FREE BOOKS | These Books are Entering the Public Domain in 2025

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  • Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
  • Hello!
    It's Public Domain Day! The beginning of 2025 marks the time that these books will go into the Public Domain in the United States. That means these books can be available for free on certain platforms like Google books and Project Gutenberg. From William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway to Virginia Woolf and Agatha Christie, here are 18 works that are entering the public domain in 2025.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 112

  • @Nancy-tr5fi
    @Nancy-tr5fi Місяць тому +9

    You just LOVE LAST year…..your VOICE AND then LAST YEAR BABBLE ON……FRACTURED voice over….CRACKLING…..

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +16

      lmao is this a hate comment? Clicking away is always an option 👍

    • @KinderKim-b3x
      @KinderKim-b3x Місяць тому +8

      Right….instead of focusing on the content, you’re insulting someone who is freely sharing the results of her time, research, and energy? Why?

    • @Vanbedda
      @Vanbedda Місяць тому

      Are your headphones okay?

    • @NYLeafy.V
      @NYLeafy.V Місяць тому +2

      Thanks for this video ! 💙📘👀

    • @susie84412
      @susie84412 Місяць тому

      Try hooked on phonics, then learn sentence structure. I’m not exactly sure what you’re going on about.

  • @yuklimka7251
    @yuklimka7251 Місяць тому +34

    Books entering the public domain and becoming available to the general public for free is great. Some of the books on the list sound interesting. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are such famous characters. You could always watch an adaptation for the screen to get a first taste. Happy reading in 2025!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      @@yuklimka7251 hahaha, I'm sure they are! Happy reading 😊

    • @juliemartin6101
      @juliemartin6101 Місяць тому +3

      One of the very best films based on an Agatha Christie novel is Sidney Lummet's 1974 "Murder On The Orient Express".

    • @yuklimka7251
      @yuklimka7251 Місяць тому +1

      @@juliemartin6101 I had to look up the cast and there are some big names!

  • @kathleenjohnson4592
    @kathleenjohnson4592 Місяць тому +18

    The Sound and the Fury is one of my favorite books of all time. It's not for everyone, but I loved it.

  • @KitKatMontana
    @KitKatMontana Місяць тому +11

    All quiet on the Western Front was my most impactful read of 2024. I was weeping in bed at the end of it! It was so well written that I now recommend it to everyone.
    It is a quick read too!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      Thanks for your input/recommendation! 😊

    • @bisibisbi
      @bisibisbi Місяць тому

      Same for me with: The Road back, which covers the time after the War and the difficulties to re-adapt to civilians life in a destroyed country.

  • @NekoFunjatta
    @NekoFunjatta Місяць тому +15

    This is the first video I’ve seen of you and your introduction to who you are immediately caught my interest! You sound like a super cool human and I’m glad for all the public domain info and can’t wait to watch more - subscribed! 🎉

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      @@NekoFunjatta oh so kind! 😊 thank you

  • @Tony_Lewis
    @Tony_Lewis Місяць тому +8

    Thank You !!!
    The best things in life are free.
    Happy New Year!!!

  • @oli_bee
    @oli_bee Місяць тому +11

    “i’m not a big detective novel girl” she says with a shelf of nancy drew behind her 😂

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +3

      I know! I started and ended my journey there ahahaha

  • @janeconnor457
    @janeconnor457 Місяць тому +2

    High Wind in Jamaica is a great movie. Now that u let me know it s public domain I can t wait to read it’ Thanks for the information.

  • @katherineschexneider585
    @katherineschexneider585 Місяць тому +1

    Wow. Lots of good books. Thanks so much for sharing.

  • @ohmylainey
    @ohmylainey 24 дні тому

    Thank you for your hard work Jenny I didn't realize how or why literature become public domain before this! Happy New Year 💖

  • @dizzymisslizzy185
    @dizzymisslizzy185 Місяць тому +4

    Great video! I am setting a goal to read more in 2025, so I'll definitely be checking out some of these titles! Thank you!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      @@dizzymisslizzy185 Wonderful! Good luck & happy reading 😊

  • @mikeramsay5964
    @mikeramsay5964 Місяць тому +18

    The problem with public domain works is that there are so many crappie versions for sale, polluting professionally published versions. Be aware when ordering from places such as Amazon. Do your research.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +4

      Too true! I got a copy of Deathworld from Amazon and it ended up being huge, more like a coloring book binding. It was not what I expected!

