Ask Lemmy

I do almost all of my reading on my phone and have for more than a decade. There are many excellent book reading apps, but your source for material will probably limit those options. I prefer books in the ePub format when possible. PDF files also work fairly well, although they are not as convenient to read because they have built-in page breaks that don't correspond match up with phone screens. Standard ePub and PDF files do not include any DRM (copy protection), although there are variants which do.

If you buy books from Amazon you have to use their Kindle app (unless you use tools to strip the DRM). Borrowing books from your library is a great option, but that will also limit your reader options. Many use OverDrive, which has its own reader. Fortunately Kindle and OverDrive both work pretty well.

Personally, I use various tools to remove the DRM from the eBooks that I buy, then I convert them to ePub. I do believe in authors getting paid for their work, so I don't share them.

I usually download an epub of the book and put it on my Kavita server, then read from my phone.

Paper. It’s unwieldy but there’s something about screens that doesn’t work for me.

I prefer an e-reader, but I used my phone before I got one. It is nice to always have my books on me with the phone, but the e-reader is much more comfortable for long sessions.

I am 20. I've been reading books for as long as I can remember. There's a place called the Internet Archive. It has an open library. There are lots of books there in lots of languages. I sometimes read books from there. It is for free btw.

yeah i occasionally do this with epubs from shadow libraries. it's not foss but i use Lithium (com.faultexception.reader) for it. only works for epub, but it's very lightweight/fast and not privacy invading. there's a pro version but the free one seems to work fine, and i couldn't find any cracked versions. having my volup btn for next page is very useful for one hand reading in mass transit.

If you're looking for free, I would suggest OpenLibrary, which has an android app: https://openlibrary.org/
I will say that the app/site is not fun to use. It's not intuitive and very poor in it's "rental" process.

Since I have an Amazon Prime account, I most often read books available for free that are included with Prime.

My local library uses overdrive for ebooks, which you can check out and either download for kindle, download as epub, or read online in your internet browser. I usually download to an eink reader, but if I'm reading on my phone I use the read in browser option.

Suggestion: if you plan to read on your phone, look in the settings to set the background and text color of whatever app you choose to something that doesn't strain your eyes.

FBreader on Android phone and Calibre on Linux to manage my library.

I used to read books on a Kindle but I am trying to spend less times looking at screens, so I started buying physical books again.

I dont read books on my phone but I do listen to audio books off my phone.

My wife uses a Kindle. She also had the Barnes and Noble version of that. I think it was called a paper white.

I've read on my phone quite a bit. On Google Books but also with an app such as ReadEra (on Android) in order to make use of https://gutenberg.org/ and https://standardebooks.org/. You can also get library books digitally.

That said, I would recommend a Kobo if you can afford it.

The books I tend to consume on my phone are in the form of audiobooks via Libby from the libraries I have access to. My local library also has Hoopla, but the app feels more clunky and overwhelming and it costs the library more so I try all other options before turning to Hoopla. I do most of my book and manga reading an e-ink android device.

I prefer how text flows on my device's stock reader more (Neoreader for Onyx/Boox devices), but KOREADER is a very cool project and the community for plugins is phenomenal. It's available on tons of devices from the big name eink devices (Kindle via modding, Kobo, Pocketbook) to arm linux based gaming handhelds via portmaster. It's like the rockbox of reading software lol

I also want to bring up the Queer Liberation Library. I don't know if this is a useful resource for you specifically but it is there. Wait times tend to be longer compared to my more local libraries, but I find it to be a great curation and it's an invaluble resource for those who need it!

Komikku is my tachiyomi/mihon fork of choice for manga that's scanlated (or if I can't bother torrenting), but if I need image dithering I swap to neoreader after downloading.

Congrats on wanting to get into reading more btw! /genuine

I have a kindle, but I do occasionally read on my phone through the Kindle app. That being said, I get the EPUB version of books from https://annas-archive.li/

I have an old android tablet that’s too slow to do anything useful, so I repurposed it as an e-book reader. I use Moond Reader to open epub format files.

@CarlLandry357@lemmy.world

I do. Depending on the file format, I use either Librera (from F-Droid), basic text editors, or even any native PDF reader.

But I also have a few physical books, one of which (Mark H. Williams "Lilith: Woman, Goddess, Demoness", Brazilian Portuguese translation I purchased from a physical library in São Paulo) was the only one so far I managed to read entirely, from cover to cover, in mere days.

