Find a Book
Tell us your preferences—category, length, reading time, or subject—and we'll show you texts that fit. No guesswork, just a clearer path to your next read.
Do more with this book catalog
This catalog gathers 95 public-domain texts across four focused categories. Each category holds about two dozen works, giving you a manageable set to explore. The tools on this page help you find texts that match your interests, compare their features, and estimate your reading time before you begin.
Every entry includes practical details: word count, reading time, number of text sections, and average sentence length. These are calculated from the catalog data and are meant to give you a clear sense of what each book offers. Use them to choose a text that fits your available time and preferred reading style.
95
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
95
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Compare Books
See side-by-side details of up to three books at a time. Compare word counts, reading times, and sentence lengths to decide which work suits you best.
Estimate Reading Time
Check how long a book might take to read. Our estimates are based on the catalog's median reading speed—about 228 words per minute—so you can plan your sessions.
Choosing, Comparing, and Tracking: A Practical Hub
The QASUI Public Domain Literature Library offers three tools—Book Finder, Compare Books, and Reading Tracker—each designed to support a different stage of your reading. The hub connects them, so you can move from a broad search to a focused comparison and then to a sustainable reading plan without losing context.
None of these tools rate literary quality. They measure what can be measured: length, time, rhythm, and structure. Use them to find books that fit your available hours and attention span, not to judge which work is 'better'.
Start with Book Finder
When you first open the hub, Book Finder is the natural entry point. It lets you filter by category, length, reading time, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, subjects, and even popularity preference. For instance, if you are in the mood for a substantial Victorian selection, you might choose 'Historical Psychological Social Fiction' and a longer length. The finder will surface titles like 'A Selection from the Poems of William Morris — Reading Notes' (id 246), which runs over 79,000 words and offers a deep dive into a single poet.
The finder’s strength is its flexibility. You can start with a category and then narrow by time commitment, or begin with a subject like 'English poetry -- 19th century' and see what lengths appear. Because no-preference choices do not penalize books, you can leave criteria blank when you are simply browsing.
Refine with Compare Books
Once you have two or three candidates from the finder, Compare Books lets you see them side by side. It shows word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, subjects, and page information when available. This is where you can decide between a 192-minute commitment and a 345-minute one, or between a book with 8 sections and one with 13.
For example, comparing 'A Selection from the Poems of William Morris — Reading Notes' (id 246) with a shorter collection like 'Keats: Poems Published in 1820 — A Reader’s Guide' (id 230) reveals a difference of over 150 minutes. That gap matters if you have only a few evenings a week to read. The compare tool makes such trade-offs explicit.
Plan with Reading Tracker
After you have chosen a book, Reading Tracker helps you pace yourself. It records progress in pages, not sections or minutes. You set a daily page goal—the default is 20 pages—and the tracker estimates how many days you will need based on that goal and the remaining pages.
For a book like 'A Selection from the Poems of William Morris — Reading Notes' (id 246), which has no fixed page count in the catalog, the tracker initially estimates pages using a configured 250 words per page. That estimate is a starting point; you can replace it with the page count from your own edition or reading app.
When to Use All Three Together
The tools work best in sequence. Use Finder to generate a shortlist, Compare to weigh the final two or three, and Tracker to set a realistic daily goal. This workflow turns a vague notion—'I want to read more poetry'—into a concrete plan with a finish date. The hub exists to remind you that these tools are complementary, not isolated.