in an epistolary format as a series of letters and diary entries, among other things, and follows Dracula’s move from Transylvania to England and his confrontations with Professor Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker. You’ve seen the classic horror movie Nosferatu , but Stoker’s vision of this horror book kicked it all off.

Dead Scary: The Ghost Who Refused To Leave by Sally Gould

As the title suggests, this is a chilling tale of a boy who encounters a bossy ghost who refuses to leave the house. The story is action-packed in an age-appropriate manner so young kids can enjoy it freely. The plot includes various magical and gripping concepts like spirits, inheritance, sharing, and conflict. The language and the general difficulty level are ideal for middle-grade readers, but younger kids can also enjoy it with some help.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Shelley wrote and published Frankenstein by the time she turned 21. That’s a remarkable feat by any standard, especially given the lasting impression the novel had on the world of sci-fi, horror, and countless other genres. It’s centered around scientist Victor Frankenstein and the monster he creates in his laboratory, along with the repercussions of abandoning the grotesque life he created.

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

Although only the first four tales in Chamber’s classic novel fall under the “horror” genre, they do so with macabre zest. The King in Yellow refers to a forbidden play that’s interwoven within the short stories from which madness and corruption befall upon its readers. Two of the stories take place in 1920s America, two in Paris, but all four focus on self-indulgent artists with their own shortcomings. Chambers’ seminal work and vague, evocative prose likely spurred H.P. Lovecraft and others.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Mad scientists were one of the catapults of the horror genre, so it’s not surprising that Stevenson’s tale about a deranged doctor with split personalities, one good and one evil, made our list. It’s a psychological fantasy of sorts, culled from the modern theories of evolution and class at the time, and burgeoning with examinations of the duality of human nature and insights regarding Victorian-era culture. Still, many argue and provide merit that Dr. Jekyll is more multifaceted than most make him out to be, and to say he has a dual personality is overly simplistic.

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The Monk: A Romance by M.G. Lewis

“Scandalous” and “obscene” were two words commonly spurred by Lewis’ lurid story of a villainous priest succumbing to temptation and overly violent impulses. Like numerous Gothic works of the time, it deals with how even the most moral of characters can be corrupted — in this case a priest who has sex with a young girl disguised as a boy and further delves into other sensational acts of sorcery, incest, torture, murder, and deceit.

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

You’ll be quickly absorbed in this supernatural tale that begins with a strange medical experiment and then takes a turn to delve into pagan Britain and ancient gods. It’s a novella where much is left to the imagination, but it unfolds beautifully and builds the suspense toward an unforgettably creepy climax. This atmospheric horror classic from the 1890s inspired H.P. Lovecraft, among others, and it was widely denounced when it was first published.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Sinclair’s muckraking socialist novel isn’t exactly uplifting. It’s a brutally realistic depiction of poverty, extreme working conditions, and the prevalent hopelessness that engulfed the working class of the Chicago stockyards. It may focus on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, but it is partly based on Sinclair’s seven-week stint working incognito in the Chicago meatpacking business as part of an investigative piece on behalf of his newspaper. The soul-crushing atrocities and horrendous accounts of the meat industry were so alarming they even spurred federal investigations in 1904.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

One of the first great novels in the Southern literary canon, The Awakening is complex yet beautiful. The novel focuses on the life of Edna Pontellier and her enlightened but unorthodox views on the socioeconomic status of women in the South. The Awakening is an insightful novel that explores a woman’s changing thoughts about her place in society at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

To put it simply, The Souls of Black Folk is an insightful examination of African-American life at the turn of the 20th century. It was and still is a momentous piece of sociological literature written as part of a semi-autobiographical essay looking at life after the Emancipation Proclamation. Du Bois’ prose is articulate and eloquent — whether addressing neoslavery, traditional music, or what he coins the “double consciousness” of the African American psyche — and serves as both historical analysis and a harrowing piece of social-political commentary that’s difficult to ignore.

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

We don’t know about you, but portions of The Federalist Papers were mandatory high school reading for us on more than one occasion. The collection consists of 85 brilliant and eye-opening essays that delve into the establishment of various rules of governance and the promotion of the U.S. Constitution. Forged by three of the nation’s Founding Fathers, the papers have been political and historical landmarks ever since their initial release in late 1787 and early 1788. Like the Constitution, however, they’re open to interpretation, mentioned nearly 300 times in varying Supreme Court decisions.

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

Although The Prince wasn’t officially published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli’s death, a version of the treatise appears to have circulated almost 20 years prior. It’s regarded as one of the first and finest works of political philosophy, deeply rooted in Machiavelli’s fascination and political drive, and is considered a somewhat practical and straightforward guide on how to obtain power and become the ideal ruler. Perhaps the work is a political satire (following it to a tee could essentially undo someone in power), but nonetheless, the term “Machiavellian” didn’t arise from thin air.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Reign of Terror during the onset of the French Revolution was a tumultuous and incredibly violent affair (17,000 deaths by guillotine is no laughing matter). Dickens’ classic tale of revolution and brash political upheaval features a love-laced plot, whirling around exiled French aristocrat Charles Darnay, English lawyer Syndey Carton and their indiscriminate fall at the hands of the revolution. Unlike other Dickens novels, it’s mostly devoid of humor, instead centered on providing political context that is both vividly alluring and dishearteningly frightening. Again, we truly doubt it was “the best of times.”

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

History is littered with political manuscripts and philosophers proposing their theories on class struggle and political dichotomy, but few of them carry the weighty influence of Marx and Friedrich Engels’ in-depth examination and critique of capitalism. It argues with labor comes wealth, which in turn increases the gap between economic classes with one becoming the ruling one at the expense of the others. It lays down the theories and goals behind the movement, outlined rather vividly, and proposes complete revolution as the only way to overhaul an unstable governmental and class structure.

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Paine’s Common Sense is proof that writing to the people, for the people, is sometimes the way to go. The pamphlet, published anonymously in 1776 during the beginning of the American Revolution, presented an astute argument for the colonies to break free of British rule and establish their own independent republican government. It was written to be tangible and easily digestible, appealing to a mass audience of common people who were often left out of the political dialogue, and helped convince its readership a land that upholds personal freedoms and lacks hereditary kingship isn’t that bad.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Have you ever heard of China’s Seven Military Classics? Didn’t think so, but you’ve likely heard of The Art of War . Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general and strategist, composed the treatise as early as 2nd century B.C., simultaneously solidifying the work as one of the most definitive and influential strategy books of all time. It’s divided into 13 chapters, each outlining a different aspect of warfare, and showcasing Tzu’s emphasis on the perils of war and its embodiment as a necessary evil to be carried out when no other alternatives exist. This is one of the best war novels you’ll find.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

You can think about it today, or like Margaret Mitchell’s anti-heroine Scarlett O’Hara, you can think about it tomorrow. Frankly, my dear, we don’t give a damn — just don’t skip this classic romance set in the antebellum South with the backdrop of the Civil War and the struggle of the Reconstruction. Gone With The Wind is epic, not only in the sweep of its storyline but also in length. It won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 and is gripping from start to finish. And then there’s the movie — but we digress.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been making audiences swoon for who knows how long and has led to many adaptations — even one involving zombies . It recounts the tale of Elizabeth Bennett, one of five sisters with a mother hellbent on them marrying rich, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, an arrogantly wealthy English gentleman. What unfolds between them is a beguiling and lively courtship that is as charming as it is witty, filled with Austen’s keen humor and social commentary on marriage and manners, among other things. Plus, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, offering further encouragement for you to download the title.

