LibGuides: Leisure Reading: Overview

Not Just for School!

The Thompson Library's books are not just for school work. We have a large collection of literature and popular fiction.

Check out our Browsing Collection for new and popular fiction and nonfiction. It is located on the 3rd floor near the Reference Desk.

You will find more literature and popular fiction in our main collection in the P section. It is sometimes difficult to browse through these books, so we suggest searching for an author or title in the library's catalog.

UM-Flint's Goodreads Account
Find Thompson Library's staff picks and see what books your professors have written.

What to Read Next

Did you just read a great book and want to read more like it? Or are you just having trouble deciding what to read next? The resources listed below can help.

Goodreads
An online social networking site dedicated to readers and books. Track what you are reading and what you want to read, see what your friends are reading, discover similar books through Goodreads suggestions and their "Listopia." You have to become a member of the site (it's FREE) and you log in in with your email, Facebook, Twitter, or Google accounts.
WorldCat Genres
Browse books, films, and television shows by genre. Recommendations are based on popularity in the world's libraries. Also offers recommendations on characters, places, subjects, and age group.
LibraryThing
An online social networking site dedicated to readers and books. It has many of the same functionality as Goodreads, but it is geared more toward book collectors. You have to become a member of the site (it's FREE up to 200 books) and you log in in with your email, Facebook, or Twitter.

What's Next This link opens in a new window
A database of fiction series maintained by Michigan's Kent District Library. This is a great resource for finding out the order in which books are written in a series. You can search by author, book title, series title, and genre.

Audiobooks

Want to enjoy a book on the go? Try an audiobook!

Audiobook Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Collection of downloadable e-audio books.

The EBSCO Audiobook Collection includes fiction and non-fiction downloadable, e-audio books. The books are a mix of classics and current titles. Although multiple users may access this database at the same time, each individual book can only be borrowed by one person at a time. The user can set the borrowing period from 1 to 21 days. If a book is checked out, a user can add themselves to a hold list to be notified when the book is available again.

ACCESS: You will need to create a free, personal account within EBSCOHost to borrow and download the books. Additionally, audiobooks can only be downloaded and listened to on an iOS or Android mobile device using the EBSCO Audiobooks App, which is available for free from the iOS App Store and Google Play.
OverDrive This link opens in a new window
E-books and audiobooks, featuring primarily popular literature, graphic novels and non-fiction from trade publishers.

OverDrive is a platform for e-books and audiobooks. OverDrive features primarily popular literature, graphic novels, and non-fiction from trade publishers. OverDrive also hosts some course materials on University Reserves.

Download the Libby app to your Mac OS or Android smartphone or tablet to read on the go. Many books are available in Kindle Book, ePub, and OverDrive Read file types. Libby can combine multiple accounts, so if you already have an account with another library, such as Flint Public Library or Genesee District Library, you can read all your books in Libby, no matter where you checked them out. You can listen to audiobooks on Libby, too.

How to install and use OverDrive and Libby: https://libguides.umflint.edu/usingoverdrive

Most OverDrive books can be checked out for 7, 14, or 21 days -- you decide. Books can be returned early, releasing them to the next reader. Reserves can be checked out for 1 or 3 days. You can check out 3 books at a time. If someone else has the book you want, you can place a hold. You will be notified when the book is available to check out. You can place up to 10 holds at a time.

Privacy note: use of OverDrive requires sign-in that discloses your credentials from the U-M Directory to OverDrive Inc.

For more audiobook selections, visit Audiobook Collection (EBSCOhost).