Introduction
This is a listing of 300+ sites that legally offer free books for reading online without download and without registration. The sites listed here may offer downloads, but also offer all of their free ebooks for reading online.
To the best of my knowledge all of the websites listed here offer only content that they are legally entitled to transfer to you. If you find a site listed here that you know illegally offers copyrighted material, please contact me through the site with a link to the infringing content.
To the best of my knowledge every website listed here, and its downloads, are safe. By the rules of this site, no website that has a red or an orange rating at Web of Trust (WOT) is allowed in the listings. I also use LinkExtend, a browser addon that offers the ratings from six other website rating products, to verify the sites here are clean. I have never encountered any issue while visiting these sites. Additionally, I have downloaded something from every site that offers a download and have never encountered an issue. If you should ever encounter malware on any of these sites, please contact me through the site and provide the link to the offending content. Mr6n8
This list is not comprehensive and if you know of any other sites please post in the comments below or at our forums.
A comprehensive alphabetical listing of free books for reading or listening can be found on these pages:
- Free eBooks and Audio Books To Read Online Or Download – links to all the free book pages here at Gizmo's
- Best Free eBooks Online – listing of all free ebooks sites (913 sites)
- Best Free Audio Books Online – listing of all free audiobook sites (192 sites)
There will be other sites listed there that have some of their free books for reading online, but not all of the free ebooks are available for reading online.
Libraries are also an excellent source for reading and listening materials. To find out more information on your local library, the links here may help: Library Information
[Doakio Editor's Note: This article was restored from Gizmo's Freeware archives as a service to the freeware community. Gizmo's Freeware provided high-quality, volunteer freeware reviews for decades. They shut down in July of 2021.]
Sites For Free eBook Reading Online
221B Baker Street has the 48 (of 60) works in the public domain in the USA of the Sherlock Holmes Canon available for free reading online. Some are also available for download in PDF.
365Tomorrows a free science fiction short story per day for online viewing. They have been online since August, 2005, so there is a large collection of works here.
AaronShephard'sWorldof Stories is a nicely categorized collection of stories from around the world for online reading. The listings give the appropriate age for reading, length of the story and origin.
A Buddhist Library has over 400 books and 6,000 articles primarily covering Buddhism, but with a good number of works on world religions. All that I looked at were for free online reading.
Accounting Coach offers free courses in Accounting for free reading online without registration.
AdamDecker offers his novel, The Janitor, for free reading online. He also offers some free short stories and poems.
Aesop's Fables offers 655+ of the Aesop fables for free online reading as well as 127 fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the fable of Jean Fontaine (17 and being added to). There are also a couple of L. Frank Baum stories and Dickens' , A Christmas Carol. Also available are 37 audio versions.
A Europe of Tales has free stories from 5 different European countries available for free reading online in a flash player. There are several stories for each country. Very nice graphics.
A First Course in Linear Algebra an introductory college level textbook available for free reading online and free download in PDF without registration.
Al-Islam has a large collection of Islamic works in its library available for free online viewing. There is also software and audio available. Clicking on the appropriate icons in the library will show the available works in each. Received the following comment from Zeeshan Ali regarding this site “Please make a correction here. This link and collection here represent a sect of Islam i.e. Shia, who are not concurrent in many manners to many of Muslims and Islam.”
Allen Morgan 
offers quite a few of his stories and novels for children for free reading online without registration.
AllKindsOfThingsKill is a collection of 9 short horror stories by Robert Best available for online viewing.
AlvieTheLittleBrownBurro has seven Alvie stories to read online or download in MP3.
AmazingAdventureSeries offers the children story “June the Prune” for free reading online. The story can also be heard by pressing the audio button at the top of the page.
AmericanFolklore offers many folk stories from USA, Canada and Mexico as well as Native American for online viewing.
American Literature has a large collection of free classic ebooks available for free reading online without registration. They also have a nice little collection of free stories for children available for free reading online. These have some nice illustrations.
AndersenFairyTales offers several of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales for free online reading in a flash player. Also available are associated activities.
Animated Tall Tales offers the flash animated story of Paul Bunyan for free reading online.
Antique Books has an interesting collection of classic novels, including 20 of the classic Golden Books for free online viewing without registration.
Archive.org (Children's Library) large collection of children's books available for online viewing (original books) and download
ArmenianStoryTeller has a few Armenian stories and poems available for free reading online.
Arthur's Classic Novels – Over 4000 novels covering a great variety of topics, nicely separated into categories and “best” lists. Some very interesting entries here. Available for online viewing.
ArtofTravel offers the ebook, How to See the World, backpacking on $25 a day or less for free reading online.
Athenaeum Library of Philosophy a large collection of works in a wide variety of sub-categories. All the ones that I checked were available for free reading online without registration.
Authonomy a website set up by Harper Collins publishing for unpublished authors to display their works. All are available for free reading online without registration.
Authorama offers a few hundred books, searchable by author, for online viewing.
BABBooks is a children's site that has 25 free illustrated books available for online reading or listening.
Baby School has a small collection of online flash books for toddlers and young children.
BaenCD – A small collection of science fiction books from Baen's promotional CDs. They are downloadable in a variety of formats as well as viewable online.