Roderick Hudson by Henry James

Roderick Hudson was Henry James’ first novel, originally published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly. The book explores the lives of a sculptor named Roderick Hudson and Rowland Mallet, his single male benefactor. During their travels to Europe, the two experience a number of hardships and failed relationships. An undercurrent of unrequited love appears to exist between the two, leading to an absolutely devastating ending.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

You’ve seen the stage adaptation and the modern Leonardo DiCaprio spinoff. Now it’s time to read the real deal. It’s arguably the romance novel, Shakespeare’s quintessential tale of star-crossed lovers plagued by their feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets. It’s written in Shakespeare’s iconic poetic dramatic structure, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature and a balcony scene that has been hammered into our heads since we were children. It really is beautiful and enthralling, though, with an ending that epitomizes the meaning of tragedy and doomed love.

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

It wasn’t Leroux’s initial edition of The Phantom of the Opera that garnered all the praise and fanfare, but the 1925 film depiction and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical. However, the original tale about the Phantom living below the opera houses all the core elements of the latter adaptations: a menacing figure presiding over the opera, a talented chorus girl, and an enchanting childhood sweetheart that comes between them. It’s a Gothic love triangle fit for all time, aloft with dark, theatrical color and Leroux’s gift for creating rich characters with whom you sympathize, fall in love, and despise.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Just because one Brontë is not enough. Wuthering Heights is set in the stormy moors of England during the early 1800s and is centered on a love that is disturbingly fierce and vividly dark. It’s told through a series of flashbacks recorded in a diary, chronicling Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff’s inseparable childhood and the ensuing turbulent, and vengeful, events that violently whittle away at a love doomed from the beginning. Despite being her first and only novel, Brontë’s prose is fluid and poetic, draped in lucid descriptions of the moorland and the characters who call it home.

To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor

Everyone knows dating in the workplace can cause … complications. Astor’s novel takes that into consideration and then some, spinning a tale about an undercover crime investigator who finds himself infatuated with an employee of the prominent New York investment firm he is looking to bust. It’s the first book in the Janet Maple Series, patchy and grammatically flawed, but it has enough clever moments and spry, romantic wit to make it well worth the nonexistent price.

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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Let’s be honest, adultery today doesn’t quite resonate with the same woeful shame it does in the harsh, Protestant community of Hawthorne’s memorizing narrative of legalism and sin. It spotlights a young, intelligent and thoughtful woman named Hester Prynne, who is publicly ostracized and forced to wear a piece of fabric in the shape of the letter “A” after having an illegitimate birth resulting from an affair with a minister while her husband is overseas. It’s dramatic and inspiring, rooted in a character that undergoes ample scorn only to retain her dignity and beauty in the end.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Russian author Leo Tolstoy knows all too well that we cannot help who we love. In his second acclaimed novel, the beautiful and passionate Anna Karenina leaves her husband when she falls head over heels for a wealthy army officer named Count Vronsky. Insecurities arise, with Karenina’s paranoid and jealous fits — among other things — tearing the marriage apart, and heartbreak ensues. The story regarding Konstantin Levin also contrasts alongside Karenina’s — heart-wrenching in a different way, but it’s teeming with many of the same undercurrents of societal values and carnal desire.

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

Darwin’s The Origin of Species is one of the few pieces of scientific literature that is actually readable, not to mention one of the most influential. It essentially built the foundation on which the concept of evolutionary biology is based, providing evidence from his voyage on the HMS Beagle, and expanded on the theories he and Alfred Russel Wallace helped conceive. The initial text was highly controversial, both in the scientific and the religious fields, but it demanded attention given Darwin’s standing in the scientific community. It’s a warranted read, no matter your beliefs on the origin of the species.

The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys by Bahá’u’lláh

Technically two distinct books written by the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, the novels serve as an examination of the soul through the various spiritual stages of life (love, knowledge, unity, true poverty, etc.) upon the “Right Path.” The mystically charged text, written around the time Bahá’u’lláh quit his job and began endlessly wandering Iraqi Kurdistan, features highly poetic prose that has often been misconstrued when translated from its native Persian. Still, it’s intellectually stimulating and presents intriguing ruminations on life you may not have thought to ponder.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

The exact reasons for Thoreau’s two-year stay in a cabin near a small pond in Massachusetts have always been shrouded in mystery. Whatever the reasoning, the American transcendentalist produced a remarkable account of his experiences, condensed into a single calendar year swarming with insights and contemplative revelations emphasizing solitude, self-reliance, and mankind’s affinity for the natural world. Thoreau is a brilliant writer who seemingly has little trouble combining autobiographic details with an apt and poignant social critique of Western civilization.

The Trial by Franz Kafka

It’s been estimated that Kafka burned nearly 90 percent of his work during his lifetime. Nonetheless, The Trial was published the year following his death, though never completed. The story revolves around Joseph K, a respectable chief financial officer at an undisclosed bank, and his arrest and subsequent prosecution for a crime that is never revealed to him or the reader. It’s a frighteningly dark, satirical novel that’s borderline surreal and fraught with unclear meaning.

The Republic of Plato by Plato

The ideal state is far harder to implement than it is to envision. Plato’s Socratic dialogue, written circa 380 B.C., examines a spectrum of assorted topics ranging from society and morality to education and philosophy. It also highlights the nature of reality, the just and unjust man, and Plato’s theory of Forms. It, along with several others, help develop political theory and add further fuel to a period already swimming with philosophical debates. There’s no doubt that it will make you think, but comprehending it in full may be a different story.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Countless books deal with self-discovery and our spiritual journey through life, but Hesse’s ninth novel is one of the most celebrated and well-known in all of literature. The novel begins with the main protagonist, Siddhartha, voluntarily leaving his prosperous Brahman life for one more contemplative and full of meaning. He relinquishes his processions and conceives a son, but later relapses into a life of materialism until he finds salvation and enlightenment in the presence of a river. The novel’s simple, lyrical style renders it both praiseworthy and understandable, with heavy leanings on the concept of Om.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Dorian Gray is a chic, young man of wealth and beauty who, under the influence of a nobleman, decides to sell his soul and embark on an immoral path to retain his fleeting youth. In doing so, he hopes to outlast a portrait painted of him by artist Basil Hallward, but soon finds the painting a mere reflection of his debauched acts and hedonistic sins. Wilde was a major proponent of the aestheticism movement, emphasizing the beauty of art over its educational and societal value, and his novel is evidence of that. It was scandalous for the time, resulting in strict censorship, but remained distinctly Wilde nonetheless.

Einstein’s Theories of Relativity and Gravitation by James Malcolm Bird

Einstein was a brilliant physicist — that much is indisputable. While working at the Patent Office in Bern, Switzerland, he devised what would become the bedrock of modern physics and some of the most influential theories ever created. The novel focuses on and details how the universe might function, including the concept of curved space-time, and disassembles Newton’s theory of time and space. Despite what you might think, it’s relatively (pun not intended) boiled down for amateur and professional scientific audiences alike.

Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke

Sectioned into four books, Locke’s foray into the realm of human knowledge and basic understanding proposes the mind as a blank slate that becomes gradually more complex and intricate as we grow and expose ourselves to new experiences. The essay represents one of the principal sources of empiricism in philosophy, the idea that our knowledge is primarily derived from sensory experiences we encounter, and thus counters the theory that knowledge and traditions are innate. It’s a theory that holds a great deal of water and makes for an insightful read.

Emma by Jane Austen

Said to be the funniest of Austen’s novels, Emma is set in the fictional town of Highbury in the early 19th century. The story centers on a young woman, Emma Woodhouse, who seems to have somewhat misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities. Many romantic misadventures ensue, and the humor never wanes throughout.

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The best part of short stories is the brevity, whether good or bad. My Man Jeeves is a comical collection of eight short stories originally published in various U.K. magazines before its initial release as a book. Half of the stories are centered on silly escapades of the good-hearted aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his loveable valet Jeeves, while others concern Reggie Pepper (a similar character to Wooster). The formula for the stories is essentially the same — Jeeves always manages to save Wooster’s moronic neck — but the appeal lies in Wodehouse’s dry, British humor, and intellectual wit.

Roughing It by Mark Twain

Twain was fabled for embedding autobiographical accounts of his wanderlust years within his fictional works. Published in 1872, Roughing It chronicles Twain’s raucous journey throughout the American West with his brother, intertwining realistic stories of his travels with the developing rough-hewn, ironic humor that would later become synonymous with his name and most beloved works. It delves into his stints as a gold miner, a reporter, and a lecturer as his stagecoach travels through Nevada and his side trip to Hawaii. Plus, it’s 10 times shorter than the Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1 .

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Sure, Wilde penned his one and only novel in 1890, but it was his later works that helped him become the acclaimed playwright we recognize him as today. The Importance of Being Earnest is the embodiment of satire, a humorous examination of Victorian-era manners and marriage laced with rapid-fire wit and an eccentric cast of epigrams. It revolves around two refined gentlemen who adopt fake personas with the goal of dazzling their respected love interest. Unlike his novel, the play’s debut marked a high point in Wilde’s career and was met with a sea of critical acclaim and universal praise.

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

If there ever was a Shakespeare play that relied on language to carry the plot more so than any other theme, it would be The Taming of the Shrew . It’s the tale of Lucentio and Petruchio, two young men seeking to wed two wealthy sisters they encounter in the Italian city of Padua. However, trouble arises when Lucientio discovers that he can not marry the women he loves unless her ill-tempered and verbally aggressive older sister is wed — that’s where Petruchio comes into play. Although it’s been seen as misogynistic and patriarchal, it’s also one of Shakespeare’s most boisterous and comical plays, steeped with sharp-tongued banter and rhetoric.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

If Laurence Sterne wasn’t well-read, he certainly makes us believe he is. His novel, a humorously rich satire regarding Tristram Shandy’s life story, is aloft with references to philosophical theories and allusions reminiscent of 17th-century metaphysical poets. The humor is bawdy and brash, whether focusing on Tristram Shandy’s rational father or his military-obsessed uncle, but frequently finds itself intertwined in bouts of digression regarding sex, insults, and philosophical dilemmas. It’s entertaining, amusing, and showcases a narrative just as inventive today as it was when it was released in the 1760s.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Chivalry is arguably on its way out, but it would likely never cease if the country gentlemen Don Quixote and his cunning squire Sancho Panza had anything to do with it. Saavedra’s classic canonical novel remains one of the most influential of the Spanish Golden Age and follows a retired country gentleman who takes up his lance on a dubious — and undeniably lengthy — quest to subdue the evils of the world. It’s playful, loaded with irony and delusion, and has been considered one of the first modern novels for more than 400 years.

The Raven (Illustrated) by Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven tells a haunting tale of love, loss, and loneliness in a dialog between a man and a monosyllabic raven whose only word is, “Nevermore.” This poem, first published in popular magazines, shot its author to considerable fame, if not fortune. The e-book also includes line drawing illustrations.

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is the defining poem of modernism, and for good reason. Broken into five sections and dense with allusions, homages, and various languages, the poem conveys the feelings of a world shattered by World War I and the cultural upheavals of the 20th century. It also contains some of Eliot’s most striking lines, including the opening “April is the cruelest month …”

The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Shelley was one of the great figures in the Romantic movement , running in the same circles as figures such as Lord Byron and John Keats, and his poetry stands as some of the most iconic of the era, swelling with gorgeous imagery and masterful arrangements. This collection includes some of his most famous works, like the sonnet Ozymandias , as well as longer pieces like Prometheus Unbound .

Lyrical Ballads by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth

Long before John Lennon and Paul McCartney, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were the great lyrical duo of the age, publishing Lyrical Ballads and kicking off the Romantic movement. These poems, written in vernacular English, offer a glimpse into the lives of country folk and the beauty of nature.

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Written in the wake of the English Civil War and the Restoration of the monarchy, John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an epic poem that chronicles the aftermath following Satan’s rebellion against God, and his later plan to corrupt Adam and Eve. It is a work of staggering power (and length) written in blank verse — and the magnum opus of one of England’s greatest poets.

One of the foundational texts of English literature, Beowulf follows the titular hero, a Geat who comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar, whose land is besieged by the monster Grendel. Beowulf is a majestic work, one sure to please any reader who enjoys tales of heroes rending limbs from monsters.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Richard Morris

There are plenty of stories that make up Arthurian legend, but one of the most famous is the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . The poem follows Gawain, one of Arthur’s knights, as he embarks on a journey to fulfill his side of a lost bet. Along the way, he must withstand the temptation to break his vows and the chivalric code.

The Iliad by Homer

Set near the end of the Trojan War, The Iliad is the story of the rage of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek heroes. The story begins with Achilles’ dispute with the petty king Agamemnon and builds up to his fateful duel with the Trojan prince Hector. Like all Greek myths, it is a story of complicated, oft-flawed people, and the disastrous consequences of their actions. This is one of the best poetry books of all time.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Every high school curriculum over the years assigns grumpy English students with the terrifying, borderline Herculean feat of creating a sonnet. Not all of us can be as adept as Shakespeare, who wrote 154 breathtaking sonnets that are some of the most beautiful poems on Earth.

Shakespeare’s sonnets cover various subjects, too, often toying with and subverting common topics such as love, gender, and the artist’s role.

The Odyssey by Homer

Even 2,700 years later, we still can’t help but recount one of the most legendary stories in historical literature about Odysseus. The epic poem, a follow-up to the Iliad , traces Odysseus’s 10-year return voyage to Ithaca following the Trojan War.

This particular storyline is designed for a broad audience and is filled with tantalizing rendezvous with sirens, intense battles with cyclops, and grievous losses of suitors. The writing style is dactylic hexameter paired with a non-linear plot that includes intriguing Greek mythology and folklore.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

The influential and undoubtedly erotic work of Walt Whitman doesn’t require a drawn-out introduction. Although only 12 poems are included in the first edition of the collection, it took Whitman the majority of his life to write. He finally finished the same year he passed away. 

