There's something awesome about curling up on the couch with a good book, and falling face first into a fantastically written story. With apps on your phone books and the communities that love them are more accessible than ever. From social media networks for book lovers to digital libraries, there is plenty here to love.
Amazon Kindle
It should come as no surprise that Amazon's Kindle app is the best place to find new books and the ones that you already love. It has an absolutely amazing collection of books for purchase, with everything from Roxanne Gay to Stephen King available to be downloaded directly to your phone.
With the Kindle app, you can search out the authors you already know and love, get personalized recommendations, and even find great hidden gems that may be available for free. Amongst those free books are essay collections, novellas, new fiction and memoirs, and many great classics are available for free as well.
Goodreads
If you've been looking for a social network built for bookworms, then Goodreads is precisely where you need to go. You can read reviews from other readers, share reviews of the books you read, and so much more.
Goodreads lets you build lists of the books you own and ones that you plan on reading so that you can keep track of everything. By adding friends you get a full social feed that is all about books. It's a great way for the shyest of bibliophiles to network and find friends that love the same books they do.
Libib
While plenty of folks prefer to keep their books in a digital format, there are those of us who have still built a library. If you've got books by the dozen, then Libib is the perfect way to keep track of everything. It's easy to forget precisely which books you've already bought, or the name of that new author you just picked up. By adding your books to the app, you can ensure that you always know exactly which books you already have.
Libib lets you enter your books manually, enter their ISBN number, or scan a barcode, and no matter which way you go it's simple and easy. You can build multiple lists which is perfect for anyone who likes to separate different types of libraries or juggles one at home and another at work.
Scribd
Scribd is a monthly subscription service that gives you access to a pretty huge collection of books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers and more. Instead of purchasing a book or magazine, you pay for Scribd and get access to everything in the catalog.
If you prefer cultivating a personal library, then Scribd is going to be better for checking out questionable books than it is for finding new favorites. You can download what you want to read so it's available for later, as well as adjusting the format when you are reading.
Overdrive
While making the trip out to the library might not be feasible — especially if you tend to forget to return books on time — if you have an active library card you can borrow books electronically with Overdrive. No more worrying about late fees, or having to go to multiple branches to borrow the book you want, now you can find it in ebook format.
Each participating library — and there are over 30,000 of them — creates their own collection of ebooks. This means that you can ask for and suggest books at your local branch and see them appear online.