BaldwinLibraryofChildren'sLiterature has almost 6,000 classic , but unique, children's books for free viewing online. the ones I looked at had beautiful illustrations. A caution that some of the works are unacceptable by today's standards due to the view of minorities at that time. Not related to the above as far as I can tell.
Baldwin Online Children's Projects 520 classic children's books in a variety of genres for online viewing.
BannerBooks offers 5 unique books for reading online.
Bartleby – the Harvard classics, poetry and encyclopedias. Available for free reading online and some also available for free download in PDF..
BBCSchools has three online illustrated books for young children that can be viewed with or without audio.
Bedtime-Story has a large collection of illustrated books for online viewing. Some are classics and others are unique stories separated into unusual categories.
Bibliomania – Over 2,000 classic novels, study guides, biographies and more. HTML only.
Bibliotastic offers a good amount of free books in quite a few categories for free online reading.
Bill Smith Books offers the first book of his Outlaw Galaxy trilogy for free reading online without registration. Also available for free reading online are some short stories from the Outlaw Galaxy.
Black Mask has a good size collection of free ebooks, offered in blog like form. All the ones I saw were available for free reading online, free download in Kindle, ePub and PDF, without registration. This is not associated with Black Mask magazine.
Book-bot 14,571 books available for online viewing in their easy to view reader. Very nice find by fellow editor Rhiannon.
BookGlutton is a collection of 1200+ books for online reading with the added feature of groups available for discussion of the readings. Nice combination of reading and socializing. Suggested by an anonymous poster. Free registration and starting of a group now required.
BookRix is a mix of classic and new ebooks. There are over 16,500 free ebooks available in several general categories. The reading online is in a popup window that reads as an ordinary book. There are some classics that can be found elsewhere, but there are also many unique entries here. The adult oriented books require registration to read or download. Downloads in epub, Sony, Stanza (iPhone) or their BookRix formats.
Booksie has a huge collection of free works in a wide variety of categories. These range from short stories to novels and are unique works of unpublished authors. All are available for free reading online or free download in PDF (press “Generate eBook” button).
BooksShouldBeFree While primarily a good sized collection of audio books, each of the books is available for online reading or for download in a variety of formats.
Bookstacks is a small collection (100+) of classic works available for online viewing, with many also available in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Reader versions. Nicely set up.
Book Strand offers 350 free romance novels in varying ebook formats. All appear to be available for free reading online, free EPUB download and some free Kindle compatible download, as well as some other formats. Free registration is required to complete the checkout.
BritishLibrary has a virtual books section with a small, but interesting, collection for online viewing.
BrowzerBooks has an interesting collection of novels in a wide variety of genres (check bottom of page for links to genres) either available for online reading or download in pdf.
Buddhist Publication Society offers a good sized selection of literature on Buddhism, most of which are available for free reading online (signified by T) without registration.
CandlelightStories has a good number of stories from the Arabian nights collection as well as other story books available for online reading.
Carrie is an electronic library with a large number of free books in its collection. There is a good sized listing of books under copyright loaned to the library as well as many collections of books offering free novels. From what I could see all are available for free reading online.
CBeebies is a BBC site that offers a good number of free stories, in flash, for online reading and listening. Also, has games, music and coloring books.
Century Past Library has a large collection including thousands of books, magazines, podcasts, Videos, photos and maps.
CheeseburgerBrown offers 41 of his science fiction short stories for free viewing online. Some are also available for download in pdf or kindle. also offers a novel for free reading online
ChestofBooks Large collection, divided into categories, for online viewing. Nice collection.
Child Bible Story Online has 116 illustrated bible stories available for free reading online.
Children's Bedtime Stories offer 20 free stories for free reading online. These are original stories by Gordon Dioxide
Children's Books Online is an excellent collection (600+) of illustrated antique children's books for viewing online. They are also available for download at a fee. This little gem was suggested by an anonymous poster.
Children'sLibrary.org has a large collection of books for online viewing. Many appear to be unique classic works that are finely illustrated. Books can be filtered by age, length and fiction/non-fiction.
ChildStoryHour offers a good number of stories for free reading online. Included are Beatrix Potter, Andersen Fairy Tales, Native American folklore as well as other stories and poems. There are also other activities at the site.
ChildrenStory Info a children site that offers a nice collection of fairy tales for online viewing as well as Bible stories and coloring books.
ChildStoryTeller has a good number of short stories and nursery rhymes for reading online. No illustrations to speak of and most of the stories are classics that can be found elsewhere, but there are a few unique entries here.
CK-12.Org has a large collection of free textbooks and study aids. All are available for free reading online and free download in PDF, MOBI and EPUB.
ClarkesworldMagazine offers free science fiction short stories for online viewing and also some audio versions. A winner of the 2010 Hugo award for best Semiprozine. Thanks to Knight_of_Pentacles for this.
Classic Authors.net contains the works of over a hundred authors (and short biography for each), with a varying number of works per author. Online viewing only.
Classic Book Shelf Electronic Library offers the works of 50+ authors in varying amounts. Online viewing only.
ClassicHistoryBooks offers 6 unique works for online viewing.
ClassicHorrorStories has a very nice, and large, collection of classic short horror stories for online viewing.
Classic Literature Library Decent size collection that has complete works of a small variety of authors and works of others and a nice children's section available for online viewing.
Classic Reader offers thousands of free classic books for online viewing.