Consecutive editions stockpiled a whopping 400 poems, organized into a variety of volumes and each offering content applicable to specific times in Whitman’s life. They span a wide range of topics, including but not limited to American romanticism, the machinery age, and nature. But those are only a few of many. Song of Myself and Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking are two of Whitman’s most famous works included within this timeless compilation.

Which e-book format is suitable for Kindle?

Kindle apps and devices work with Amazon’s proprietary e-book formats including AZW and AZW3 (also called KF8). Books designed specifically for Kindle are often available in these formats. Other Kindle-friendly e-book formats include MOBI (based on Mobipocket), and PDF. Many e-books are available in an EPUB format but Kindle can’t read them. However, you can easily convert EPUB files to MOBI or PDF through free online converters. The PDF format will allow you to access the book on various devices (without a Kindle) since most devices can read a PDF file.

What are the best websites for downloading free Kindle books?

Project Gutenberg : It’s a large repository of free public domain e-books. You can find almost any classics and even a few select newer books. You can’t download the books directly, but the upside is you get access to 60,000+ e-books in almost all genres for free.

Amazon’s Free Kindle E-books

Book Lending : If you would rather borrow books than download them permanently, Book Lending may be an excellent option for you. It is a free library-like service where you can lend and borrow from a wide selection of titles. Books are only available for 14 days after you borrow, so it is a great motivator for procrastinators.

Is downloading free e-books legal?

Whether downloading free e-books is legal depends on where you are downloading them from. Using public domain content from sites like Project Gutenberg is legal. Websites like Book Lending, BookBub, and Internet Archive offer copyright-free books that you can download legally. The problem arises when you access or download e-books from shady sites. If a relatively unknown website is offering the latest book that just hit the shelves for free, it may be a scam or a virus bait. Stick to official sources like Amazon’s free e-book library and the aforementioned websites so you can enjoy your e-books without getting into trouble.

Editors’ Recommendations

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When it comes to e-readers, there’s not a name more iconic than the Amazon Kindle. Fast-forward to modern times, and now there’s plenty of competition to choose from. Companies like Nook, Kobo, and Boox produce excellent e-screens, but often, nothing beats the O.G. And considering that the Kindle brand is just as reliable, reputable, and feature-packed as ever, why would one say no to a good thing?

The only trouble now is picking the Kindle that’s best for your wants and needs. Some Kindle devices are small and designed for paperback-style page flipping, while other versions look and feel more like proper tablets than e-readers.

• Entertainment

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites!  Expand your streaming with a VPN

Smartwatches put important notifications from our phones on our wrists, track our health and fitness, and some can even stream music and make calls. The world's best-known technology brands make them, but a smartwatch is also a fashion statement, and some of the biggest names in watchmaking are on board, giving you a massive amount of choice when it comes time to buy one. Which one is the best?

For most people, we think the Apple Watch Series 9 is the best smartwatch, but only if you own an iPhone. We know there are just as many Android phone fans out there, and since the Apple Watch only works with an iPhone, you'll want the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6.

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20 of the Best Free Kindle Books You Can Read in Isolation

Sarah Nicolas

Sarah Nicolas is a recovering mechanical engineer, library event planner, and author who lives in Orlando with a 60-lb mutt who thinks he’s a chihuahua. Sarah writes YA novels as Sarah Nicolas and romance under the name Aria Kane. When not writing, they can be found playing volleyball or drinking wine. Find them on Twitter @sarah_nicolas .

View All posts by Sarah Nicolas

We’ve told you how to find free Kindle books , but which ones are worth the time? I rounded up five of my recommendations each from four different methods of acquiring free Kindle books. I tried to include as many genres as I could vouch for, but while I read many genres, I don’t read them all, so feel free to search the different lists if you don’t find what you’re looking for.

Free Kindle Books With Amazon Prime

If you have an Amazon Prime account, Amazon offers thousands of books, audiobooks, and Kindles singles you can read for free , in addition to their First Reads program.

Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook at Home by Marcus Samuelsson and Roy Finamore

I first learned of Marcus Samuelsson when my library hosted a screening of his show, but I don’t know how I stayed so ignorant for so long. He’s a superstar in the kitchen, and in this book he shares with us the kind of food he makes for himself and his family. He’s well-traveled and it shows in his food’s Ethiopian, Swedish, Mexican, Caribbean, Italian, and Southern American influences.

Butterfly in Frost by Sylvia Day

Day is romance phenom and this book nails all the emotional touch points, with the passion she’s known for and a deeper look at depression, but also finding hope. This is a tie-in to her Crossfire series, but can be read without reading those first.

The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani

After suffering another miscarriage and with a crumbling marriage, New York journalist Jaya takes off for India to learn more about the family her mother won’t talk about. She meets Ravi, her grandmother’s former servant, and learns her grandmother’s incredible story during the British occupation.

The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey

When Fiona finds out her fiancé is missing on the front lines of WWII, she recruits her two best friends to volunteer with the Red Cross’s Clubmobile. This book is both funny and sad as the trio learns how to bring cheer to the soldiers while bombs are falling around them. If you like to read with a box of tissues at your side, this book is for you.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

After Chloe Brown has a near-death experience, she decides she needs to get a life and creates a plan and a list. The superintendent at her new apartment, Red, is a motorcycle-riding tattooed heartthrob—and a secret artist. Chloe thinks maybe Red can help her cross a few things off her list.

Kindle Unlimited

Okay, so it’s not technically “free,” but with a 30 day free trial and just $10 a month after that, it’s pretty close. If you read more than one ebook per month, all the ebooks after the first are functionally free Kindle books!

The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

I may or may not recommend this book every chance I get, but now I get to do it when it doesn’t cost anything additional! From cakes to pastries to bread, get this book to learn everything you could want to know about baking.

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

In turn-of-the-century France, Elena emerges from a seven-year curse to find a stranger running the vineyard that should be hers. Jean-Paul relies on science over superstition, but he can’t figure out why his wine isn’t working. Elena hides her true identity and motive when she offers to help the vines recover.

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

We have millions of tiny organisms living inside and on our body—and that’s (usually) a good thing! Yong teaches us about the microbes and bacteria that shape human and animal life with a perfect blend of accessibility, detail, and humor.

The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg

Holmberg is one of my favorites for inventive YA tales. In a desperate bid to save her life, Enna binds Maekallus, a monster from another realm, to her and ends up trapping part of her soul inside him. If she can’t break the spell, he’ll be destroyed along with Enna’s soul.

Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners by Tammy Wylie

If you are anything like approximately a third of my Facebook friends, you’re trying some gardening to pass the time and soothe your soul. Learn how to do it the right way with topics like constructing a planting box, soil mixtures, crop rotation, partner planting, seed starting, and more.

See 50 more of the best books on Kindle Unlimited from 2018.

A lot of publishers and indie authors are offering their books for free for a limited time right now. These books are all currently free as of the time this was written, but there is no guarantee they’ll remain free—so grab them while you can!