Not that I didn't read the other books I purchased (such as a Brazilian Portuguese translation of Kybalion or a Brazilian book from a Luciferian school I was once a member of), it's because this specific book was the most spiritually important to me back when I purchased it, I was too obsessed in learning more about Her, so I focused on reading. I found other books about Her (non-fictional books, because there are lots of fictional novels involving Lilith and I'm more interested in real texts, grimoires, especially involving real rituals), but the physical versions would need to be imported and, well, I'm certainly going to import one day, when I get to get a job/income, because those books are priced in dollar while my everyday reality is priced in Brazilian Reais (USD 1 is approximately BRL 5.20, but then there are also importing fees which likely depends on the mood of whoever bureaucrat from Receita Federal is dealing with the package I'm trying to import).

Until that happens, I'm quite limited to finding and downloading books (that is, when I manage to find those specific books for downloading, because many of the books I'm interested in reading are so rare that they don't really have downloadable versions). Sometimes they come as epub, sometimes they come as pdf, sometimes I manage to find them on sacredbooks as txt, so the file format determines where I'm going to read: epub in Librera, pdf on either Waterfox browser (PC) or any Android PDF reader (such as mupdf mini), txt in any text editor (such as KDE Kate on PC, or a simple text editor I got from F-Droid).

I use Cantook on my phone and skip the account setup. I convert Kobo books and other ebooks using Calibre to Epub. I like Cantook because there's a setting to use the volume buttons to turn pages.

My wife does, she went through like 15 of them in 2025.

She just uses the Kindle app on her phone.

At least 6 hours a day, easily.

Royalroad, mostly, but also AO3, Questionable Questing and Spacebattles.

I also download everything to a calibre library and read it using Audiobookshelf.

No. I'm on my phone more than enough. When I read books, I read physical hard copy books.

In the last few years I basically read exclusively on my phone. I have the Libby app and a library card. Only occasionally do I really want to read a particular book and my library doesn’t have it. More often I’m frustrated by something like a 16 week wait for a popular book.

Yes, works great especially at night with red letters on black.

Librera FD is your friend to read epubs.

PDF sucks on phones.

i used to be a voracious reader, but as i grew up i slowed down. getting books and then lugging them around was less feasible with Stuff To Do, and this is gonna sound super stupid but i have a hard time getting comfortable reading a physical book. for whatever reason I hold it wildly different depending on if i'm reading the right or left page so i'm constantly moving around

i've started using libby and now i'm reading multiple books a month again. you need a physical library card but once you have it you havd access to all of your library's digital stuff. in the US you can also get a state library card in some states online, giving you access to even more books. you can also find lots of classics online for free through project gutenberg, and the internet archive has a mix of free and rental books. the latter needs a special app to open them, though, and the only one i could seem to get to work was in italian

Normally I use a Kobo e-reader, but on my phone I use Readera for ebooks

For me audiobooks are key. I pour through them when doing mundane tasks, traveling, or just sitting to “read”. They aren’t for everyone, but also don’t let anyone tell you they don’t register the same way as regular reading. They do.

Downsides include resell (you can’t) and people around you not realizing you’re into a book the same as if you had one open. Also, if you zone out it keeps going without you.

I love ‘em though. I was never an avid reader until I got into the audio versions.

I've read some, I get tired quite fast though, too much scrolling. An ebook is much more comfortable and then there's regular books for the full tactile experience.

My reading is probably 60% audiobooks, 30% ereader and 10% ebooks on my phone. I could read entire books on my phone, but I just don't find that as enjoyable or immersive as the ereader. The amount of distractions on the phone is also a big negative. I use the app koreader to sync progress between the ereader and phone, so wherever I am I can always open up a book instead of scrolling YouTube shorts or whatever, but I still end up doing that more than I should.

I tried, but I gave up. I find that mobile screens (at least the ones I've used) are the wrong dimensions for books. Either the linebreaks are way off, or I have to use zoom levels that are cumbersome.

Plus sometimes I like to jump back and forth, and that's much faster and easier when you can use physical bookmarks.

I find that good Ole books are the superior format. The only thing missing is the ability to ctrl+f

Yep, and I do this both on my noname e-ink reader and my phone (fb2reader or moon reader apps there). Downloaded audiobooks, whole another beast, are great in Voice app from F-Droid, if you choose this path.

I didn't find it inconvinient to read on smaller button phones before and the difference between a dedicated healthier device and a modern smartphone mostly escapes me. This obviously excludes PDFs and manga/comics not adapting to your screen size like a basic e-book in epub/fb2 formats, so if you stick to one of those formats - you'd want an A5-paper sized device or more.

Worse problem with some book for me is not a medium or an interface to consume it, but a lack of concentration, interest and/or habit. Life finds a way, and if you got captured by a book, you'd stop to see or care how you eat through it. But for a regular reading routine it'd be great to think of when and where you'd dedicate some time to enjoy literature, so it'd gain a momentum with you.

Phone, no. Second hand Kobo + calibre, yes.

Much as I love physical books, I've now reached an age where having the ability to increase font size, adjust margins, kerning and leading is invaluable.