Cleave Books small collection of free classic novels available for free reading online without registration.
Connexions a large collection of free textbooks and other educational resources. The ones I checked were available for free reading online as well as free download in PDF or EPUB without registration. All appear to be college level.
Craft&FabricLinks has a free business book, Start and Run Your Own Business, available for free reading online.
Critical Theory has links to 5 well known classics of Philosophy. All are to Project Gutenberg and are available in the usual wide variety of formats as well as free reading online without registration.
DagonBytes has a collection of free classic gothic novels as well as some classic Vampire novels available for free reading online.
DailyLit – Read books online by daily email or RSS feed. Over 700 titles.
Daily Science Fiction is a webzine that offers a collection of science fiction short stories for free online reading. You can also subscribe (free) to have daily mailings of the works. If you scroll down the page linked, on the right hand side is a sub-categoriztion of the free science fiction works. Thanks to Allyson Erick for this site.
Dark Planet a collection of original short stories for online reading. The site has not been updated in a while, but all the links seem to work.
David Palme offers some free short stories of horror as well as a novella for free reading online or free download in PDF.
David Peters offers his book, Don's Spank Hank, for free reading online or free download in SWF or PDF. There is also a narrated version available at YouTube. Nicely illustrated and 60 pages long. Intended for beginnging readers.
DigiLibraries has a very interesting collection of over 20,000 free novels available for free reading online as well as free download in MOBI or EPUB without registration.
Digital History a complete history of the USA available for free reading online without registration.
Disney.Go offers the free picture book, Lady and the Tramp, for free reading online in their flash player.
DivineLifeSociety over 200 books on Yoga, religion and philosophy available for free download in PDF or free online reading.
DominicGreen offers 4 of his science fiction novels for free reading online.
EarlyMysteryNovels has a good deal of information and links on mystery writers from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Some of the links are to pay sites, but most are to free collections online. A good way to find novels by author and a lot of good general information on the mystery genre.
EastofTheWeb offers a good number of scifi short works for reading online. Thanks to Panzer for this.
eBook Cafe Several hundred free classic ebooks available for free reading online or free download n PDF, without registration.
eBookNook A good number of stories, mostly romance, but some children and vampire stories available for online reading.
eBooks@Adelaide a great collection of works from the University of Adelaide. All are available for online viewing and have links for printing. Many are also available in ePub. Thanks to Ana for this valuable source.
eBooksCube has a good size collection of classics available for online viewing.
EdgarAllenPoeSocietyofBaltimore offers free reading online of the Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (a comprehensive collection of e-texts of all of Poe’s writings, from the original sources and with multiple versions as revised during his lifetime).
Eldritch Dark has a large collection of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith available for free reading online without registration.
EldritchPress has a good sized collection of public domain works with some unique categorization.
Electric Scotland has over 800 free childrens books, for children of all ages, available for free reading online. These are unique and original stories and many are illustrated.
EnglishNovelsNet presents English novels in blog form and has 6 complete novels available for free reading online.
eServer.org interesting collection of classic novels and short stories available for free reading online.
eText.lib The University of Virginia online library has a large collection of works available for online viewing (some are available in Microsoft Reader). Even though a good number are limited to UVA students and staff, there is still a good amount of interesting material available to the general public. Suggested by poster mike dutch.
Every Day Fiction a short story per day for free reading online. All stories are 1000 words or fewer to fill in those short free times. eMail updates available.
EWTN Libraries the global catholic network has a large collection of works regarding the Catholic religious beliefs available for free reading online without registration.
Fahim Farook offers his humorous science fiction novel, Honest, The Martian Ate your dog, for free download or online viewing.
Fantastic Metropolis around 150 free science fiction short stories for free online reading. (Temp Down?)
FarmhouseFables offers 5 short story books about the little creatures that have made their home in the meadow next to the old farmhouse.
Farrago's Wainscot 12 issues of short stories and poetry available for free reading online.
Feed eBooks interesting collection divided into many categories. The titles I looked at all seemed to be unique to this site. All are available for free reading online.
FeedingAmerica offers an excellent collection of close to 80 cookbooks. These are available for reading online or for download in PDF. Thanks to Susan B for this suggestion.
Fiction eBooks is a interesting small collection of works of fiction (including some Beatrix Potter illustrated childrens books) as well as some books for writers and works philosophy and sociology. Online viewing only.
FictionPress is a growing network over 1 million writers/readers, and home to over 1,200,000 original works by unsigned authors.
Figment large collection of writings including short stories, poetry and novels. These are unique works from unpublished authors. All are available for free reading online without registration.
Financial Management Training Center offers a good number of business courses for free reading online without registration and free download in PDF.
FireBlade Fiction a smaller, but interesting, collection of classic works available for online reading.
Flat World Knowledge college textbooks available for free reading online.
FlightSimBooks 21 classic flight simulation books available for free reading online.
Foboko over 2,000 free ebooks available for free reading online or free download in TXT, PDF, EPUB, MOBIPocket and direct send to Kindle. Free registration is required (I have received no spam) and there is a limit of 5 downloads per month (no limit on reading online). There are some unique entries here.
FolkTexts the University of Pittsburgh presents a large collection of folklore from around the world for free reading online.
FreeClassicBooks offers about 30 of the more popular classic books for free reading online.