Olivia Twisted by Vivi Barnes

This is a gender-swapped Oliver Twist retelling with hackers instead of pickpockets. When Z brings Olivia into his team of elite hackers, she’s hoping to escape her oppressive foster parents, but Z’s boss has bigger plans for her.

In for a Penny by Kelsey Browning and Nancy Naigle

With a tag line like “The Golden Girls meet Dirty Harry,” how can you say no? When widow Lil ends up in jail, she entrusts her family estate to her best friend Maggie, who recruits two other 50+ gals to help. They soon discover Lil has taken the fall for someone else’s crime and set out on a crime-solving spree.

Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot

When FBI Special Agent Cate is called in to investigate a teenager’s skeletal remains, she discovers eerie similarities to the disappearance of her childhood friend.

The Silver Stag by Yasmine Galenorn

The first book in The Wild Hunt series introduces us to Ember, who is part Light and Dark Fae and rejected by both sides. She makes her way as a paranormal freelance investigator but finds herself in a battle to preserve the balance between the two Courts to prevent war from spilling out into the human world.

Blades Of Magic by Terah Edun

The daughter of a disgraced imperial commander and one of the fiercest warriors in the magical land of Sandrin, Sara vows to serve in the emperor’s army the same night she finds out her father may not be so guilty after all.

Library Ebooks

My personal favorite way of getting free ebooks: through your local library! I talk to so many people who still don’t know you can check out ebooks from the comfort of your isolation fort through your library via apps like Overdrive, Libby, Hoopla, and RB Digital. And many libraries are currently offering easy digital card signups, since so many of them have closed their doors.

Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett

Dayna is a semi-famous, broke actress just trying to help her parents keep their house. When she witnesses a hit-and-run and finds out there’s a big cash reward, a little bit of meddling turns into a full-on investigation involving a crime spree, paparazzi, and movie premieres.

So You Want to Start a Podcast by Kristen Meinzer

I hear people have some extra time on their hands and are looking for more creative projects. If you’ve ever thought about starting a podcast, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is structured well and helps you work through a plan for your podcast in a logical and thoughtful way.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

An imaginative and beautiful story of slavery and injustice infused with magic. Hiram, the black son of a plantation owner, develops a mysterious power and sets him on a path towards freedom.

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

Elouise gets a job as a giant dancing hot dog at a local theme park and convinces her best friend Seeley to pretend to date her to make Nick the Diving Pirate jealous. But she may find love hiding in the most unexpected of places.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

When a viral tweet of a horrific date reveals Samiah, London, and Taylor have all been dating the same jerk, they become fast friends and promise to spend the next six months investing in themselves and forgetting about dating. But when her work hires the sexy, charming, flirty Daniel, Samiah has to figure out if he’s worth taking a chance on or if there’s more to him than meets the eye.

Do you have any recommendations for free Kindle books? Let us know!

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• How to Make a Children’s Book Museum COVID-Compliant
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'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

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When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

How to get (great) free books on Kindle

If you're a bookworm, you're likely aware that getting free books is a double-edged sword. Free books sound like a great thing, right? The problem is that books you get for free sometimes aren't the best, hence why they're free. But getting good books -- no, great books -- for free is actually possible on a Kindle, and there are several ways to do it.

Also: How to recycle your old electronics into Amazon gift cards

How to get free books on Kindle

Other ways to get the most out of your Kindle:

• How to share or loan a Kindle book
• How to buy books on Kindle

1. Look through free books

There are several ways to find free books for your Kindle, and the best place to start is to look through the free e-books available on Amazon . 

A simple search of "free books" on Amazon will result in all the available free books for your Kindle e-reader. They're the ones that show up as 100% off, with a price of $0.00. It may take a bit of scrolling to find a title you're interested in, but it's free and can be well worth it. 

Also:   Don't know which Kindle is right for you? We break it down

Also: The best e-readers

2. Go to the library

If you don't have a library card already, I recommend you get one. Check with your local library on the requirements to get a library card as well as what their virtual library offerings entail. A library card can give you access to potentially millions of e-books to download on your Kindle or another e-reader or tablet.

Once you have a library card, you can log into your library's website with your credentials, then search through the site to see what platform it uses for its virtual catalog.  OverDrive  is a platform used by many public libraries in the US that features millions of e-books and audiobooks and is available through participating library websites. 

If your library uses OverDrive, then the app to download on your mobile device is  Libby . With this service, you can browse through the virtual library and borrow books to checkout for free. 

Hoopla  is another service affiliated with many local libraries across the US, but their content catalog features much more than e-books: you can find movies, TV shows, magazines and music. 

3. Get a Prime membership

A Prime membership has some pretty far-reaching perks that not everyone takes advantage of. Once you get Amazon Prime, which comes with a 30-day free trial, you'll also have access to an unlimited catalog of e-books that is in constant rotation, also known as Prime reading .

Also: How to switch to a Prime Student membership

The best part about using your Prime membership for the benefit of your Kindle is that you have your choice of one free pre-release e-book every month from editors' picks. I've been known to eagerly wait two weeks for next month's picks to choose from, so it's a pretty attractive perk for me. 

Also: The 5 best book subscription services

4. Ty classic books

• Project Gutenberg:  Founded in 1971, Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library and features classic books that are not protected by US intellectual property law. It was created as a volunteer effort to digitize cultural works and encourage the distribution of ebooks, and now holds over 60,000 public domain titles.  ManyBooks  is another similar site that offers public domain works.
• Internet Archive:  This is a nonprofit library that features free books but goes as far as offering free movies, software, music, and images. This library features collections that link to different websites offering this content, so it's the perfect starting point for someone looking to browse free ebooks. All you have to do to access their content is create a free account and you'll be able to borrow up to ten books at once. 

5. Share books

There is also the option of  borrowing a book from someone else and sharing books among family members .

Lending a title is available when you purchase a book, though not all publishers support this feature. So if someone wants to lend you a book from their Kindle, they can do so from their Amazon account. When you borrow a title from someone else, you have to accept within seven days, and it is available for 14 days after that -- and it won't be available to lend again. 

Also: How to save money on groceries with Amazon Prime

Aside from lending titles, you also can be added as a household member on someone else's Amazon Prime account. There's a limit of how many people can join a single Prime membership, but there are no limits on book sharing among the adults and children in the household.

Not free, but close

• Kindle Unlimited : Amazon also offers a membership separate from Prime for avid readers for $9.99 a month. Kindle Unlimited gives members access to over 2 million titles and magazines. Unfortunately, not every book on Amazon's catalog is available with the subscription. If you're a fan of listening to your books, you can enjoy unlimited listening of books with Audible audiobooks. When you get Kindle Unlimited, you borrow the book you want to read and access it on your Kindle e-reader or the Kindle app. This subscription is pretty great for those who like to read several books a month and don't want to worry about spending too much.
• Priced low on Amazon :  Many great classic books are included for free in your Prime membership as well. However, there's a lot of classic literature available for mere pennies. You can get  Pride and Prejudice  for only $0.19, for example, or Edgar Allan Poe's  Complete Tales & Poems  for $0.99.

Where can I buy the cheapest Kindle books?

