The best application for reading, tracking and listening to books

Ask me what I’m reading at any given moment, I’ll probably be shaking at least three championships, not to mention that comics and occasional textbooks may also be thrown away in the background. Reading multiple books at the same time may sound confusing (at least, people always tell me), but it all has a degree of organization: each book in my current reading is in a different format. I would have a physics, a paper book, an e-book and an audiobook at a time, so I can always read something no matter where I am.

Although I used to carry a dedicated electronic record, I have turned to using my phone these days, especially since I got the foldable. So I tried many different applications to read and record my books. These are my favorites.

libro.fm

Audiobooks have indeed grown on me over the past few years, almost completely replacing podcasts because of what I have to pay for when cleaning, for a walk or for a long drive. While I tried to make DO by borrowing audiobooks from the library, I quickly discovered that if I wanted to stay on a new version, the very limited options in my library system and the very long waiting time wouldn’t cut it. After researching all the options, I settled on Libro.fm, an audiobook platform that shares a portion of the profits with independent bookstores (about half, about half, about half). Even better, you can choose which bookstore to buy to support your purchase.

I didn’t expect to find my favorite local bookstore on libro.fm – in a small shop in a small town in the Hudson Valley in New York, so when searching for it, I was pleasantly surprised. So all the audiobooks of Libro.fm are free, so the fact that you can download files for free and use them as you like is free. You have some options to buy audiobooks via libro.fm: You can subscribe for $15 per month, which gives you a credit for an audiobook that you can enjoy 30% off on all purchases; you can purchase a credit package to save on purchases without a subscription; you can buy personal titles for all non-member prices. There are also many free books to choose from.

bookshop.org application

The moment I discovered BookShop.org launched ebooks and an app to read them, I made the website the only destination for me to buy digital books, but didn’t look back. Just like libro.fm, bookshop.org allows you to choose a local bookmaker to support purchases. It has been in the case of physical book sales for the past five years and has raised over $38 million in independent bookstores based on statistics at the time — but until now, there are no similar options for e-books. The new app is a useless eReader app where you can browse the bookshop.org directory to save the title to your wishlist (must be purchased on the website) and read all the ebooks you purchased. I would love to see some of it in the future, such as comics and the option to display pages side by side to read book styles, but it’s a great start, especially if your main focus is supporting small businesses.

Now BookShop.org’s e-book service is out of sync with any mainstream electronic tape device, so you locked to read on Android, iOS, or web browsers, but the company says it’s working on Kobo integration, which we can see is happening before the end of the year.

Libby

Libby, aka The Library app, is an app of my choice for older, reduced e-books and audiobooks, or when I don’t have any special thoughts, just want to browse the catalog to see what I’m jumping around. It allows you to link multiple library cards, which means you have the potential to pick a huge pool and is completely free since you borrow books instead of buying them. Libby is also connected to the Kindle, where you can automatically send titles to your eReader. Some Kobo devices also support Overdrive (the distributor behind Libby).

While using an application may not be as satisfying as perusing the stack IRL, I really like Libby’s tagging system, which allows you to organize borrowed books and read the title in the way that best suits you. You can have dedicated TBR tags, or create several different tags through types, sentiments, etc. Libby is also a great place to find magazines.

Moon + Readers (Android only)

Moon+ Reader is the best application I use for actual files of my books or documents. It supports a large number of different file types (including EPUB, PDF, AZW3, MOBI, etc.) and allows you to highlight and comment text, in addition to providing automatic scrolling and text-to-speech, so text can be read aloud. This can also be customized. You can select fonts, font color, background, margin width, line spacing, etc for each document and save the final build as a theme so you can use it again later. Designwess, the app almost feels like a relic of the digital age of the past, organizes all the books in Skeuomorphic Virtual Bookshelf, and I love it. Bookshelf also has some style options, or you can close the bookshelf and view the books in a standard grid.

Moon+ Reader comes with both free and paid versions, and in this case it is actually worth getting a paid version (Moon+ Reader Pro). It’s a one-time purchase of $10, and going this route will get rid of ads and open up more customization options. In addition to importing your own files into the application, Moon+ Reader integrates Project Gutenberg, so you can directly access over 75,000 free books from the library.

Story picture

Naturally, I need a way to keep up with all the readings I’m doing, and that’s where the story map comes from. Story Map is a data-centric app that tracks everything you are currently reading, everything you read, and a list of titles you want to read. It even allows you to mark a book as “not finished”. I love that I can record five books in progress at a time and even update each entry to pay attention to my distance, which is great for someone I’m shuffling to finish.

When you post a comment, you can choose to go into details about this, beyond star ratings and fit. Reviewers can point out whether the book will appeal to readers who like a particular mood and have multiple options. You rate the plot and basic questions about the characters, such as whether there is character development or whether the characters are likable. There are also options to add content warnings.

However, what really shines in the story map is the statistics. There are many actual charts built into the experience that show you a comprehensive breakdown of reading habits, from the genre, emotions and rhythm you like to the number of novels and non-fictions you read. You can set challenges for yourself, such as annual reading goals, and display a reading summary at the end of the year. It will tell you how long it takes to complete a book on average and compare your reading statistics to previous years.

The app has a gentle social component, but it is hidden in its own tags instead of being stuffed in your face, and I appreciate people who tend to avoid these things. However, if you want, you can join or create Readalongs, launch the Buddy Reading and Book Club (even wrote a code of conduct for the latter), or just see other people who are similar to your interests reading. The Story Map team also does seem to have user feedback in mind and are constantly adding new things to the app and tweaking existing content to improve the experience, which is always a pleasure to see.