Free Doors.org has many of the Baen CDs available. A nice feature is that the stories are available individually to read online or download in various formats, including EPUB, for free. No registration required.
Free Irish Biography eBooks provides links to free ebooks of biographies of people with Irish heritage. The links I looked at were all to the Open Library and were for free reading online without registration. If you click on the Open Library link on the upper left, you will have several options of formats for free download.
Free Math Help offers online courses in a variety of Math related fields for free reading online (videos available also) without registration. These appear to be middle and high school level courses.
FreeOn-LineBooks Interesting collection on individualist feminism and libertarianism available for online viewing.
FreeOnlineChristianBooks several hundred books available for online viewing
Free Online Novels Interesting collection for online viewing. Several hundred novels separated into categories.
FreeQuickRecipes 3 cookbooks available for download in pdf and a large amount of recipes for online viewing as well as other information on kitchen and diet
Frontier Tales Magazine offers free western short stories for reading online. These are unique works.
GailSpencerLamm offers her illustrated ebook, Emily's Patience, for free online viewing or download.
Gavin Williams offers his 10 novel series, The Surprising Life and Death of Diggory Franklin, for free reading online. Also included are 7 other works that continue the story. A romance mystery novel.
Giggle Poetry a large collection of funny poetry for children available for free reading online. Also, a poetry class for children to learn to write poetry and other activites are available for free.
Gilead.org provides many of the fairy tales and stories of Hans Christian Andersen. These are available for free reading online without registration.
GoldenGems a collection of little golden books and other illustrated books for children for online viewing and saving as jpg.
GoodnightStories is a nice little collection of unique children stories for reading online. A good number of the stories were written by children. Some other activities and printable coloring pages are also available.
Goodreads has a collection of 55 free science fiction audiobooks, all of which are also available for free download in PDF, EPUB or MOBIPocket (Kindle) or free reading online without registration.
GooglePlay google does not make it easy to find the free books in their collection. This is a link to the top free books. More free ebooks may be found by doing a search and choosing Free Only in the results. Choosing a category and the Free Only option also shows more results. All are available for free reading online.
Grace Eliazabeth Baker offers her serial novel, The House of Sever, for free reading online. As of now, this is really more like 3 novels.
Greening IT a collaborative effort to help in reducing the carbon footprint in IT. Available for free download in PDF or free reading online without registration.
Green Tea Press has a dozen of their books for free download in PDF or free reading online. These appear to be quality texts.
GrimmFairyTales has a small collection of The Grimm's fairy tales for free reading online in a flash player. Also available are some associated activities.
HarlequinExtras offers 269 free romance novels for reading online. These are printable and also may be sorted into various categories.
Historical Text Archive has 74 free ebooks of history covering various continents. These are all available for free reading online. Click on the “TOC” (Table of Contents) link on the book page to read.
Hopcott.Net has a small but unique collection of novels, novellas and short stories for online viewing. Genres include romance, mystery, ghost science fiction and horror.
HotFreeEBooks an excellent site for reading books online. They boast over 20,000 ebooks and you can adjust font size and contrast for your reading pleasure. Thanks to Jan Lonner for this excellent suggestion.
H.P.Lovecraft Archive offers all of the works of H.P.Lovecraft for online viewing. Also offers information about him and links to other Lovecraft sites.
H.P. Lovecraft.com has an excellent archive of the works of the horror master available for free reading online.
Infinite Matrix has a huge collection of free short stories by a wide variety of authors available for free reading online without registration.
Infinity Plus unique collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories available for free reading online without registration.
Infomotions – 14,000 listings from full classic novels to Western philosophy. HTML only.
InklessTales offers 15 children stories for online viewing as well as games, poems and activities.
InterActMath offers about 20 free textbooks for free online use. These are for middle school students. The 6th grade book I looked at seemed to be a very basic course, more like for younger users, but they do have a good reputation. Press the enter button up top, the links across the bottom are for their pay sites.
InternationalChildrensDigitalLibrary nice collection of children's books from around the world in a variety of languages and nicely categorized, available for online viewing.
Internet Sacred Text Archive very interesting and large collection of books on religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric available for online viewing.
Invent With Python offers the free ebook, Invent Your Own Games With Python, for free reading online or free download in PDF without registration.
IPL2 has 10 free stories for free reading online without registration.
IXL lists the State standards for Mathematics in the USA and offers free online instruction to help meet those standards.
Izzy's Public Domain Library offers a large collection of free classic novels for free download in EPUB. There is also a link to the HTML for free reading online for most and a link to Librivox for the audio version where available. Unfortunately, the HTML and audio links are not noted in the listing.
Jackee'sCorner has romance novels of Jackee Connor for available for free download in pdf and lit. There are 4 completed novels, 4 works in progress and 5 short stories. All are also available for free reading online.
JamesDunavant offers his book, The Keepers of Forever, for download in HTML. or online viewing. A download compatible with Palm Pilot is also available.
Jean Gallier offers a collection of his math books for free reading online.
Jeff Inlo offers his book, Alien Cradle, for download in a large variety of formats and for online reading.
JesusandKidz offers a good number of illustrated bible stories for free reading online. Also available are coloring pages, puzzles and songs.
Jiddu-Krishnamurti.net a collection of works of the philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. All except one are available for free reading online.
