Book Finder
Narrow down the collection by category, length, reading time, or subject. Our finder helps you match your current mood with a suitable title from the library's public domain offerings.
Do more with this book catalog
The NOKIV Public Domain Literature Library offers a curated selection of classic fiction, organized to help you find your next read with ease. Our interactive tools let you explore the collection by category, compare works side by side, and gauge reading time before you start.
With 98 books across four distinct categories—from historical social fiction to science fiction utopias—there is a wealth of public domain storytelling to discover. Each title is accompanied by detailed metadata, including word count, reading time, and subject tags, allowing you to make informed choices.
98
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
98
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Compare Books
View up to three books side by side. Compare word counts, reading times, and subjects to understand how each title fits into your reading plans.
Reading Time Estimates
Wondering if you can finish a book in one sitting? Our reading time tool provides estimates based on average reading speeds, so you can plan your reading sessions accordingly.
Finding Your Way Through the Catalog
The NOKIV Public Domain Literature Library holds 98 works, most of them short stories from the early twentieth century. With four categories and a median length of about 25,000 words, the collection is small enough to browse directly, yet varied enough that a few minutes with the right tool can save an evening of false starts. Book Finder, Compare Books, and Reading Tracker each answer a different question: which book fits my mood and time, how do two candidates differ in practical ways, and how do I turn a chosen book into a sustainable reading plan?
None of these tools rate literary quality. They work with measurable features—word counts, estimated reading minutes, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, and subjects—so you can match a book to your circumstances rather than to a notion of merit. The catalog itself rewards this approach: a Hawthorne collection and a pulp western may sit in different categories, but both can be approached with the same practical questions.
Start with Book Finder When You Need a Shortlist
Book Finder is the natural entry point when you have a vague sense of what you want—say, a science fiction story under an hour, or a western with a brisk sentence flow. The tool lets you combine category, length, estimated reading time, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, and subjects. Because the catalog is heavily weighted toward short works (52 of 98 are classified as short), you can quickly narrow to a handful of candidates without reading every synopsis.
For example, if you select Adventure Picaresque Fiction and a quick reading time, you might land on "No stop-overs — Text and Context" (about 9,000 words) or "The ice goes out — Themes and Context" (about 5,300 words). Both are short stories, but their subjects differ—railroad and Alaska gold versus Alaska thaw and burglary—so the subject filter can help you choose between them. Book Finder does not penalize you for leaving criteria unspecified; it simply returns a broader set.
Use Compare Books to Test Your Shortlist
Once you have two or three candidates, Compare Books puts them side by side. The tool displays word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, and subjects. These are descriptive metrics relative to this catalog, not quality judgments. A book with a high average sentence length is not harder to appreciate; it may simply ask for a different pacing.
Consider comparing "The skipper knows best — Story, Setting & Ideas" with "Stubborn people — Background and Themes." The former runs about 9,150 words and has an average sentence length of 17.1 words; the latter is about 9,700 words with a shorter average of 14.5 words. Both are short stories, but one is set on the Persian Gulf with pirates, the other in Oregon with a man-woman relationship. The comparison makes the trade-off explicit: similar reading time, different sentence texture and subject matter.
The tool also shows text sections, which matter for longer works. A book with multiple sections may offer natural stopping points, while a single-section story requires you to manage your own breaks. This is useful when you are deciding between a 20-minute story and a 340-minute collection like "The snow-image, and other twice-told tales — A Closer Reading," which has 17 sections and would benefit from a plan.
Let Reading Tracker Turn a Choice into a Plan
After you have selected a book, Reading Tracker helps you sustain progress. It records your current page, total pages, and a daily page goal. If a fixed catalog page count is not available, the tracker estimates it by dividing the word count by 250 words per page. You can override that estimate with the total from your own reading app or edition, which is useful for books like "The snow-image, and other twice-told tales — A Closer Reading" where the page count may vary by publisher.
The tracker calculates estimated remaining time proportionally and estimates finish days by dividing remaining pages by your daily goal. Because progress is stored in your browser's localStorage, you do not need an account, but you also lose the data if you clear your browser storage. The default daily goal is 20 pages, which for a 340-minute book might translate into a few days of reading, depending on your pace.