    • @juliemartin6101
      @juliemartin6101 Місяць тому +4

      A good source for books that are in the public do9main is Project Gutenberg - it's on line, so it's available (only) as ebooks. I like them, some people don't.

    • @mikeramsay5964
      @mikeramsay5964 Місяць тому

      @@juliemartin6101 pdf is great for ancient Greek writers.

    • @juanmorales9738
      @juanmorales9738 Місяць тому

      @@JennyFernBookshence a book coming to public domain is not all that it’s cracked up to be, is it? Today it might be easier to find a legitimate copy of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN. FRONT. What about 50 years from now? How about a 100 years from now? Seems by then we’ll be awashed with badly printed copies.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @juanmorales9738 But digital copies are freely available to the public, so I don't think it's a bad thing, myself. Well respected publishers can also print them.

  • @Thusnelda74
    @Thusnelda74 Місяць тому +3

    You totally should read Agatha Christie! (and Dorothy L. Sayers too). The novel you showed is no Poirot- or Marple-story, but nonetheless worth a try.
    Thank you for having an eye on Public Domain Day!

  • @piccalillies
    @piccalillies Місяць тому +1

    Faulkner was a Nobel Laureate; All Quiet was required reading in my NY state h.s.english class as was Faulkner. Robert Graves is a beloved poet.

  • @markwatson7652
    @markwatson7652 Місяць тому +1

    Have read a few of these (Faulkner, Hemingway, Christie, S.S. VanDine). Don't wait until they're in public domain to enjoy them.

  • @geraldinegranger9186
    @geraldinegranger9186 Місяць тому +3

    Great information. So many tempting titles. Happy new year!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@geraldinegranger9186 Happy new year to you as well 😊 ✨️

  • @leorapier9389
    @leorapier9389 Місяць тому +3

    Good presentation. Look forward to future videos.

  • @AmandainGeorgia
    @AmandainGeorgia Місяць тому +1

    Faulkner is maybe the best world builder in American literature, and The Sound and the Fury is a breathtaking piece of that world. It’s maybe not the place to enter Faulkner’s world, but it’s worth whatever road you take to get there. A masterpiece.

  • @Alabamaliberal
    @Alabamaliberal 28 днів тому

    I most wanted to read "Secession in Astropolis" or "Dark Hester" as I'd never heard of either of them, and have already read several of the better known novels like "The Sound and the Fury" or "A Farewell to Arms," but both "Astropolis" and "Hester" are so obscure that my online library doesn't have them..."Hester" was the number 3 best selling book the year it came out, and so that's a little depressing that even a popular book can be almost erased--I thought one of the advantages to being a writer is that your work has longevity, but this list makes me think otherwise.

  • @leodawn5913
    @leodawn5913 Місяць тому

    Oh, I used to see Porgy Bess vinyl albums from the Broadway play all the time in the thrift store in the past and come to think of it. I haven’t seen one for ages. Thanks for making this video! So informative.!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@leodawn5913 Oh how interesting, thanks for sharing!

  • @arekkrolak6320
    @arekkrolak6320 Місяць тому +3

    I actually bought Highwind in Jamaica for my parents as a child, I would like to read it now :)

  • @ba_samsoum
    @ba_samsoum Місяць тому +1

    Hi, new subscriber here, just commeting to say that I love this video, your voice, the way you present, basically everything here is soothing ❤

  • @ann-mariemeyers9978
    @ann-mariemeyers9978 Місяць тому +2

    I had planned on reading "A High Wind in Jamaica" i guess this will be the year to do so.

