Calibre is great for managing an ebook library, and okay for reading ebooks but the reader is clearly not its primary focus, so I'm wondering what readers folks here use across platforms.

I know of a few, but I'm always on the lookout for different options that may have features I didn't realize I'd love to use.

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[–] YexingTudou@lemmy.ml 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Depends on device for me. For android I use Librera for books, Tachiyomi/Kotatsu for manga/comics, on the old Kindle I was gifted (Kindle Touch 2) I use KOReader so I can read epubs. For desktop I do use Calibre for reading, though I'm not a big fan of their reader. I mainly read textbooks on desktop and find the search features useful, which is the main reason for using it, it all works well enough. I had issues getting Okular to work well on my computer, but I've heard it's good? Here's hoping I can unify things a bit in the future.

Eta: I forgot I actually started using Seeneva for comics, since I like the speech-bubble zoom feature

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I had issues getting Okular to work well on my computer, but I’ve heard it’s good?

Which OS were you trying it with? I was pleasantly surprised when I found it was available on Windows, and a simple install had it working for me. Another option to consider if it still gives issues (and you're on Windows) may be SumatraPDF, which despite the name supports a wide range of formats.

[–] YexingTudou@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

I'm running Debian. Okular worked for smaller epubs just fine iirc, but was struggling with large textbooks which is what I was using it for (Deitel Java specifically). Took forever to load, and was sluggish to search.

Unfortunately it looks like sumatra is windows only, but I'll keep searching!

[–] betwixthewires@lemmy.basedcount.com 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I use Koreader. It's a bit heavy because it has basically any option you can think of, it works on a wide multitude of platforms, and can have weird bugs sometimes but hardly ever. But the way I read, I need some settings that aren't in very many readers and it has them. Try it out.

[–] constantokra@lemmy.one 1 points 11 months ago

I've also had good luck using syncthing to sync my library (and progress) across devices with koreader.

[–] Trent@lemmy.ml 11 points 11 months ago

ReadEra on android and Calibre's reader on Xubuntu desktop.

Might look into some of the stuff suggested here.

[–] MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Librera is the one I'd recommend if you care about customisation, and it also has TTS (Text To Speech), which is why I use it almost exclusively.

Myne is a beautiful and minimalistic app that lets you read books from the Gutenberg project. I have asked the developer, and they have no intention to add TTS functionality to the app.

Shosetsu is the best app for fanfiction (AO3 extension) and lightnovels. It recently got a TTS feature as well, but that feature is not very usable in its current implementation.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Foliate on PC, Librera FD on Android.

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

I have Foliate on Linux too, it’s great.

lately I just open them on my phone and have the screen reader read it to me. I don’t have to turn pages and it works with the screen locked too.

[–] lckdscl@whiskers.bim.boats 7 points 11 months ago

koreader is good if your platform supports it.

I use a second-hand kindle on airplane mode and just transfer books to it from calibre. E-ink is better for my eyes.

[+] cwagner@lemmy.cwagner.me 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

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[–] ProtonBadger@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I’d like to hear from people who read more on those devices.

I started reading books electronically on my Palm Pilot III, later a Palm V, then a SONY Clie. I loved the convenience of it, especially because I didn't have the shelf space for all my books at home and I'm into 800+page fantasy books that are a hassle to carry around. After reading on PDAs anything is a luxury. These days I read on my smartphone when out and 11inch iPad at home. It's important to manage display brightness though to not tire the eyes, unlike eInk which depends on ambient light.

I generally use Google play books, it syncs across devices and have translation which is good as I started reading French books. But these features are also available on other readers like Kindle.

Interestingly I once worked on an eInk reader for a book chain competing with Amazon. I didn't get any freebie though.

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Speaking personally, it's just that non-eInk displays are simply what I have to work with and they don't bother me to read on. ~~I'm kind of confused, given that most displays don't use e-Ink...Do you minimize your web browsing as a result, or is it different compared to reading ebooks for you?~~

Disregard the question, rereading your post you address it, it just hadn't fully clicked as I've not talked to many people with your experience.