Joggoon offers 90 free ebooks in various categories for free reading online. (optimized for the tablet).
John Carter of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., offers all of the novels of his Barsoom series for free reading online. The first 6 of the novels are in the public domain and the remaining are available for research purposes only. Not sure what that means, but I guess it is OK to read them online, but not distribute in any way.
Jolly Roger has a extensive collection of classical works available for free reading online.
Journeyof theHeart offers the works of Judith Bronte for free. These romance novels are available for download in pdf or reading online. There are 7 completed works and a couple in progress.
Kellscraft Studio Around 250 books available for online viewing. Kellscraft lists out of print, public domain novels, most published prior to 1923. Searchable by title, author and topic.
KidsNurseryRhymes a British site featuring over 1200 nursery rhymes for online viewing. Also has sing along rhymes (must have midi player-available there) and some nursery rhyme disco recordings available for download in MP3.
Kids World Fun has 81 free ebooks for children available for free reading online or free download in PDF without registration. There are also 21 animated read-a-long stories available for free viewing online. There are also free poems and short stories as well as games at the site.
KimberlyComeaux offers 2 of her full length novels and 2 short stories for free reading online.
Kindersay is a site for free preschool learning activities. ABCs. short stories and sign language subjects available in a free flash player presentation. Free registration is available for extra features, but not necessary to access subjects.
Kindersite offers a good number of stories in flash for reading and listening online as well as lullabies, music and games for younger children.
KOL Jr has 44 free picture ebooks for free reading online in a flash player. These all come with audio for read-a-long.
Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive has a good sized collection of free ebooks regarding Buddhism. All are available for free download in PDF or free reading online without registration.
Land of Nursery Rhymes large collection of nursery rhymes for free reading and listening online. Other activities available.
Learn Library has 40 classic novels available for free reading online without registration.
LettersToMyMother has the romance novel, “Letters to my Mother”, by Rebecca Heath available for free online reading or free download in PDF.
Library of Classic Novels nice size collection of classic works, weighted towards USA writers, available for free reading online.
LibraryofCongress maintains a nice collection of classic children's books in its Childrens Literature collection of its Rare Book section. these are available for online reading and download in pdf. These are illustrated copies and are a nice mix of well known and unusual.
Light Up Your Brain is primarily known as an children's audio book site, but they also provide a copy of the stories for free reading online.
LilFingers Storybooks Small collection of books for very young children for reading and being read to.
Literarium has a small collection of classic works available for online viewing. A nice collection of Sherlock Holmes, some interesting historical documents and a few unique classic works.
Literature.org has a collection of classics, arranged by author, for online viewing.
LiteratureNetwork has over 1900 full books and over 3000 short stories and poems by over 250 authors available for online reading. Searchable by author and they have a few unusual ones.
LiteraturePost 825 works from 71 authors available for online viewing.
Little Critters A dozen free stories in their interactive read and play section presented in a flash player. Other activities also available. The library section is just a listing of books that are for sale.
LiverpoolMuseum offers the stories of 4 children taken into slavery on their trip from Africa to the Americas in 1780. The stories start with their life in Africa and continue until the Americas. Some make the trip alive and some do not. Each is from a different tribe in Africa.
LLeeLowe offers two novels and some short stories for reading or listening online.
LongLongTimeAgo is a large collection of fables, myths, folk tales, fairy tales and more from around the world. These are available for reading online.
Lovecraft Ezinehas links to 3 free graphic books based upon works of H.P. Lovecraft. All are available for free viewing online without registration.
Mac Tutor History Of Mathematics a very nice layout of the history of math with information on different cultures and the different topics. All available for free reading online without registration.
Magickeys small, but interesting, and unusual, collection of childrens books for online viewing.
MartiinKolacek offers his science fiction/comedy book for free download in PDF or for Kindle. Also available offsite for free download in ePub or prc (Palm) and for free reading online. Originally available in Czech language and now in English. Thanks to “Werst” for the information on this.
Math Alive Princeton University offers several college level math courses lecture notes, labs and other course materials for a mix of free download in PDF and free viewing online without registration.
MatheBookNet offers free math texts divided into kindergarden, elementary school, middle school and high school. All are available for free download in PDF or for online use in a unique virtual classroom.
Math Open Reference a collection of free textbooks in Mathematics fields available for free reading online without registration. There is a notice about an application running on the page. This is due to the interactive portion of the textbooks and as far as I can tell is not harmful.
MegaMouseBooks offers about a dozen books by Emma Laybourn for free reading online or free download in ePub or Mobi formats. Age range is from 6 to early teens. Associated crossword puzzles are also available.
MerpyStories offers several animated flash stories, with accompanying music, for online viewing. The unique stories of Merpy, Jeremy Dragonfly and Rufus the Firefly available in English and Spanish. Other activities available.
MetaReligion has an extensive listing of works for all major world religions as well as some minor religions and ancient myths. All appear to be for online viewing.
Michael Hardgrove offers his illustrated book, “The Echo and the Pixie” for free reading online.
MichaelPalin Former Python Michael Palin has made a name for himself lately as a brilliant travel-writer and has made six of his travel books available for online viewing. They are spread across many pages, so not very practical to download.
Middle City offers free online Accounting tutorials for free reading online without registration.
