/lit/ - Literature

There is a large list of websites that offer free books in the sticky.

you can get a lot of huge collections on torrent sites

Try libgen and Mobilism

>>4671953
>Piracy is (obviously) already a major problem

Yes, because books were mostly shit back then when only rich people or people who didn't get paid for it much wrote them.

Giving writers and publishing companies a lot of money has certainly improved the quality of writing! TOTALLY!

>>4671964
>>4672041
>>4672056
Thanks for the suggestions.

>>4672058
So you think the industry is already shit, and happy to see it crumble. Alright, I'm fine with that. You certainly don't need to be such a cunt about it though.

>>4672058
Apart from the Rowling's of the world, the vast majority of writers get only a very small fee from the sale of their books. Usually 10% which can rise to something like 12-15% if you are of some importance. It is very like the recording industry. Downloading is hurting the companies, which are the ones who delayed evolution and quality for the most part.

>>4672180
>You certainly don't need to be such a cunt about it though.

I thought I had to go the extra mile to make the sarcasm obvious. I do think it's shit and happy to see big publishing companies crumble.

Are kindles usually sold in Best Buys?

smashwords.com can filter for free books
obooko.com is good as well

>>4671964
That list disappeared :(

What I use nowadays:

sticky's #bookz,

kickass.to (some torrents are a bit of a gamble, and are actually PDFs),

http://mobilism.org/ (needs free account, but very nice community),

http://lib.freescienceengineering.org/ (doesn't say which format a link is until you visited it, annoying since for each format there's one link, so you got 10 links to click per book until you find the mobi - but huge collection),

http://en.bookfi.org/ (the best, displays format, direct download)

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ (for out of copyright books, IMHO better formatting than the standard Gutenberg, plus Australia has the 50+ copyright rule for authors instead of 70+ in the rest of the world, meaning that people like Orwell are in the Public Domain)

The sticky's mIRC option is a good one. But torrenting big groups of books at once is probably your best initial option if you want to fill it up

So I downloaded some stuff from the sticky but how do I get it on my kindle? Drag and dropped but all the names are fucked up

>>4672851

You might have to convert the file if your reader can't read .epubs

>>4672851
Use Calibre to change names around and organise your shit, most stuff you pirate won't be perfectly set up.

>>4672851
O I have a a Kindle Touch btw, I've hardly used it since I find it hard to navigate and it has adds

>>4672410
>http://mobilism.org/
Are books still uploaded there? I remember they had been approached by Amazon about the Kindle jailbreaks so I figured they'd also stop with the pirating.

I have a Kindle, and I don't use it as often as I thought I would. I keep thinking to myself "I'd really like a physical copy of that book" and then I end up with twenty physical books and none on my Kindle.

My Kindle gets used for one off books that I want to read by authors I'm not overly interested in. Things like Catchet in the Rye, Fight Club, Cuckoo's Calling etc. Things I probably won't like, but want to see what the fuss is about, basically.

>>4674767
As long as the links are still alive, that's what matters.

My father just given me a kindle paperwhite last week. I had a kindle keyboard before - which died last year.

I kinda, sort of like the paperwhite. But not really. The whole "no page turn button" thing annoys the crap out of me. I want my fucking buttons on the fucking sides.

Also the paperwhite could be bigger, it feels really awkward to hold it - especially compared to the older device. The lights are uneven at the bottom, that also pisses me off. You can just turn them off and read it like a regular kindle, so there's that at least.

On the other hand it's a fucking e book reader, and after spending 10 months without one it feels like I'm in heaven. If they sold kindle keyboards I definitely would've gotten that one instead.
Regardless of all the innovation - touchscreen, lights and whatnot - the lack of headphone jack, speakers, buttons, the whole device feels dumbed down and it is completely infuriating.

Great, now I want to breathe fire and burn Amazon HQ to the ground, then salt the earth where it stood
Thanks /lit/

Got a kindle this past December. Love it for fiction and my amount of reading has shot way up since I've got it.

It's kind of useless for philosophy and similar non-fiction though. Still want my physical copies of Nietzsche and Heidegger.

>>4675237
Kobo Glo has pretty even lights. They can also turn off all the way which is nice.

>>4675237
highly agree. i have the kindle keyboard. i like the idea of a light but not enough to lose my page turn buttons.

The best place to find books is on SLSK, I never see it mentioned here.

It's more extensive than IRC, torrents or any sites listed here combined and I've found many obscure books by setting up wishlist searches so I'm alerted when someone logs in with one.

>>4672204
>Usually 10% which can rise to something like 12-15% if you are of some importance.
Wow, Amazon gives writers 70% or so, but then again they don't offer anything except a market stand. I assume companies do a bit more for their authors?

>>4675256
>Still want my physical copies of Nietzsche and Heidegger.
I don't understand the attachment people have to physical objects. It's so weird to me. There's no difference content-wise and an e-reader has superior handling. Why choose a heavy, dirty, fragile book? I can understand feeling attachment to unique living things, but objects? I just don't see the appeal.

>>4678153
Not the guy you quoted, but I'm halfway between you and him.

I love seeing a bookshelf filled with a wide variety of books. I'm the same with films (although that's more down to a matter of picture and sound quality) and it's just a nice alternative to having nothing or some generic artwork on the wall.

That said, it's just words on a page so it wouldn't matter if a story was printed on a roll of toilet paper. I don't care what I'm reading on, but there is something to be said for walking in to somebodies place and seeing a nice big book collection. It's much more satisfying than somebodies book collection being stored on the end of their desk in a digital format.

>>4678168
Well, my room has white painted concrete walls, a mattress lying on the floor, a table, a chair, 3 plants, a wardrobe and a small bookshelf filled with history books that aren't available in a digital format. It's very comfy and neat and when I see how other people live I'm just kinda flabbergasted.
This clinging to physical books that is often expressed here is a symptom of this aberration that affects most of society, so I was seduced into asking a futile question.

>>4678191
The thing is, I actually love the minimalist aesthetic. My bedroom looks like yours is described, my living room has very little in it too. My film collection is in the hallway, the books are kept in a spare room which is a designated "reading room".

Books, films and CDs/vinyl are basically the only physical possesions I own apart from obvious things like a TV, laptop etc.

>>4678153
because muh cultural capital and pretty books to show off