Is it just me or lately all good ideas seem to start with a Twitter chat?
In one of those chats Tasha pointed out that, although sites like Project Gutenberg and Librivox offer a universe of free books (and audiobooks), it’s hard to use them to make new discoveries.
With this in mind, the Project Gutenberg Project was launched yesterday (it’s all about spreading the love!): a cooperative book blog that aims to share and help readers find classic books that are available for free in the public domain.
Currently, those books are organized very loosely by author or by broad subject, making it difficult to browse and find what’s right for you. As Tasha said on the opening post:
At PGP, we want to help readers find public domain books they might be interested in, discuss what did and didn’t work for us, discover (or rediscover) classics, and celebrate our favorite books in the process.
Apart from Tasha and myself there are six other bloggers involved:
Aarti from BookLust
Chris from Book-a-Rama
Iris from Iris On Books
Lu from Regular Rumination
Meghan from Medieval Bookworm
Nymeth from Things Mean a Lot
If you’ve read a book available in the public domain that you’d like to tell others about, feel free to contact us.
So please visit the this new addition to the book blogosphere, say hi, don’t forget to add it to your feed, and join us in discovering the literary treasure-trove that’s Project Gutenberg.
I’ve had the honor of kicking-off the reviews with a post about “Ruth” by Elizabeth Gaskell.
7 comments
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February 15, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Joanna
Great idea! 🙂
February 15, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Jillian ♣
Love this idea. 🙂
February 15, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Patty
Especially for classics (i.e. where the author rights no longer apply), I have to say I almost always rely on project Gutenberg for e-reading… I assume you downloaded the audio version of Ruth though… no e-reading for you yet! 😉
February 16, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Audra (Unabridged Chick)
Such a smashingly great idea — I love this! I will absolutely share any finds — and be watching closely for what you all discover!
February 16, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Melissa
This is such a wonderful idea! I read lots of Project Gutenberg books on my kindle so I’ll be using your website all the time.
February 16, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Mady
Great idea 🙂 I’ve already read a few books that I’ve downloaded from there and currently reading another one (though you know that orthography of this one is killing me!!)
April 4, 2012 at 11:37 am
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley « The Sleepless Reader
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