I've written (and written, and raved) about LibriVox in the past. I don't think I've talked yet about its older cousin, Project Gutenberg, which is a grave oversight and for which I apologize profusely.
In this era of the (almost) affordable and (nearly) ubiquitous ereader, everyone should know about Project Gutenberg. It's an entire library of free ebooks, and it keeps growing! The volunteers there have spent years digitizing every out-of-copyright books they can get their little hands on. That means works by Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, all the Brontes, Thackeray, Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Alan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, and hundreds of others are all right there, free any time you want them.
Even if you don't have an ereader, it's a really useful site for looking up half-remembered phrases, hunting to see just how many times an author used a particular phrase and where, and sometimes for reading out of print or hard to find books.
And there are, I learned recently, people who haven't even heard of this wonderful site.
Well, now you know, anyway. Go tell other people! It's almost a duty!
I love Project Gutenberg. It's expanded so much since I first discovered it in high school, and it was pretty extensive then. I want to hug all the people who have devoted so much time to creating it.
ReplyDeleteYes. I don't use it nearly as much as I use LibriVox because I do not have an ereader, but I love the idea of it being there & have read some Out of Print stuff thanks to them. They should certainly all be hailed and applauded!
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