Some women buy shoes, some women buy bags – I buy books. I read voraciously, to the point where I feel anxious if I don’t have something going in my Kindle. The problem with this book habit? It gets expensive.
I cringe a little bit every time I load a book onto my Kindle, missing the days when I lived in one place long enough to get a library card. I’ve searched for solutions – subscription services, book streaming – but have yet to land on something that takes the place of the library. In the meantime, I’m watching hundreds of dollars flee my bank account.
So when I stumbled across BooksMinority.com, I was definitely excited. The site is simple – a mini manifesto at the top of the page that claims a social outcast position by the founders and ends with a call to action to “create a global community of like-minded people where we will be able to gather the best fiction bestsellers of world literature dedicated to love, romance and future!”
Sounds pretty high-minded, no?
BooksMinority is a “not-for-profit library” that offers bestselling books for free. Click on the book you’re interested in reading and it will come up with a description of what you’re in for. If you still want it, click the green “Get book” button on the left and it will automatically download to your computer.
It’s really that simple.
The site is in its early days yet, which you can tell by the fact that they’re aren’t too many books up at the time of publishing this article. However, you can already find hits like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and classics like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The front page of the site also lists the newest books to be added, so you always know what the latest updates are.
One element that seems to be missing from the site is a way for users to “donate” books. I’d happily send over digital copies of books that I’ve read and loved in order to help them build their library. Perhaps this is a feature in the making?
Bookworms: Keep an eye on BooksMinority.com. If they build out the site the way they seem to want to, this is one that could save all of us some serious cash.
