Advisorator: Find terrific books

Hey folks! As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, I’m taking this week off while visiting with family over Passover. I’ll be back next Tuesday, April 22.

In the meantime, I hope you dig this special guest post by Jeremy Caplan, who writes the Wonder Tools newsletter. I’ve featured Jeremy’s work here a bunch of times, and really enjoyed the book-finding advice he shared in a recent issue of Wonder Tools. I’m republishing that advice here with his permission.

Take it away, Jeremy!

How to find your next read

By Jeremy Caplan

April 15, 2025
Recent books I’ve enjoyed as a break from frustrating headlines.

Books offer a compelling, slower alternative to the onslaught of negative news. With terrific new free tools, it’s increasingly easy to access print, digital and audio books. Read on for an update on my favorite book sites and apps.

Libby lends out free ebooks and audiobooks through libraries in 78 countries. It works for 90% of U.S. libraries. You can search for and check out nearly anything, instantly, for free, on any device.

  • Audiobooks Check out and listen to audiobooks at any speed. You may not need to pay for an Audible subscription.
  • Definitions Click on any word in an ebook you’re reading in Libby for its definition or to see where else that name or phrase appears.
  • Highlight Save memorable passages for your notes.
  • Multiple cards You can use multiple library cards within a single Libby account. That helps you check which library has the shortest waiting list for a book in high demand. (See where you can get non-resident library cards).

Limitation: Libby is digital-only — you can’t use it for physical books.

I rely on Libby for family car trip audiobooks and Kindle ebooks for work.

Kanopy provides free access to top-notch feature films and documentaries. I log in with my library card. Watch on the Web, iOS or Android, or on a SmartTV app like Google TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV.

Limitation: libraries limit the number of videos you can watch monthly.

Kanopy is a great free alternative to Netflix. Requires a library card.

Hoopla is an alternative to Libby that works with 3,900 library systems in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Like Libby it hosts audiobooks and eBooks, but also bundles in comics, movies, TV shows, magazines, and music.

Use Hoopla to read, watch or listen from the Web or on a mobile device. I recently discovered its free Bingepasses, which allow instant access to a collection of magazines or videos for a week.

World Cat tells you which of 10,000 global libraries near you have a particular book. It works in multiple languages. Search for books in print, ebook, braille, audio, or other formats.

Find your next read 📚

  • Most Recommended Books shows you a list of smart people. Pick an expert or celeb you like and see which books they recommend, along with brief quotes on why they like each book. Check Goodbooks.io and ReadThisTwice for more expert/celeb book picks.
  • Whichbook’s World Map offers a creative way to find a book about any part of the world. Select a country and see books set in that region (See gif 👇).

Find free and cheap books 🔦

Support Independent booksellers 🪟

  • Alibris has 200 million titles from indy booksellers around the world.
  • Powell’s is the world’s largest independent bookstore.
  • Bookfinder lets you search online to find any book at the cheapest price.
  • Indiebound helps you find a nearby real-world indy bookstore.
  • Abebooks has great deals from independents. Check its bargain books + collections. Caveat: Amazon has owned it since 2008_._
  • Tertulia is a well-designed online co-op bookshop owned by readers.

Make your own book list ✅

Use AI to explore and expand your taste in books 📚

After making a list of books you’ve liked or learned from, prompt an AI engine (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) for personalized reading guidance. Read my recent post for how & why this is so useful for analyzing your own reading tendencies and discovering new gems.

Find great children’s books 🧒

  • Sora is a digital library for kids. Schools make ebooks and audiobooks available on the app. It works well with graphic novels, picture books, as well as comic books and textbooks. (We also use Libby for kids books).
  • Epic is another popular kids ebook app. It’s fun to use, but be aware that it leans into gamification and extrinsic motivation — using points and streaks to entice kids to repeatedly open the app.
  • Kanopy has a great kids section with video versions of books by Eric Carle, Mo Willems and other great authors to spark an interest in reading. It also has math and science lessons.

Bonus tools: Check out a well-curated list of 55 useful apps for book lovers from Bookscouter, where you can buy and sell books.

Thanks again to Jeremy Caplan for this week’s special guest post. Jeremy puts together recommendations like this every week in his Wonder Tools newsletter; I suggest checking it out!

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Until next week,
Jared

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