[+] cwagner@lemmy.cwagner.me 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

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[–] lukecooperatus@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think AMOLED screens might make a huge difference. I've read countless novels on my phone with zero eye strain because the black pixels are actually entirely unlit and literally black. This means the brightness for the letters can be extremely low while remaining legible and comfortably readable for hours.

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

You say you haven’t talked to many people like me, can you just concentrate on novels reading them on a screen exhausting to your eyes? Or does reading for hours on normal screens not exhaust them for you?

The second one. Reading for hours on normal screens doesn't exhaust my eyes, just a little mental fatigue depending on the type of book or how long I'm reading.

[–] Norgur@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

came here to say this.

[–] catsup@lemmy.one 4 points 11 months ago

Believe it or not, DeGoogled-Chromium with Dark Reader. It makes for perfect dark mode

[–] rizoid@midwest.social 4 points 11 months ago

I really like Alexandria on desktop and there's android support on the roadmap on GitHub.

[–] AngryDemonoid@lemmy.lylapol.com 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If I only read on my phone, I'd use Librera. But for syncing between my Onyx Boox device and my phone, KOReader is hard to beat.

[–] ram 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Switched from the proprietary moon+ reader to Librera because of this comment and I've been happy with it. Presentation's quite different but all the functionality I like is there, including custom fonts. Thanks for posting about this software!

[–] databender@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Am I just a tech-peasant by using Book Reader? It's not the flashiest but I dig it.

[–] Octorine@midwest.social 3 points 11 months ago

I like book reader. It's simple and does the job.

[–] VerbTheNoun95@sopuli.xyz 3 points 11 months ago

I run Calibre-web tied into my Calibre server so I can read on every device I own.

[–] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I use Lithium on android. The dark mode is great for night reading.

[–] Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

Not open source but the app is ad free and has zero trackers.

[–] vagrantprodigy@lemmy.whynotdrs.org 2 points 11 months ago

I also use Lithium.

[–] darq@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I use Ttsu Reader. Browser-based so it'll run on anything, and has all the conveniences thereof.

Edit: Unless I'm actually using my Kobo, then I'll just use my Kobo.

[–] IzzyData@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

I wish I could get this site to let me rotate by 90 degrees. I only have a single monitor and it displays it horizontally instead of vertically. Which would make sense for a tablet or phone that you could physically rotate.

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Book reader on android.

[–] Roshakk@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I also use Calibre as a library manager, but I haven't found another way to read that is not my kobo. The not e-ink screens just tire my eyes too much.

[–] craigevil@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Okular it can read pretty much any format. MoonReader+ on my android devices.

[–] Zeoic@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I am surprised I haven't seen Kavita show up here yet! It's a very nice self hosted ebook/manga/comic reading server that you can access from a web browser on any device. It's really matured over the years.

I have a few thousand novels in there and really like being able to hop between devices while keeping my spot in a book.

[–] redxef@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago

I have a cheap Kobo and put KOReader and Syncthing on it.

[–] radioactiveradio@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Try foliate or koodo reader, they got a clean UI

[–] God@lemmy.org 2 points 3 months ago

Foliate has been absolutely amazing. I love the simple interface that doesn't look as dated as calibre.

[–] PM_ME_FEET_PICS@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

Only thing I miss from Apple was their mobile eReader. Anyone know of a decent copy of that one?

[–] xia@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Remarkable 2, but the PineNote might be usable now.

[–] janguv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

Always wondered how good the Remarkable series is. Have been tempted but the hardware isn't that cheap really. Since discovering the PDF reader of Zotero and running it with a night mode plugin, I've found myself mainly just wanting to use that. The annotations are stored separately as well, so you don't get massively inflated PDF filesizes (though if you want the option to export with embedded annotations, you can do that; you can also import embedded annotations to Zotero and then clear the file of them). Very cool.

[–] ky56@aussie.zone 1 points 11 months ago

I'm holding out for the PineNote from Pine64.

[–] 68silver@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago

I use my hacked kindle 4 and Bookreader on android tablet.