Mills&Boon offer online reads of romance novels from best selling authors. These are released in serials, with a new chapter every 2-4 days, but older releases are available making this a nice collection.
Mills & Boon Australia has a few hundred novellas available for free reading online without registration.
Montware offers the full length Irish romance novel, Caroline, by Una (Lavery) Montgomery for free reading online.
Mother Goose Club a collection of nursery rhymes available for free reading online without registration. Also, some songs, videos and coloring pages.
Motion Mountain a free Physics textbook available for free reading online or free download in PDF, with color images and embedded video and animations, without registration.
Munsey'sMobile offers a large collection of free novels divided into many categories. These are all available for free viewing online and are also available for download in PDF, PRC and ePUB. These appear to be different works than those available on the regular Munsey's site, above.
Murray and Madelief two writers from different parts of the world who collaborate online and who have posted a fantasy short story and chapter 1 of a science fiction novel, both of which are available for free download, without registration, in Kindle compatible MOBI.
MuseumofUnnaturalHistory has a small collection of illustrated childrens' stories for online viewing. these are unique stories not found elsewhere.
MyKidsCorner offers a good number of stories, interactive stories, rhymes, alphabet, games and puzzles and pictures for children aged 3 to 7. All are available for free online reading.
MysteryNet has a interesting collection of original online mysteries for visitors to solve as well as mystery short stories. Also, a nice childrens section.
MysteryNetKids has a good size collection of mysteries for children to solve. There are 28 “Solve-It” stories, 29 “Chiller” stories from the Darkmaster, 28 “Quick Solve” stories, 28 Magic Tricks and 21 mystery stories written by children that won the mystery writing contest at the site.
MysteryNovelist offers the romance mystery, Snow Angels, by Barbara W. Klaser for free reading online
MyYoungChild has a good variety of free stories designed for value building in children aged 3 to 7. Some are read only, presented as images and some are listen alongs, presented in videos.
Neverpedia has a complete listing of the Peter Pan novels available for free reading online.
Nice Stories several thousand free works in its adults section and a few hundred in its under 18 section separated into categories. All are available for free reading online. These all appear to be unique works.
Northpole good sized collection of free Christmas related stories to read on line (or have read aloud). Flash presentation on main page to access stories and hidden stories to find.
Online Library of Liberty hosts over an interesting collection of over 1,100 books available for online viewing and also for download.
OnlineMathematicsTextbooks This site is courtesy of Georgia Tech University and offers 77 free math textbooks for free online reading or for free download in PDF (click on chapter heading for PDF link – download is chapter by chapter).
Online Programing Books large collection of free computer and mathematics books for free reading online and free download in PDF.
OpenLibraryOrg has a huge collection of free novels available for reading online and for download in a large variety of options. Over 1,000,000 titles available. A great resource-thanks to Robert Collins for this.
OpenStax College has only a few textbooks, but they appear to be high quality. All are available for free reading online or free download in PDF or EPUB.
OxfordOwl has over 250 free ebooks for free reading online in a flash player. Age range is from 3 to 11. Audio and associated activites are also available for most, if not all, the free ebooks. Thanks to Katharine for this nice link.
PagebyPage a few hundred works available for online viewing.
Pages of Romance offers about 7 free short stories for free reading online without registration. Look on the right hand side of the page for links to the free stories.
Paul's Online Math Notes provides free materials for college level mathematics courses. These are available for free viewing online as well as free download in PDF. No registration necessary.
PennLibraries has several special collections for online viewing, including a Celebration of Women Writers.
PerseusDigitalLibrary – A large collection of classical texts broken down to time period written. All available for free reading online.
Philosophy Pages provides links to the works of Philosophy within its discussions. The site provides 3 methods of finding information. History, Timeline and Major Philosophers. The links are offsite, but all of the ones I checked were available for free reading online without registration.
Planet Math huge collection of math related material. All the items I looked at were available for free online viewing at the site. No registration needed.
PlanetOzKids has an interesting collection of stories relating to myths about animals. Also available are detective stories to work along with. All available for online viewing.
Popular Children's Stories a nice collection of stories for children available for free reading online without registration. Most are short stories, with some longer ones.
Professor Garfield Garfield the cat hosts a website with a good collection of original and unique stories for younger readers (press the Read button on the home page). Most of the content is available for free reading online in a flash viewer without registration.
Project Gutenberg Australia over 1600 novels and an assortment of other works, by Australian authors or regarding Australia, available in varying ways, including text, pdf and online viewing. All are available for free reading online, either as text or html.
Project Gutenberg Canada a huge collection of free classic novels. All are available for free reading online and free download in usually PDF or TEXT without registration.
PublicBookShelf around 150 books in varying categories for online viewing.
PublicDomain A very interesting site as it not only has links to classic novels for online reading, but also has links to audio books and movie adaptations of the novels. Thanks to Rapunzel for this excellent suggestion.
PublicLiterature Has some unique public domain novels among its classic collection of around 100 books. Also has a large selection of writings submitted by authors which are free and legal to download, but not to distribute. All are available for online viewing and download in several formats.
Rachel Starr Thomson offers “World's Unseen”, the first of her “The Seventh World” trilogy for free download in a variety of formats, as well as online viewing at Smashwords.
ReadaRomance offers a good size collection of romantic short stories for online viewing.