  • @slickjack2618
    @slickjack2618 Місяць тому +6

    Jenny,
    I admit to being a bit perplexed by your complete lack of familiarity with the "whodunnit" genre of fiction which reached its zenith during the inter-war period.
    One additional title which I believe is now entering the public domain is DODSWORTH, by Sinclair Lewis. I believe Lewis was the first American author to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. His prior works are already in the public domain having been published earlier in the 1920's, including ARROWSMITH and ELMER GANTRY. It has been decades since I've read Sinclair Lewis, but I remember those three as being the best of those I read. (I should probably apologize for putting the titles in all caps. I'm not trying to shout the names out, but don't know how to type them with an underscore.)
    - sj

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      @@slickjack2618 hahaha, my lack of familiarity with whodunnits can easily be explained by my lack of interest in them (at least for my life thus far).
      And thanks for the information on the Sinclair Lewis read. I've read and enjoyed It Can't Happen Here and Babbitt by him. I quite enjoyed Babbitt!

  • @lindachurch4555
    @lindachurch4555 Місяць тому +3

    Faulkner won Pulitzer Prizes in 1955 and 1963 for fiction. A Fable, and The Reivers.

  • @AlexATheEngineer
    @AlexATheEngineer Місяць тому

    clicked because of the title when i saw it in my feed and instantly subscribed after your intro, hello fellow engineer and book lover! Loving this video idea, definitely will check some of these out! If you're able to show the covers a bit longer as you talk about them, I would love that, i tend to put on a video while tidying and hearing your descriptions as you talk about them peak my interest and i would love to have the book cover as a reference on the screen. Happy holidays and happy reading!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@AlexATheEngineer good input! I'll keep that in mind next time :)

  • @greghubbard4714
    @greghubbard4714 Місяць тому

    Thank you for this!

  • @DianeDfictionfan
    @DianeDfictionfan Місяць тому +2

    Thank you for a great highlights rundown! I've added several works to my TBR (and one TB*Re*R), though my TBR is already huge enough. 😉 I'll probably wait for Gutenberg and/or I.Archive to offer multiple free-download options.
    Tbh, my reading prefs DON'T match yours - e.g., every year I check for any newly-PD Christie 😊 - but we can both celebrate the PD concept, and settle into savoring talented wordsmiths of whatever ilk.
    I appreciate your inclusion of the brief author bios, btw.
    Oh, one note: DuBois is French for "of the wood(s)", and sounds like Doo-BWAH. (Same as the OI in "moi"="me" …and in Poirot = Pwah-ROH - or Pwah-ROT, if you see and heed, as even the wonderful actor David Suchet did NOT, what the Belgian-born detective himself explains. 'Hope you don't mind the info; I often *enjoy* "TIL" moments.)
    Best wishes, and happy bookish new year!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@DianeDfictionfan Thank you for the Poirot pronunciation tips! I learned from a commenter in my 2024 public domain video that W.E.B. Du Bois was pronounced "do boys" in that context!

  • @coffemuse
    @coffemuse 12 днів тому

    I absolutely LOVE A High Wind in Jamaica. It's the wierdest book I've ever enjoyed. It's also quite short.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  12 днів тому

      @@coffemuse oooh, what a good endorsement. I'll have to pick it up soon

  • @patriciapendlbury2603
    @patriciapendlbury2603 Місяць тому +3

    The high wind of Jamaica was a movie i saw in my very younger years. I adored it so much!! I had no idea it was a book😮

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      Thanks for sharing, I should check out the movie!

    • @KarenSDR
      @KarenSDR Місяць тому

      I love both the movie and the book ❤

  • @lisatuckett6386
    @lisatuckett6386 Місяць тому +1

    High wind in Jamaica is excellent. Also, anything by Warwick Deeping is simply wonderful, in particular, his short stories.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@lisatuckett6386 Oh good! Thanks for the input. It seems I'll need to read many of the books on this list now with all the recommendations from folks!

  • @DeeDeeCatMom
    @DeeDeeCatMom Місяць тому +4

    Hi, I'm French Canadian :) I think Jolas is with an English J sound (like you said), but the S at the end is silent (like Degas). Toodles!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      @@DeeDeeCatMom Oh! That makes sense. Thank you 😊

  • @Trekkifulshay
    @Trekkifulshay Місяць тому +2

    The Philo Vance novels look interesting. I've read all the Poirot novels so it could be interesting and my library has them.

