Your favourite books/author

[Belacqua]

 I mostly read from Kindle Unlimited selection

You know, if you don't mind reading off a screen, there is a huge selection of pirated e-books available. Pirate Bay has more popular things, and Library Genesis more scholarly ones. 

Look, Stephen King has enough money.

[Foxaèr]

It's off and on irritating to find good ones available. My local library is a dinky little country place so the selection sucks. So, I mostly read from Kindle Unlimited selection or I look for deals on other books. It might sound entitled and stuck up, but I'm not paying $8-$15 for a book I haven't read. I did that quite regularly in my youth and ended up with a bookshelf of expensive books that I never finished because they sucked. Who wants that? *friends come over and give them a tour of my house* "And over here is the shelf full of books that I don't like but won't give away because they're horrible."

I mostly stick with a strategy of not forcing myself to finish books I don't like. An author has to earn my attention. If they haven't done so within the first 50 pages or if they have annoyed me something awful in the first 10-20, I drop it and move on.

Are you familiar with Robert Green Ingersoll?

A little back story, I was a freshman in college, way back when in 1999 when computers and the internet was far less advanced than it is now, I came across this wonderful man and his oratory works. I read his stuff, and his genius awoke something in me that has not dissipated to this day. He is famously known as The Great Agnostic, yet his approach quite closely mirrors modern atheistic thought.

His works are free to read here: Robert Green Ingersoll

Here are the works I particularly found most useful:

About The Holy Bible
The Devil (a personal favorite)
The Truth
Why I Am An Agnostic

By all means, check out anything else of his that interests you. He was one brilliant man.

[Ravenshire]

When it comes to reading, I have not read anything in years. Just can't find the time, plus not interested. I did all of my reading in my youth. Maybe one day in my old age I will return to it.

It's off and on irritating to find good ones available. My local library is a dinky little country place so the selection sucks. So, I mostly read from Kindle Unlimited selection or I look for deals on other books. It might sound entitled and stuck up, but I'm not paying $8-$15 for a book I haven't read. I did that quite regularly in my youth and ended up with a bookshelf of expensive books that I never finished because they sucked. Who wants that? *friends come over and give them a tour of my house* "And over here is the shelf full of books that I don't like but won't give away because they're horrible."

I mostly stick with a strategy of not forcing myself to finish books I don't like. An author has to earn my attention. If they haven't done so within the first 50 pages or if they have annoyed me something awful in the first 10-20, I drop it and move on.

Have you looked into Overdrive? If your local library is connected, they'll have thousands of titles, ebooks and mp3 audio books, available electronically. I currently have 13 cards to libraries connected to 11 different consortia and have driven over 60 miles, one way, to get some of them in order to feed my addiction.

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 I mostly read from Kindle Unlimited selection

You know, if you don't mind reading off a screen, there is a huge selection of pirated e-books available. Pirate Bay has more popular things, and Library Genesis more scholarly ones. 

Look, Stephen King has enough money.

Why not simply visit your local library's electronic resources instead of stealing what you want?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

 I mostly read from Kindle Unlimited selection

You know, if you don't mind reading off a screen, there is a huge selection of pirated e-books available. Pirate Bay has more popular things, and Library Genesis more scholarly ones. 

Look, Stephen King has enough money.

King's bank account doesn't justify piracy. Theft of intellectual property is still theft.

Boru

[zwanzig]

Have you looked into Overdrive? If your local library is connected, they'll have thousands of titles, ebooks and mp3 audio books, available electronically. I currently have 13 cards to libraries connected to 11 different consortia and have driven over 60 miles, one way, to get some of them in order to feed my addiction.

The last time I tried Overdrive it wouldn't let me borrow any ebooks that my local library didn't have in stock online. My local library's online selection is even smaller than the actual physical selection. It wouldn't allow me to look up any other libraries. It only allowed me access to the locations where my library card would work to borrow books from. Maybe I'm just not understanding how it works.

[Ravenshire]

Have you looked into Overdrive? If your local library is connected, they'll have thousands of titles, ebooks and mp3 audio books, available electronically. I currently have 13 cards to libraries connected to 11 different consortia and have driven over 60 miles, one way, to get some of them in order to feed my addiction.

The last time I tried Overdrive it wouldn't let me borrow any ebooks that my local library didn't have in stock online. My local library's online selection is even smaller than the actual physical selection. It wouldn't allow me to look up any other libraries. It only allowed me access to the locations where my library card would work to borrow books from. Maybe I'm just not understanding how it works.

Yeah, your member library has to have a copy in order to download it. That's why I've got so many cards. I'd recommend researching the libraries that have branches close enough to drive to that are part of different consortia, then see what requirements they have for getting a card. I'll admit to being lucky in that regard, with a ton of libraries nearby being members of different consortia. Your library may also be connected to Hoopla. I'm not as familiar with Hoopla, but they may have more/different titles than Overdrive available to your library.

[arewethereyet]

Our library did offer Overdrive but the new format is called Libby. I do find that it's a bit limited as far as selection goes. Since I am just outside a large metro area I should check into what I need to do to get cards from libraries in surrounding 'burbs. I listened to it a lot a couple years ago but have been frustrated when I find an author or book I like and other books by the same author aren't available. It seems really hit or miss regardless of how popular a book has been.

[Ravenshire]

Our library did offer Overdrive but the new format is called Libby.  I do find that it's a bit limited as far as selection goes.  Since I am just outside a large metro area I should check into what I need to do to get cards from libraries in surrounding 'burbs.  I listened to it a lot a couple years ago but have been frustrated when I find an author or book I like and other books by the same author aren't available.  It seems really hit or miss regardless of how popular a book has been.

Libby is part of overdrive, and they're really pushing it, but has not replaced it. Since I use Overdrive for Windows for audio books and Adobe Digital editions for ebooks, I can push them to my portables without Libby.

Yes, it can be frustrating to find a new author and find the local library has only half of their books, or worse, a new seven book series of which they have books 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. That's not just a digital library issue though.

[arewethereyet]

Our library did offer Overdrive but the new format is called Libby.  I do find that it's a bit limited as far as selection goes.  Since I am just outside a large metro area I should check into what I need to do to get cards from libraries in surrounding 'burbs.  I listened to it a lot a couple years ago but have been frustrated when I find an author or book I like and other books by the same author aren't available.  It seems really hit or miss regardless of how popular a book has been.

Libby is part of overdrive, and they're really pushing it, but has not replaced it. Since I use Overdrive for Windows for audio books and Adobe Digital editions for ebooks, I can push them to my portables without Libby.

Yes, it can be frustrating to find a new author and find the local library has only half of their books, or worse, a new seven book series of which they have books 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. That's not just a digital library issue though.

I did some checking with a close suburb of decent size and due to COVID they aren't allowing people who don't have an address in their town to get a library card.  I would assume digital libraries are doing a bang up business.

[Belacqua]

Why not simply visit your local library's electronic resources instead of stealing what you want?

I live in Japan.