ReadBookOnline has a nice collection of classics available for online viewing.
ReadCentralover 5,000 free classic books for reading online.
ReadEasily – Small collection of works that has option for larger print. HTML only.
Read.Gov offers 23 classic illustrated books for children for free reading online or free download in PDF.
Reading Bear A phonics learning site for beginning readers. Free audio and visual presentations.
Reading Games has 6 free classic illustrated stories for younger children available for free reading (and read-a-long) online without registration. There are also some reading and vocabulary games for new readers at the site.
ReadingHawk has a large collection of Dolch Sight Word stories available for free reading online and some are also available for free download in PDF. These are intended for beginning readers.
ReadPrint – Thousands of books, poems and short stories available for free reading online without registration.
Read Sherlock has the complete works of Sherlock Holmes available for free online reading. Nice feature that you can save you location in the work by clicking on the paragraph.
RegencyRomanceNovels offers one complete romance novel for free reading online. The other listings are for the first few chapters of come of their offerings.
Religion-Online over 6,000 works on religion and society available for online viewing.
RobBeezerPhD offers his textbook, A First course in Linear Algebra, for free reading online and free download in PDF.
RobertBAshProfessorEmeritusMathematics offers 8 of his math novels for free reading online or free download in PDF. Also offered are free PDF copies of his lectures on statistics.
RobTowner has about 15 original stories of his own available for free reading online. These are in a flash player. There are also a few available for free download in PDF. Separated into baby, kids, teens and young adult categories. He will also write stories upon request.
RodCockle offers a nice collection of illustrated books for online viewing, as well as games and puzzles for 4-8 year olds. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
Rolf A.F. Witzsche offers 14 of his novels for online viewing, download in pdf or as audio books in MP3/M4B. 12 of the novels are part of his “The Lodging of the Rose” series.
Romantic4Ever offers 2 free ebooks by author, Joan Reeves, as well as some short story romance fiction for reading online.
RomanticMarriageStories features romance works about married life. These short stories present a high view of marriage and portray the fun a romantic couple can have in a happy and sexy marriage. All available for free reading online without registration.
Scholastic Small collection of children's books available for online viewing (or read to you). Featuring Clifford the Big Red Dog.
SebastianSwan a collection of Sebastian Swan stories for online viewing.
Sesame Street has 5 free Sesame Street picture ebooks for free reading online. Looks like the free books are changed weekly and email updates are available.
SFWA The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America offers some short stories and novellas of its members for free reading online or download in PDF.
ShadowUnit is an ongoing “story about a group of unrealistically sexy FBI agents struggling to protect humanity from the worst monsters imaginable”. Episodes are viewable online (with optional music) and some parts are available for download. Features a wiki and an opportunity to talk to the story's characters.
Shakespeare's Plays The complete texts of Shakespeare plays with explanatory notes, from your trusted Shakespeare source. All available for free reading online without registration. Suggested by Sea Mac.
Shay's Imagination offers the unique stories and poems of Shay for online reading or download in pdf.
Short Fiction is a site for free short stories. There are over 6,000 short stories in the various Romance and Erotic categories (over 18). All are available for free reading online without registration.
Short Stories Free has a nice collection of free short stories in various genres available for free reading online.
Smashwords has a very large collection of free ebooks from independent authors and publishers. These are available for download in a wide variety of formats, including KINDLE, EPUB and PDF among others, as well as for online viewing.
Snapdragon the BBC of Wales presents the story of Goldilocks for free reading online in their flash player as well as other early learning reading activities.
SolarDrift An ongoing science fiction novel by Martin A. Hale. Episodes are available for online viewng. He also offers a few of his short stories for online viewing.
Speakaboos has what appears to be a large collection of free stories for reading and listening online. All are in a flash player. The site is very slow to load pages. Each of the images on the page linked seems to lead to at least 4 stories each and the images on the bottom half circle also lead to additional free stories (the ones I check all were accompanied by songs. Geared to younger children.
Starry FreeOnlineNovels small collection, but some interesting entries, available for online viewing.
StoriesForChildren has 8 Christmas stories by Carolyn Rogers for online viewing and apparently some woodland creature stories soon to come.
StoriestoGrowBy has a large collection of folk and fairy tales for children from around the world for online viewing.
Storybird unites artists and writers to create some excellent illustrated stories. On the left hand side of the page are the age divisions for the story's readers, ranging from preschool to adult. They claim there is over 5 million stories created there. Every story I saw was available for free reading and viewing online.
Stuart Stories has 9 free books for beginning readers and about 30 free books for older children. All are available for free reading online and most are also available for free download in PDF.
SunDogStories offers the adult oriented crime story, Lucky's Dream, for free online viewing.
SunnaOnline offers 16 free books on Islam. All are available for online viewing and some for download in pdf.
Surrendering Pages of Romance offers the free novel, Surrendering, which is the first of 3 novels in the Whispers of Desire series. Look on the right hand side of the page for links to the novel. Available for free reading online without registration.
The Assayer good collection in a wide range of subjects, even though a number of the links are dead. All the working links that I checked were for free online reading.
The Birmingham Grid For Learning presents The Tooth Fairy, a story written and illustrated by a 4th grade class for free reading online without registration.
TheFreeLibrary has a large collection of free classic books sorted by author and searchable by author, title or keyword. There is also a small biography of every author along with the listing of that author's works on the site. The site claims to have over 5 million works. Online viewing only.