  • @bluedreamer1941
    @bluedreamer1941 Місяць тому

    Thank you

  • @KierTheScrivener
    @KierTheScrivener Місяць тому

    I love this so much. Ex-Wife sounds intriguing!
    I am not a huge mystery/detective person but I would reccommend And Then There Was None and Murder on The Orient Express.

  • @pmclaughlin4111
    @pmclaughlin4111 Місяць тому +4

    January 22 2025 The Internet Archive will be celebrating Public Domain Day online ...I attended their 2024 Public Domain Day and what was really fun is the song "The Best Things in Life Are Free"
    There are definitely a couple of books I want to read...
    Maltese Falcon has entered the public domain.
    There was a series of movies with William Powell playing Philo Vance...some of those are in the public domain due to lack of copyright.
    Fun Fact: DH Lawrence was also the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover which entered the public domain last year...It holds the record of the longest banned book in the United States...Being officially banned nationwide from 1928 to 1955(US) or 1960(UK) and still being locally challenged/banned into the 21st century...despite now being on Netflix

  • @laurenclark2081
    @laurenclark2081 15 днів тому

    All of these are well-known authors and well-known books. You’ve got some catching up to do to be considered well read I strongly recommend reading Giants in the Earth before you read Peder Victorious.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  15 днів тому

      I appreciate the recommendation of reading Giants in the Earth first. We are all on our own reading journeys and I cannot say I appreciate your wording. I love reading and talking about books, but I am not necessarily on a quest to be "well-read"

  • @hurdygurdyguy1
    @hurdygurdyguy1 Місяць тому

    Depends on what you mean by "free." Public Domain books doesn't necessarily mean free books. That just means any publisher, well actually anybody, can now publish these books without having to pay royalties to anyone. You still have to pay the publisher for the book UNLESS of course it's digital and you download it from Project Gutenberg or the like

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      Yes, I mean in the way that you can freely access a digital copy.
      We still need to pay for the materials and labor of a physical copy, but not the author's labor, I suppose.

  • @lindafletcher1628
    @lindafletcher1628 Місяць тому +1

    Thank you for the informative video..

  • @meesalikeu
    @meesalikeu Місяць тому +1

    thx for the rundown

  • @martakavaliauskaite4566
    @martakavaliauskaite4566 Місяць тому +3

    Thank you i love public domain books my favorite genre is mystery / detective genre and in public domain you can faund a lot of amazing detective books / in youtube amazing audiobook library canal they put audiobooks on youtube from public domain / there are books from biology / religion / eletricity / cosmos / flowers / wildlife / to space adventures and epic fantasy and detective storys / romance / all genres amazing varation of audiobooks /and every day they post more audiobooks

  • @film79
    @film79 Місяць тому +5

    Good catch on the Maltese Falcon. Ive seen several articles listening it as entering the public domain but looks like it did run into 1930. Guess we'll need to wait till next year for the completed book to be public domain.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@film79 I'm still not really sure about it, to be honest, but it seemed iffy enough for me to have some hesitation about it.

  • @SomethingSomewhereJustOnce
    @SomethingSomewhereJustOnce 3 дні тому

    Just a small suggestion that you break the video into chapters with the titles of each book you discuss.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  3 дні тому

      Thanks for the suggestion, but because this is a hobby and I work a full time job, it is a matter of picking what to spend my time on.
      But yes, they are definitely helpful for viewers

  • @beckycaughel7557
    @beckycaughel7557 20 днів тому

    I just saw your channel so you probably have talked about this before but it’s great that these are now in the public domain and are free but how do you go about finding them or reading them? I mean store still isn’t gonna give you a book for free

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  19 днів тому +1

      @@beckycaughel7557 They're available digitally online through Project Gutenberg and Google Play Books. You could read them on a laptop or phone. Librivox also offers audiobooks but that can take some time since they are usually recorded by volunteers.

