HYDERABAD: Even though, there is relaxation during the COVID-19 lockdown several people have chosen to stay safe in their homes than contract the virus and deliver the work away from their offices as the number of positive cases rises. And yes, work from home does give one extra time to pursue either a language or finish that long-dormant reading list. So, if you have exhausted all the hardbacks on your bookshelf that kept you company during those lazy hot afternoons, we bring to you a list of online platforms where you can browse e-books from, and this includes prestigious New York Public Library (NYPL). Other than books, you can also browse newspapers, audiobooks, PDF of other publications, and more. Isn’t it a deal to spend summertime almost like those school days? Read on:
New York Public Library (NYPL)
To access their treasure, you have to download the Library’s app, ‘SimplyE’ and browse 300,000+ free e-books from their collection. Say you want to read a book written by Noam Chomsky, just enter the name in the search bar and the results show you the ones written by him or on him. Opened in 1895, this library in New York City has 53 million books along with other items.
Poetry Foundation
This 108-year-old outfit is one of the biggest literary foundations in the world which has the listed works of world’s famous poets starting from Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, WB Yeats, Tagore, Seamus Heaney to the contemporary one like Ocean Vyoung, Ilya Kaminsky, Kaveh Akbar, Kazim Ali, Ruth Padel among several other luminous names. And yes, it’s not just the poems that you can browse, you can get articles written on them by literary critics which are unique pieces in their own way.
British Library
This 46-year-old library at Euston Road, London has been offering free e-books for more than a decade. Considered the largest library in the world by its sheer number of 200 million-plus cataloged items, it offers not just books but musical compositions, maps, postal stamps, and newspapers as well. On the website, you just have to click the ‘virtual books’ tab and begin browsing. It has rare collections like ‘Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan’, ‘Mozart’s Musical Diary’, ‘Codex Sinaiticus’ among several others.
Barnes & Noble
A popular American book company with 627 retail stores offers 3,200 ebooks for free. And during these times when people are not buying any hard copies or walking into a shop, the digital collections of classics like ‘David Copperfield’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘The Voyage Out’ among other titles.