Find Your Next Read
The Finder lets you filter by category, length, and subject. It matches your tastes to books in our collection.
Do more with this book catalog
The OGIVU Public Domain Literature Library offers 99 works of classic fiction, organized into four themed categories. Each category groups books by a shared narrative focus, from adventure to social observation.
Our reader tools help you navigate this collection. Use the Finder to match books to your preferences, the Compare tool to weigh different editions, and the Reading tool to estimate how a book fits into your schedule.
99
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
99
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Compare Books Side by Side
The Compare tool displays key details like word count, reading time, and section count, helping you decide between similar titles.
Plan Your Reading Time
The Reading tool estimates how long a book will take to read, based on its word count and your reading speed.
Choosing Your Path Through the Catalog
With 99 public-domain titles spread across four categories, the OGIVU library offers more than a single shelf of classics. The hub connects three tools—Book Finder, Compare Books, and Reading Tracker—each designed for a different stage of your encounter with a text. None of them rate literary quality; they help you find, weigh, and plan.
Start with Book Finder
Book Finder narrows the catalog by the criteria that matter to you: category, length, estimated reading time, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, and subjects. For instance, if you are drawn to historical fiction set in the Netherlands, you might enter the subject "Netherlands -- History -- House of Habsburg, 1477-1556 -- Fiction" and see Lysbeth, a Tale of the Dutch — Story, Setting & Ideas (id 301) among the results. The finder's no-preference choices are genuinely neutral, so you can leave a criterion blank without penalty.
The finder also lets you toggle between popular and hidden-gem preferences. If you prefer less-discussed works, you can filter for those that have received fewer catalog views, though the tool does not judge their worth. Use the finder first to get a manageable shortlist.
Refine with Compare Books
Once you have two or three candidates, Compare Books lays them side by side. It shows word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, and subjects. These metrics are descriptive, not evaluative. For example, you might compare a 30,000-word volume with a 170,000-word epic to see how the commitment differs. The comparison helps you decide which book fits your available reading time and preferred pacing.
Compare Books is especially useful for multi-volume works. If you are considering George MacDonald's St. George and St. Michael, you can compare the full edition with its individual volumes to see how the text is split and whether you want to tackle the whole or one part.
Plan with Reading Tracker
After you choose, Reading Tracker turns your decision into a sustainable plan. It records progress in pages, with a daily goal you set. If a book has no fixed page count, the tracker estimates one at 250 words per page, and you can adjust it to match your edition. The tracker then calculates estimated finish days and remaining time, all stored locally in your browser.
For a book like Lysbeth, a Tale of the Dutch — Story, Setting & Ideas (id 301), with roughly 162,606 words, the initial page estimate is about 651 pages. At a default goal of 20 pages per day, that suggests a 33-day reading plan. You can adjust the goal to fit your schedule.