Aside from the options above to get free books or books for less, you can shop for the cheapest Kindle books on Amazon's deals. You can sign up for a newsletter exclusive to  Kindle Book Deals . You also can shop Kindle daily, monthly, and exclusive deals, and browse the best deals in different categories.

Can you read any book for free using Kindle Unlimited?

Unfortunately, not all books are included with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. KU members have access to a catalog of over 2 million titles to choose from and they can borrow up to 10 titles at a time.

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The 25 best places to find free ebooks in 2024.

In recent years, the ebook format has exploded in popularity. Today, it only takes a few clicks to find the ebook version of almost any title. And while you can always save money on discount ebooks, doesn’t the idea of free ebooks sound pretty sweet?

Luckily, there are tons of different ebook platforms that offer exactly that. Here you'll find 25 places to get free ebooks, from mainstream ebook retailers to digital libraries that fill in the gaps! We’ll start with the former, but if you can’t find that elusive ebook in these first few stores, fear not: you have plenty of other options.

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1. Amazon Kindle Store

If you’re seeking free Kindle books , you’re in luck! The Amazon Kindle Store has two sections dedicated to just that: its Free Popular Classics page and its list of Top 100 Free Best Sellers . For those who enjoy indie books, Kindle Unlimited could also be a good investment — it’s $9.99/month, so not quite free, but you’ll gain access to over a million titles and there’s no cap on how many books you can read per month.

2. Apple Book Store

The Apple Books Store is another big-name ebook retailer with a nice selection of free titles. You’ll find them divided by category under the Free Books tab in the sidebar: Newly Added, First in a Series, Try Something New, and many more. Though its range isn’t as extensive as Amazon’s, the Apple Book Store is a solid choice if you’re looking for free fiction, especially if you like gripping suspense books and/or speculative fiction.

3. Google Play Bookstore

Google Play makes it easy to find free books on its digital store — unlike on other sites, you can simply enter “free ebooks” into the search bar (makes sense for a search engine, right?). You’ll be directed to this page of freebies, and can click “See more” to explore. There aren’t many big-name titles available for free on the Google Play Store, but if you’re interested in nonfiction (especially test prep and self-help books ), it’s definitely worth scoping out.

4. Barnes & Noble Online

Despite originating as a brick-and-mortar bookstore, the Barnes & Noble digital shop is stocked with plenty of free and discount books. It also retains a reassuring element of human curation, with “Staff Picks” at the top of B&N’s Free eBooks page , as well as an eye-catching section of free magazines below. Readers should note that some free titles can only be read on B&N’s NOOK Reading App; it’s free to download, but does add an extra step to the process.

5. Kobo Bookstore

Kobo is the last major player in the literary e-tailer game, with a huge digital store and its own brand of e-readers. To find Kobo’s free ebook section, hover over the “eBooks” tab at the top of the page and click Free eBooks on the right. Even seasoned readers will be impressed by the selection, as Kobo offers a number of free titles you won’t see anywhere else, particularly in the romance and thriller genres — and also features a list of #ownvoices authors for those craving more diverse reads.

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6. Free-Ebooks.net

Needless to say, if you’re looking for free ebooks, Free-Ebooks.net is a fine place to start. With thousands of ebooks available to download, you’ll never run out of reading material… however, you’ll be hard-pressed to find works by well-known authors. Forge ahead if you’re intrigued by a vast landscape of free indie ebooks — or check out Free-Ebooks’ extensive classics package for some more recognizable titles.

7. Project Gutenberg

If you’ve ever Googled any variation of “[iconic classic novel] read online”, you’re probably already familiar with Project Gutenberg . This tremendous digital archive was founded all the way back in 1971, and today hosts over 60,000 documents and books, all of which are free to access. For those in search of plain-text, easily searchable, copy-and-pastable versions of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens books , look no further: Project Gutenberg has you covered.

8. Open Culture

Open Culture is another great place to find classic novels by authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf, and even the massive tomes of Proust and Tolstoy. Take note that Open Culture doesn’t host ebooks, instead serving as a hub for all manner of free online resources. However, you can find its impressive master list of 800 free books right here , with multiple links to download these texts or read them online, depending on which file format you prefer.

9. Freebooksy

Freebooksy, a popular book promotion site , is also a hub rather than a host site, linking out to free books on various retailers. What sets Freebooksy apart as a platform is that it only features ebooks that are free that day, so get ’em while they’re hot! You can browse each day’s selections right there on the homepage , or subscribe to the Freebooksy newsletter to receive them in your inbox.

10. BookBub

BookBub is another excellent promotional tool for authors and a quality source of free and discount books for readers. To access BookBub’s current freebies, just click Free Ebooks under the “Readers” tab at the bottom of the page. Here you’ll find abundant free titles with links to download them on Amazon and more. Also, if you’d like to see deals in a specific genre or for a certain retailer, you can select it on the left — though you’ll have to sort through these, as BookBub’s category pages mix both 100% free and discount promotions.

11. ManyBooks

The ManyBooks premise is simple: “Lots of ebooks. 100% free.” Select a genre, scroll through “Today’s Free Ebooks and Deals”, or check out the “Editor’s Choice” recs to see what’s worth your while. Indeed, ManyBooks offers a great deal in the way of quality control, from the ability to sort books by average rating to its own book review blog . If you’re looking for ebooks endorsed by real people, ManyBooks is the site for you.

12. OverDrive

Used by over 43,000 libraries and schools worldwide, OverDrive allows anyone with a library card to pull ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines from its digital bookshelves. Though there can  be long waiting lists for popular books (just like a real library — quaint, no?), borrowing them on OverDrive is a much better alternative than scouring the Internet in vain. Browse its featured collections, or search by title or author to locate the book you have in mind. And if you’d rather read on your phone, be sure to download OverDrive’s mobile app, Libby .

13. Open Library

Coming in hot with another virtual library, we have Open Library , a division of the long-running Internet Archive. This site is convenient because you don’t have to deal with multiple libraries;  any ebook on Open Library can be borrowed with a single click. Keep in mind that the site has a narrower selection as a result, and most recent releases aren’t available. But if you’re content to read books that came out a few years ago, Open Library won’t let you down.

14. Get Free Ebooks

Pivoting back to non-library sites, you’ll find plenty of ebooks on none other than Get Free Ebooks — though again, this one isn’t an ebook hosting platform, but a site that links out to other sources. However, if you’re seeking helpful literary lists divided by genre and subject, this is the place to be. Check out their top compilations of ebooks for tons of interesting titles, or select a genre under the “Top Categories” list at the bottom of the page.

15. Ebooks.com

A reliable source for all things ebook-related, Ebooks.com offers up a fairly large collection of free books , with a focus on the classics. Its online e-reader runs pretty smoothly and is nice for readers who like to mark up their texts, with options to highlight passages and leave notes. However, those looking to download their ebooks should be aware that Ebooks.com requires you to install Adobe Digital Editions first (it’s a free program, but may still be a drawback for readers hoping to conserve storage space).

16. Reedsy Discovery

For those who like to properly digest their free ebooks and then share your thoughts with an audience, consider becoming a reviewer on Reedsy Discovery! You’ll receive a free ebook copy of every title you pick up for review, plus you’ll gain followers and can even get tipped for your work. If that’s not a great bargain, we don’t know what is.

