Obviously, a global pandemic has always been a threat, but COVID-19 seems to have just caught everyone off-guard with how terrible it’s been. It’s scary, and people are struggling with being laid-off or losing their jobs, being quarantined, having to homeschool their children and deal with so many other stressful situations right now.
One of the ways I’ve been dealing with anxiety is through binge-reading. I wanted to put together this list of resources to help you guys find some books and magazines to get your mind off of things.
If you know of any other apps or websites that I haven’t listed, please let me know in the comments or email me at readyourselfhappy@gmail.com so that I can add them to this list.
Your Local Library
While a lot of libraries are closing their doors to their physical collections, many are still offering all of their digital resources. Libraries differ between branches but check the website of your local library to see what resources they provide. My area’s library offers free online access to tons of magazines, the New York Times, and language learning programs.
Overdrive/Libby & Hoopla
If you have a library card, you have access to a ton of ebooks, audiobooks, comic books, movies, music, and tv shows through these two apps. They’re absolutely free and you just log in using your library card information.
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly has temporarily opened up their digital issues to everyone. Out of all these resources, this is probably the one that I’ll be taking the advantage of the most since I’ve always wanted a subscription to Publishers Weekly but can’t afford it on my budget.
Scribd
Scribd is letting people sign up and have access to all of their ebooks, audiobooks, sheet music, and more for 30 days. Scribd is a great resource that I personally use every single day, so if you’re not already a subscriber, definitely take them up on this!
Tor.com
Tor.com is a publishing house that offers tons of short stories on their website. Here’s a link to all of their available fiction. Tor.com is one of my favorite publishers and they put out some amazing science fiction stories.
Podcasts
If you want stuff to listen to, podcasts are a great free resource. There are a ton of different ways to find and subscribe to them, such as through Spotify, the Apple Podcast App (or any podcast app for that matter), iTunes, and Scribd are examples. There are tons of podcasts for every taste. My personal favorite right now is Working Classless.
Project Gutenberg, Open Library, & Internet Archive
These are three great resources for reading classic literature or any books that are in the public domain, and they’re all entirely free.
Audible
Amazon’s Audible is offering some content for free. All of the content is hand-picked for children ages 0-18.
Neil Gaiman
One of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, is offering a ton of free content on his website, such as short stories, essays, audio content, and more.
StorylineOnline
This YouTube channel features a ton of videos of celebrities reading children’s stories. It’s the perfect way to entertain your kids while school is closed.
Goodnight with Dolly
Starting April 2nd, Dolly Parton is going to be reading bedtime stories via YouTube as part of her Imagination Library.
Kirkus
For book news and reviews, you’ve probably heard of Kirkus. They have made of all their digital issues free.
I’m sure that I’m missing a lot of resources, but I wanted to get this list out as quickly as I could. As I come across new resources or hear about them from you guys, I’ll update this post.
Again, I hope all of you are taking care of yourselves. Hang in there. We’re all in this together.
Read Yourself Happy 
The New York Public Library is offering books from anywhere on their app SimplyE. I can’t get it to work yet, but that’s there, too. Thanks for the list!
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I haven’t been able to get it to work either. So far every free resource they have needs a NYC library card. Thanks for the suggestion though! I’m going to keep an eye on it. 🙂
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This is wonderful! Thank you!
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Of course, boo ❤
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[…] be on hold at my local library for whenever they eventually open up again. Don’t forget about free reading resources too! If you have a library card, you have access to books (including some new releases!) through […]
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