How to (legally) download French books for free online
Enjoy your summer reading while brushing up your French
Published
With the summer holidays coming to an end, there is still time to slow down, relax and perhaps brush up your language skills…and what better way to do that than by reading a great book in French.
Whether you're spending the afternoon by the pool, relaxing on the beach or travelling by train, having a few books on your e-reader means you can practise your French wherever you are.
On top of that, you don't necessarily have to spend anything, as several websites offer French ebooks that can be downloaded legally for free.
Here are three of the most popular:
Gallica: a huge French-language library
Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, is an excellent place to start if you want to discover French books online.
The website gives free access to millions of digitised documents, including books, newspapers, magazines and manuscripts.
You won't find the latest bestseller here, but if you want to discover French classics, older novels or simply get used to reading French, there is plenty to explore.
Decitre: free but small selection
The French bookseller Decitre also has a dedicated selection of free ebooks.
Its catalogue includes novels, classics, children's books, comics and other genres. The choice is smaller than on some of the large digital libraries, but it can be a convenient way to find something to read in French.
There are also some English-language titles, although the selection is much more limited.
Project Gutenberg: particularly good for English
If you're looking for free books in both French and English, Project Gutenberg is probably the best option of the three.
It offers tens of thousands of free ebooks, including a huge collection of English-language classics by authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The site has books in many languages, so it can be useful if you want to alternate between English and French.
The books are generally older works whose copyright has expired, and many can be downloaded in formats suitable for an e-reader.
