This post is part of a current Tiger Print series about Social Media and its benefits. Most people I know wish they had more time to read good literature. With the internet and social media it is even easier to make sure I get in that bit of culture. For example, there are sites where you can friend people with similar reading interests and read reviews of books to get a feel for how it will fare for you. I use GoodReads and love it.
Sites like that also help you pre-screen new books to figure out if they are worth the purchase of ebook download. Personally I read the 1 and 2 star reviews to find out why people disliked the book. You can learn a lot about a book from the people who hated it. There are apps and websites that will allow you to download for free hundreds of classic titles that are no longer under copyright. Shakespeare, Dumas, Twain… if it’s a piece of established classic literature you are likely to find it easily available to you. Take it with you on your phone in order to catch a few minutes of reading while you are sitting in a waiting room or in between activities. I had a job at one point that required so little of me that I would sit at my desk bored to tears. After asking for more work to do and being told there was nothing else, I began reading the Count of Monte Cristo at my desk between tasks. Three weeks later I finished the book – having read the entire book online. It was my first foray into online reading and after that I was sold.
Interested in finding classic online? Check out these sites:

• Bartleby – This is one of the best sites for classic literature reading. This is where I read The Count of Monte Cristo.
• Amazon Free Collections – this will be downloaded to your Kindle device or app. I have the app on my iPhone and read dozens of books this way.
• Internet Archive – It has more than 2.5 million titles all for free. They can be downloaded so you won’t need an internet connection to read.
• Open Library – With more than one million titles available and the ability to send the texts to your mobile devices this is an excellent site.