17. Planet Ebook

If the refreshingly minimalist design of Planet Ebook doesn’t instantly convince you of its merits, its sizable catalogue of public domain books certainly will. And because it’s based in Australia, Planet Ebook pulls from a wider public domain than in the US, so you may be able to find titles on there that you couldn’t find elsewhere. To survey its full list of books, click here .

18. Standard Ebooks

Standard Ebooks is another site that’s easy on the eyes, mainly for the beautiful book covers that accompany each title in its library — perfectly in line with the project’s mission to provide free ebooks that “meet or exceed the quality of commercially produced ebooks.” Indeed, here are 500+ books that aren’t just “standard,” but exceptionally formatted. Readers in constant search of nice-looking classics, make sure to bookmark this site.

19. Feedbooks

On Feedbooks, a site that hosts vast quantities of ebooks to purchase, you can also find free public domain ebooks and free original books . The latter should appeal to readers who have gotten their fill of the public domain, especially as Feedbooks offers some books to download that mainstream retailers do not. However, be prepared to sift carefully through its offerings, as the free offerings can get mixed up with priced ebooks on its featured pages — you may have to search “free” in the upper righthand corner to get what you came for.

20. Book Cave

Book Cave has a pretty compelling headline: “Free ebooks you’ll actually want to read.” You’ll find the aforementioned ebooks right here , with sophisticated filters attached. Not only can you divide these books up by genre, but also by maturity level and even sensitive content, if you wish to exclude violence, profanity, etc. With nearly 2,000 free books available and all these ways to filter them, Book Cave really does help readers find precisely what they want.

21. Smashwords

Since so many authors use Smashwords as an aggregator to distribute their ebooks , the Smashwords store ends up hosting quite a few books itself — and according to its stat counter, a whopping 86,000+ of those books are available for free. You can browse through them all here , though you’ll probably want to select a category in the sidebar to narrow it down.

22. BookRix

Another popular self-publishing platform, BookRix hosts thousands of freebies in its online library , most of which are original stories from brand-new authors. Indeed, BookRix is more Wattpad than Amazon KDP , since ebooks can be of any length and fanfiction is allowed. For readers looking to expand their horizons or just have fun, BookRix is definitely worth a shot.

23. Baen Books

And for readers who adore science fiction and fantasy , Baen Books could be your new favorite corner of the Internet. This publisher, founded by celebrated SFF editor Jim Baen, has grown into a wonderful hub for SFF readers and writers alike — complete with plenty of Baen ebooks in its Free Library . Many are actually the first in a series, so if you’re looking for a new fantastical world in which to immerse yourself, Baen Books should be your first stop.

24. BookBoon

We also can’t leave out BookBoon , a site that provides free e-textbooks, making it an incredibly valuable resource for students and autodidacts alike. If you’re in school or know someone else who is, this site needs to be on your radar: under their free “Student” plan, BookBoon offers 1,000+ full-length textbooks, on subjects ranging from chemistry to communications. Go get your Good Will Hunting on!

25. The Online Books Page

Speaking of academic resources, the University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books Page is a clean, accessible hub for over three million ebooks and digitized papers — some originally published more than two centuries ago. For the historically inclined, this site (which also has a pretty good search engine) is a veritable fountain of knowledge.

Hungry for more? Check out this list of additional places to find free books online , or our post on where to find free audiobooks . Happy freebie’ing!

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This Kindle Unlimited early Prime Day deal gives you a free three-month subscription

Enjoy free books, comics, magazines and more with this prime member offer..

It's July, and that means Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner. We're seeing a lot of early Prime Day deals ahead of July 16, and the latest offer coming from within Amazon's umbrella is for the readers out there. Prime members can now lock in three months of a free Kindle Unlimited subscription, an exclusive deal that will save you $36.

Kindle Unlimited Subscription

Amazon Prime members can have three months of Kindle Unlimited for free. 

As the name implies, this program offers unlimited reading of more than 4 million book titles in the KU library, free access to magazines and comics, and free listening to thousands of included audiobooks. The book library has a mix of classics, popular series and new releases across genres.

Once your three free months are up, the subscription will renew at the usual rate of $12 per month. As with most Amazon subscriptions, you can cancel at any time. We're not seeing a specific end date for when this offer will end, so interested Prime members should move fast. For voracious readers and listeners, this subscription could be a nice counterpart to the three-month free Audible subscription Amazon put on offer yesterday.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide : See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals . Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

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For the love of books

6 Websites For Free and Affordable Books

In the digital age, accessing books has never been easier. Whether you’re a Kindle lover or prefer the feel of physical books, there are many options for both.

You don’t need to break the bank to find the books you need. But are you tired of going to your local library and returning books over and over again? Well, we found the perfect solution for all your book needs! Read ahead to learn about our favorite free and low-cost book sites to fill up your Kindle and bookshelves.

Read Smarter, Not Harder

Thrifting books is one of the best ideas for book lovers. However, local donation stores don’t always organize their books, making it hard to find the book you really want. You will no longer need to restrict your reading or book spending after learning about the many ways you can receive free and low-cost books at your doorstep.

1. Project Gutenberg

If you haven’t heard of Project Gutenberg, now you have! Project Gutenberg is a great resource for free eBooks. There’s no need for a special app because their books are available in various formats, including Web browsers and eBook readers that are built into your computers and digital devices.

You will find over 70,000 digital books, offering a collection of classic literature, including works by authors like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain.

2. BetterWorldBooks

This website offers thousands of books at great prices, both gently used and new books. No need to sign up—just check out their website and find any books you might be searching for at a bargain!

My favorite part about BetterWorldBooks is that for every book purchase you make, they donate a book to someone in need. What could be better than that!

3. Pangobooks

Not only can you buy greatly discounted books, but you can sell your own books! Pango offers amazing prices for a wide range of authors and genres.

Their bookselling app makes it easy to give your books a new home while also making a profit. Additionally, if you’re not satisfied with your book purchase, Pango provides a full refund or another solution for all your book needs.

4. Free-eBooks.net

The name says it all. Free-eBooks.net provides a large collection of free eBooks, including various genres. Readers can download five free eBooks per month after creating a free account. The site also features a premium membership option for unlimited downloads.

BookBub is a free service that provides personalized recommendations and alerts you to free and deeply discounted eBooks. By signing up, you can receive daily emails with curated deals based on your reading preferences, ensuring you never miss out on a bargain.

6. ThriftBooks

Looking for new and used affordable books? Thriftbooks has what you need. This book website always has deals, and after you spend a certain amount, you receive reading rewards that allow you to get free books. All you need to do is create an account and you will see your points rise up as you thrift more books.

With these resources at your fingertips, you can enjoy a wealth of reading material without breaking the bank. Whether you’re looking for classic literature, contemporary fiction, or academic texts, the websites listed above offer something for every book lover. Happy reading!

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Love a good story? Grab 3 free months of Kindle Unlimited or Audible ahead of Amazon Prime Day

That's right – millions of books and hundreds of hours of audio entertainment for AU$0!