The Lancashire Grid For Learning has a nice collection of free ebooks for children of all ages. Also available are activites related to the books. All are available for free reading online without registration. Click on an appropriate section on the left hand side menu to find the books. This is a UK site with British spelling.
The Literature for Children Collection a resource from the University of Florida (USA) featuring children books published from before 1850 to beyond 1950. These are JPG scans visible in their viewer. Warning that some of these books have racist language. No registration necessary.
TheLiteraryGothic has a large listing of authors of Gothic works (pre 1950) and links to online ebooks for many of them. Links are offsite, so download and viewing options vary. I found many of their offsite links to be dead, but they host a large number of eTexts for online reading (marked by a 
in their listings).
TheLiteraturePage has a good size and interesting collection of free books. These are classic works and are available for free reading online.
TheManorSchool offers a collection of Greek myths and legends for online viewing. Featured within the stories is the artwork of children of the school.
TheMoonlitRoad has 11 stories for children for online reading. A mix of ghost stories, folktales, myths and legends from the American South.
The Orange Grove provides free textbooks as part of the State of Florida's (USA) portal of free educational resources. All the ones that I looked at were availalbe for free reading online and free download in PDF without registration.
ThePomplemousse has three original stories about the adventures of Pomplemousse, intended for children and adults. All available for free reading online without registration.
TheSeaLiesAfterDeath by Aubra Penner, is being released in parts, on 6 as of now, and the full 10 sections will eventually be available for free reading online.
The Tom Maddox Writing Archive has a free science fiction novel, screenplay and some short stories by Tom Maddox, available for free reading online without registration.
The University of Southern Mississippi presents The Cinderella Project, which is a compilation of a dozen variations of the classic fairy tale (press on the Archives link). Also available are the Little Red Riding Hood Project and the Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer project. All are available for free reading online without registration.
The Works and Life of Charles Dickens Charles Dickens online, a website dedicated to one of the most prolific and esteemed English writers, generally considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. All available for free reading online without registration. Suggested by Sea Mac.
Thin Ghost has the full texts of all of M.R. James's ghost stories available for free reading online.
ToddlerSchool has a small collection of illustrated books to read and listen to online. Also has educational games for younger children. Suggested by Sefi.
Tom Coote offers his travel ebooks for free download. All are listed at Smashwords, so they come in a wide variety of formats with free download without registration and free reading online without registration.
Topmarks an UK learning site. This link is to their English section, which has reading materials for children aged 5 to 18. All are available for free reading online without registration.
Travel Books Online has about 200 free classic travel books and guides for free reading online.
TrinityMoon a small collection of novels and short stories for online reading.
uMassAmherstAesop'sFables offers a collection of Aesop's fables, with illustrations from students in the Computing in the Fine Arts course for online viewing.
UPenn Digital Library has a large collection of writings by woman authors and also has within its A Celebration of Women Writers collection a section for Newberry honor books written by women (Newberry is an award for children books given out by the Library Association) spanning from 1922 to 1964.
Victorian Women Writers Project Indiana University host this collection of lesser known British women writers of the 1th century.. All the works are available for free reading online.
VirtualReligionIndex has a very large collection of religious works for ancient religions as well as the modern major religions available for free viewing online.
Von'sBooks has free online science fiction written from a Christian prospective. Most of these are incomplete, but there are several complete novels available for free reading online. Main link is to the Scifi section, but there is also a Fantasy section.
Waterloo Station The Sherlock Holmes Society of Austin, Texas, has a good number of the Holmes works available for free reading online. Nice feature is that they have the stories listed in chronological order of the dates in the stories.
Wattpad offers a huge collection of free works. These are original and unpublished works. There mostly are short stories, but a good number of novels and novellas. Nicely divided into categories and sub-categories.
Web-Books offers over a thousand classic works divided into several categories. These are all available to read free online or for download in WEB and WEB database. Viewing the downloads requires their Web Viewer (free) which is clean as far as I can tell
WikiBooks has a large collection of free works in a good sized amount of categories available for free reading online.
WikiJunior age-appropriate non-fiction ebooks for children aged birth to 12 years old available for free reading online without registration.
WikiSource has a nice size collection of novels from the late 19th century and early 20th century available for free reading online. Some are also available as audio works.
WikiTravel an online travel guide in Wiki form available for free reading online without registration.
Wikiversity a “project devoted to learning resources, learning projects and research” for preschool through university level. Materials are available for a large number of disciplines. All are available for free reading online without registration.
WiredForBooks has a nice collection of Beatrix Potter books as well as a few others for online reading and also available in audio.
Wolfram Mathworld an excellent resource of math related information. All available for free reading online without registration.
Woodlands Junior School presents a 7 chapter interactive Pokemon story to aid in developing reading skills and apprehension for free reading online without registration. This is a UK site with British spelling.
WordIQ Nice collection of over 10,000 books available for online viewing. There are some unusual entries here, but hard to find unless looking for specific title or author.
WorldofTales a collection of folktales, fairy tales and fables from around the world available for online viewing.
Young Peoples Zone a nice sized collection of classic literature for children available for free reading online without registration.
Zain has a smaller collection of free ebooks regarding computer science and business topics available for free reading online.