Love Reading? Here’s Where to Download Books for Free!

If you love reading and shopping for books, you might have a hard time right now since all bookstores are closed and deliveries are limited. But don’t worry bookworms! There are several ways you can still get your books. Check out these awesome websites and apps that allow you to download books. The best news is that they’re easy to navigate and free. Are you looking for Spanish books? Try out these best books to learn while learning Spanish. So whether it be new reads or some good old classics, grab your phone, laptop, or tablet and let’s get reading!

Libraries and Stores

New York Public Library

If you are in possession of a library card, there’s some good news for you: there’s a selection of more than 30,000 e-books that you can borrow from the NYPL. The free app that goes with the library is called SimplyE (iOS & Android) and allows you to read the books directly on your phone. Note that at the moment, no more than 3 books can be borrowed due to high demand. If you want to go exploring a bit, the library also contains more than 800,000 photographs, historic prints, manuscripts, maps, and much more for you to discover!

Open Library

In the Open Library, not only can you look for millions of e-books of all genres, but you can also contribute to books by editing or adding information about authors, content, etc. Any book you are looking for you can find by easily entering the title, author, and subject. The choice is large, as several libraries make their content available on this platform, including the Library of Congress, the California State Library, and the Boston Public Library. So there is definitely something in it for you!

Google eBookstore

The greatest classics, top bestsellers, your favorite books–find it all in the free section of the Google eBookstore. Besides the possibility to download books to your device in different formats, you can read through other users’ reviews and ratings and leave your own.

Bookburn

Bookboon is more on the educational side. This website contains a wide range of specialist literature with subjects like engineering, IT, sciences, economics, and business literature. Accounting, management and computer skills are also covered. The over 900 books can all be downloaded for free and without registration. For any book that you’re looking for, you will get similar books suggested, which will simplify your search.

Internet Archive

The good thing about Internet Archive is that in this digital library you can find eBooks, including historical and academic ones. You can also search audio, videos, music, and so much more. The books that are offered come in different formats and even different languages. If the book that you’re looking to read is available as PDF, you will be able to download it for free.

Apps

Libby by Overdrive

This app lets you connect to your local library and lets you discover eBooks and audiobooks. All you have to do is sign in with your library card (you can even sign up for several libraries) and you can download books for free! If you’re not sure about which eBook, there are samples to read. You can keep track of your loans, holds, and reading history. The app also lets you take notes and create bookmarks.

Amazon Kindle

This popular book reading app offers all kinds of books to read for free, although the procedure here is a little bit more complex. If you are member of Amazon Prime, you can access a ton of eBooks in Prime Reading. After logging in, you can browse through the offering. Once you find your favorite, you have the option to read it for free. Some of the free reading options even include free audiobooks that you can synchronize with the eBook. But don’t worry, there is also something for non-Prime members. Amazon has a changing variety of free Kindle books of a bunch of genres. As these offers change frequently, a tip is to bookmark and save the links of the ones you’d like to read later.

Audible

This widely popular app is for the ones who like listening better than reading. As for Audible, it works on the same principle as Amazon Kindle since the two of them are both offered from Amazon and thereby connected. Another option is to make use of the 30 day free trial.

Aldiko

With the free version of Aldiko, you’ll have an app where you can choose your favorite eBooks to read. They come as PDF, Adobe Files, or ePub. The app impresses with a customizable reading interface. The free public library grants you access to a large variety of free books.

Goodreads

Goodreads allows you to find and read the books you like under the selection of free books. The special thing about this app is that it is a community where you can get and create recommendations, leave reviews, or get in touch with other people and talk about your top picks. You can create a reading list, scroll through quotes, and share your reads, and surely all book lovers will enjoy using this app. You can stay informed before you download books.

Sierra Zima

Sierra has been living and studying in Madrid since 2018. When she's not in class or in the office, you can find her reading in Retiro or enjoying a tapa somewhere in Malasaña.