Been thinking about trying out an audiobook for the first time? Or maybe you've been pondering whether to substitute dragging that 1000-page fantasy novel to the office with you every morning for one of the best ereaders . Well, with these Kindle Unlimited or Audible deals, you can try the best of both worlds at no cost for a limited time – you don't even need a Kindle to do so.

These offers, however, are only available to Prime members , so it's not completely free if you're not already a subscriber. Moreover, you also need to be a new subscriber – so if you’ve already tried or taken advantage of a free trial for either Kindle Unlimited or Audible, you aren’t eligible for this extended free trial. 

Even if you're not already a Prime member, AU$9.99 to snag three months of Kindle Unlimited is well worth it – not to mention the delivery benefits and the other perks that are part of Prime that you get, including free access to Prime Music, Twitch prizes and Prime Video You can read our in-depth guide to What is Amazon Prime to find out more about a subscription. 

Of course, you can cancel once the three-month extended trial is over, though we have a feeling you'll struggle to go without once you've had a taste of what Kindle Unlimited has to offer.

Kindle Unlimited | 3 months free, then AU$13.99p/m (save AU$27.98)

If you're an avid reader or listener of stories, then there really aren't many more valuable subscriptions than Kindle Unlimited. Offering access to a ridiculously large library of e-books, plus thousands of audiobooks on any device through the Kindle app or any Kindle ereader, this is a must-have deal to sate your need for new titles. While Amazon says your savings total just under AU$42, the actual saving is AU$27.98 as the first 30 days are a free trial for new subscribers anyway. If you don’t like the service, you can always cancel any time or just before the free trial ends.

Audible | 3 months free, then AU$16.45p/m (save AU$32.90)

Prefer to listen to stories rather than read? Then you’ll do well with an Audible subscription as compared to Kindle Unlimited. And, ahead of Prime Day 2024, Amazon is again offering a three-month free trial as opposed to the usual 30 days for new customers. Audible gives you the chance to listen to thousands of Originals as well as plenty of other hot titles, including exclusive discounts on several. You also get to keep any purchase you make if you cancel your subscription.

Obviously, the reading experience is going to be better on one of our best Kindles – the e-paper screen is really a game changer – but reading on your phone or tablet is nothing to sneeze at. And given all the latest Kindles have Bluetooth connectivity, you can pair a set of wireless headphones and log into Audible too.. 

Heck, you can read one book and switch between reading the e-book and listening to the audiobook, and you can pick up where you leave off between Amazon devices too. For example, if you listen to an audiobook via your Echo smart speaker, you can start reading on a Kindle where you stopped listening… if you have both the audio and ebook editions of a title of course. So you can read it on the way home from work and listen to eat while you lay in bed – the possibilities are endless. Whether you've been itching to re-read the Harry Potter for the fifth time, need to fill your Bridgerton cravings, bestsellers from Colleen Hoover or catch up on classics like Crime and Punishment or War and Peace , Kindle Unlimited truly has a lot – and you can have it all for free for a limited time.

Note that these offers – on both the Kindle Unlimited and Audible – end July 17 and are available only to Prime members. If you’re not keen on storytelling, you can take a look at our dedicated Amazon Prime Day 2024 coverage to find some of the best early deals to had right now. You can also save via our Amazon coupon codes for July.

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A 3-month membership to Kindle Unlimited is now free for Prime members

SAVE $35.97: Amazon Prime members can sign up for a free 3-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited , which typically costs $11.99 per month. That's a total savings of $35.97.

We're now almost halfway through 2024, and if your New Year's resolution was to dive into reading, but you haven't quite fulfilled that commitment, there's still time. We still have 26 full weeks left in the year, which means today is a great time to start turning pages. If your preferred reading method is e-books or audiobooks, there's a great deal in store for you today for the total price of F-R-E-E.

Through July 17, Amazon Prime members can sign up for a free 3-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited . The service typically costs $11.99 per month, which means you'll be saving a total of $35.97 over the three-month time frame. Just remember to cancel your subscription before the three months are up to avoid being charged.

Kindle Unlimited is an e-book reader's delight. It gives you unrestricted access to over 4 million digital books, from classics to bestsellers. If you're in the mood for something longer, check out the selection of popular book series, which is just as good as finding a new show to binge. Plus, you'll no longer have to wait weeks for the book to become available from the library.

If you'd rather listen to books instead of read on a device, Kindle Unlimited also has you covered. The catalog includes thousands of audiobooks to choose from, which have the power to turn any road trip from a slog to a joy. Kindle Unlimited also includes magazine subscriptions, with titles like People Magazine , Travel + Leisure , and Runner's World .

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To grab this deal, you'll need to be an Amazon Prime member, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 annually. If you're on the fence about joining, consider Amazon's upcoming Prime Day sale, which will also come packed with exclusive deals for members only. Plus, you'll get access to Amazon's two-day shipping. And if you don't already have an e-reader, check out our favorite Kindle review .

If your reading goals aren't getting met and you're ready to change that this summer, sign up for free access to Kindle Unlimited for three months. Then you'll have some great motivation to turn some pages.

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Lauren Allain is a freelance journalist covering deals at Mashable. She graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in journalism and holds an M.B.A from Webster Leiden. You can find more of her work online from publications including Reader’s Digest, U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Refined, and more. When she’s not writing, Lauren prefers to be outside hiking, bouldering, swimming, or searching for the perfect location for all three.

Amazon Is Giving Away 3 Months of Kindle Unlimited For Free Before Prime Day

Read everything for free..

Prime Day is officially kicking off this year on July 16 and 17 , but there are quite a few early deals available now for Prime members to enjoy. For those who love to dig into a good book, and own a Kindle, you can score 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for free now . This is a fantastic deal, and my favorite from the early Prime Day deals so far.

With it, you gain unlimited access to millions of digital titles, audiobooks, and magazine subscriptions for three months before it goes back up to its monthly price of $11.99/month. With all that time you can spend the rest of the summer reading all of the classics, the latest hits, new bestsellers and so much more. Some of the books you can enjoy with Kindle Unlimited range from incredible comics like TMNT: The Last Ronin and All-Star Superman to absolute classics like The Fellowship Of The Ring. It's a deal you definitely don't want to miss.

Kindle Unlimited

Kindles often go on sale during Prime Day as well, so if you're looking to pick up a new Kindle to read on there will likely be quite a few options on sale over July 16 and 17. If you want to see what's available right now, though, check out our roundup of the best Kindle deals to see what's currently on offer, including a few Kindle bundles. We'll make sure to update it as new Kindle deals are available, too.

While we wait for Prime Day deals to officially kick off, there's another excellent early Prime Day deal you can take advantage of right now. If you enjoy listening to books instead, you can also score 3 months of Audible Premium Plus for free . With this, you'll get one credit per month to listen to some of the biggest and best audiobooks around. Not to mention, a variety of incredible Audible Originals, like their latest adaptation of 1984 that stars Andrew Garfield, which is worth the investment for Audible Premium Plus, in my opinion.

If you want to keep up with all of the Prime Day news as it unfolds, have a look at our overall roundup of Prime Day 2024 for information on when the sales officially begin, what sales we expect to see, and any competitor sales going on around the same time.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.