With so many books in the world, reading can be an endlessly expensive hobby. But thanks to the internet and the magic of libraries, there are a ton of ways to read your favorite books for free, from beloved series like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, and Dune to new fiction, literary classics, and nonfiction titles.
If one of your goals for 2024 is to read more, or if you’re simply looking to sustain your love of reading in a cost-effective way, we're here to help you navigate the best ways to read books without spending a penny.
Libby
This premier library app is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore. Millions of books are available for free on Libby, so long as you have a library card. (If you don't have one yet, go sign up now!)
Once you sync your card up to Libby, you'll gain access to your library system's digital catalog. The offerings can vary from county to county and town to town. For example, the Los Angeles Public Library offers a different collection from the Long Beach Public Library, even though both are situated within Los Angeles County.
Savvy users can collect numerous library cards to unlock the full borrowing power of Libby, as copies of digital books are limited. That means you may need to place holds for popular titles like “Spare” by Prince Harry, “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus, and “I'm Glad My Mom Died” by Jeannette McCurdy. Pro tip: You can adjust the length of your borrows in the app, so make sure to check the Libby settings to match the pace of your reading. The app also offers shorter seven-day loans on hot books with no wait.
Amazon
You're unlikely to find the breadth of any of the library apps on Amazon, but you can still find tons of free books to read on the all-encompassing online marketplace. The most popular genres within the free offerings on Amazon are thrillers and romances, with the former including titles like C.M Sutter's “Run For Your Life,” Tess Stimson's “The New House,” “The Wife” by ML Roberts, and “Her Deadly End” by Tikiri Heath. Though most of these are small-press or self-published titles, some have large followings and often thousands of reviews, so there is evidently a wide range of people enjoying these books via Amazon.
Hoopla
A different kind of reading and borrowing experience from Libby, Hoopla is another massive collection accessed via your library card. However, content on Hoopla isn't beholden to traditional library issues like limited copies or placing holds. If you see it on Hoopla, you can read it right now — as long as you have the credits, that is. Although copies aren't limited, the amount of borrows you get a month is set by your library system. Some may offer 15, while others might only give you 10. It depends on how generous and well-funded your library is.
Hoopla's selection has a great deal of crossover with Libby, but it tends to change more frequently compared to the fixed digital collection of its competitor. It also differs in its larger media offerings, as Hoopla specializes in comics, movies, audiobooks, and more. But never fear, dear readers! At the time of writing, books like Michael Crichton's “Zero Cool,” Shelby Van Pelt's “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” and Karin Slaughter's “Pretty Girls” are just a click away from borrowing.
Google Books
Google Books has an unbelievable 10 million books free for users to download. But seeing as they're all public-domain or copyright-free works, you'll mostly find classic literature here (which includes some of the best-selling books of all time). Some of the famous authors you can read for free include Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson, Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, science fiction trailblazer and Frankenstein creator Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and famed adventure author Robert Louis Stevenson. This is a great resource for students and those who want to dive into the complete works of writers like Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Charlotte Bronte, H. G. Wells, and many, many more.
Read.gov
If you're looking for a more curated version of what Google Books has to offer, read.gov is a great place to look. As part of the online arm of the Library of Congress, Read.gov has a ton of really interesting books, as well as many out-of-license titles. Some of the featured books include Edgar Rice Burroughs' first John Carter novel “A Princess of Mars," Lewis Carol's “Alice in Wonderland,” Bram Stoker's “Dracula,” “Moby Dick,” and more. One of the coolest parts of its collection is the wide variety of fairytales and fables, from Brothers Grimm to Aesop. There are also a ton of useful autobiographical works, scanned newspaper articles, and curated collections of ephemera that are intriguing to explore.
Kobo
If you're a fan of fantasy, thrillers, or romance, Kobo will likely have some free books you'll enjoy. The Kobo app encompasses six million books. Only 100 or so titles are free, though many only cost a couple of dollars. Some of their most popular free book offerings include the fantasy epic “Eurydice Otherwise” by J.M. Ney-Grimm, the regency romance “Too Wicked to Kiss” by Erica Ridley, the cozy murder mystery “In for a Penny” by Kelsey Browning, and the thriller “Murder on the Mind” by L.L Bartlett. Though these aren't the biggest authors or instantly recognizable titles, there are a swath of free books that may lead you toward your next favorite author.
Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more. Rosie is a published comics author who has written titles including Godzilla Rivals vs. Battra and The Haunted High-Tops. She co-hosts the weekly Crooked Media pop-culture podcast X-Ray Vision. When she's not writing, you can find her playing Dragon Ball FighterZ or rewatching weird old horror and martial movies in her free time. She loves making comics and zines as well as collecting VHS and reading as much manga as humanly possible. You can find her on social at @rosiemarx.