    • @beckycaughel7557
      @beckycaughel7557 19 днів тому

      @ thank you very much

  • @cr33pycrawlspace
    @cr33pycrawlspace Місяць тому +1

    Spoiler alert. A Farewell to Arms is not all that romantic lol

  • @Dayswalters1
    @Dayswalters1 Місяць тому

    Read Agatha Christie❤

  • @kipolem53
    @kipolem53 Місяць тому +2

    The Bishop Murder Case sounds like it was maybe subconsciously inspiration for a book series by Jasper Fforde.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@kipolem53 oh, very interesting!

    • @kipolem53
      @kipolem53 Місяць тому

      @@JennyFernBooks Yeah it's called the Nursery Crime series. Also someone in a creative writing class I took at uni put nursery rhyme references in her stories.

  • @lilliansantiago3533
    @lilliansantiago3533 Місяць тому

    Perhaps in light of the fact you don;t know about WW1, you might want to read the books mentioned.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@lilliansantiago3533 hm, interesting way to say that, but yeah I'm not opposed in general to reading WWI books and generally I did appreciate learning about WWI in my schooling.

  • @lindaabraham8715
    @lindaabraham8715 Місяць тому +2

    I would like to know if books by Stephan Zweig (d. 1942) are in the public domain, including English translations..

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      I am having a hard time finding out about the English translation publication dates, but it looks like Buchmendel would be available in German but not in English. I found a few English translated works from 1927, but not 1929. Let me know if you find anything!

  • @lchig0
    @lchig0 Місяць тому

    Ernest Hemingway looks interesting.

  • @robertawalsh2995
    @robertawalsh2995 Місяць тому +1

    I had a job that required me to know what was under copyright and what was in the public domain. It's funny to me that public domain is something other people know and care about now. It's also sort of disturbing that you've never heard of so many classic books, much less read them.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +1

      Lol. Disturbing is an interesting choice of words.

  • @lisadavis9535
    @lisadavis9535 Місяць тому +2

    I am NOT a fan of Steinbeck, not because he isn't a good writer, but because he kills all his characters. They are all tragedies!

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому

      @@lisadavis9535 Oh, interesting take! I love the way he describes a scene, particularly nature.
      But, yes, even Cannery Row has death.

    • @ChristChickAutistic
      @ChristChickAutistic Місяць тому

      I remember Iread The Red Pony as a kid, so sad.

    • @Bakhita711
      @Bakhita711 Місяць тому

      If you ever miss California, read Steinbeck. I've never read anyone else who put you right there, enabling you to smell the earth and feel the heat of the sun.

  • @jensenhealey907efi
    @jensenhealey907efi Місяць тому +16

    I am not sure how you can consider yourself a literary enthusiast and state that you have never heard of Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. There were even very well know TV and movie versions of these stories. The Hercule Poirot episodes on PBS staring David Suchet are real treasures. The Miss Marple TV shows and movies staring such renowned actresses such as Geraldine McEwan, Margaret Rutherford, and Angela Lansbury are also a good way to become familiar with this character.

    • @JennyFernBooks
      @JennyFernBooks  Місяць тому +17

      @@jensenhealey907efi The explanation is fairly simple. I simply haven't had interest in that arena and have not had exposure.
      No need to be rude about it.

    • @patriciapendlbury2603
      @patriciapendlbury2603 Місяць тому +5

      Some people don't watch TV and don't know alot of these subjects. Also if you don't know alot of literary people or arent exposed to alot of different booktubers. I've only heard of miss Marple in 2024 and I'm 67 and have been a avid 6:26 reader since 2nd grade! I have mostly turned to nonfiction in my mid 50's

    • @robertawalsh2995
      @robertawalsh2995 Місяць тому +1

      For some people, "Literary enthusiast" means a deep dive into a few favorite books or one series. I asked someone how she had time to read a few favorite books over and over again and she told me that they were the only books she reads.

  • @jakenoises
    @jakenoises Місяць тому

    and in 14 hours these will all be released by "penguin classics and others lol jk but no jk/