Book Finder
Filter by category, length, reading time, or subject to find books that match your interests. The finder helps you narrow down the catalog based on what you're in the mood for.
Do more with this book catalog
The BEQRA Public Domain Literature Library offers a curated collection of public-domain books, with tools to help you find your next read, compare editions, and understand reading times. Explore works across four categories: Historical Social Novels, Wandering Heroes Classic Adventures, Fantasy Juvenile Worlds, and Time Travel Speculative Futures.
Whether you prefer a quick read or a marathon, the library's 91 titles provide a range of lengths and themes. Use the tools below to discover books based on your preferences, see how different editions vary, or estimate how long it will take to finish a book.
91
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
91
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Compare Editions
See how different editions of a work differ in word count, reading time, and structure. Use this to choose an edition that fits your available time or reading style.
Reading Time
Estimate how long it will take to read a book based on its word count and average reading speed. The estimates are based on median reading times for each book.
Choosing, Comparing, and Tracking Your Reading
The BEQRA library holds 91 public-domain novels, and most of them ask for a real commitment of time. The median book runs about 86,000 words, which at a typical pace means roughly 377 minutes of reading. Before you open a title, it helps to know what kind of commitment you are signing up for. The three tools on this page—Book Finder, Compare Books, and Reading Tracker—work together to help you choose well, see how books differ, and plan a sustainable pace. None of them rates literary quality; they simply make the catalog's practical dimensions visible.
Start with Book Finder
Book Finder is the place to begin when you have a vague sense of what you want but no specific title in mind. You can filter by category, word-count length, estimated reading time, chapter rhythm, sentence flow, or subject. The catalog is not evenly distributed across these dimensions: Historical Social Novels alone account for 55 of the 91 books, while the other three categories hold 12 each. If you are in the mood for a wandering hero or a speculative future, you will have a smaller but still meaningful set to choose from.
The finder also lets you express a preference for popular or hidden-gem titles. A no-preference choice does not penalize any book, so you can leave that option alone if you simply want to see everything. The tool is designed to narrow, not to judge. Once you have two or three candidates, the next step is to see how they actually compare.
Refine with Compare Books
Compare Books takes two or three selected titles and lines up their measurable features: word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, subjects, and page information when available. These metrics are descriptive, not evaluative. A book with long sentences is not better or worse than one with short ones; it simply asks for a different kind of attention. Seeing the numbers side by side can help you decide whether you want a dense, slow-moving read or a lighter, quicker one.
For instance, At Sunwich Port, Part 5. Contents: Chapters 21-25 — Reading Companion (id 240) is a short installment of about 15,000 words, while something like Clarissa Harlowe, Volume 7 runs over 114,000 words. The comparison tool makes that gap obvious before you commit. It also shows how many text sections each book is divided into, which can matter if you like to pause at natural breaks.
Plan with Reading Tracker
Once you have chosen a book, Reading Tracker helps you turn that choice into a realistic plan. It records progress in pages, not minutes or sections. You set a current page, a total page count, and a daily page goal. If the catalog does not provide a fixed page count, the tracker estimates one 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.
The tracker then calculates your estimated remaining time and finish date based on your daily goal. Progress is stored in your browser's localStorage, so no account is needed. The default daily goal is 20 pages, but you can adjust it to match your schedule. This is a practical tool for making steady progress through longer works.
Using the Tools Together
The three tools are most powerful when used in sequence. Start with Book Finder to generate a shortlist, use Compare Books to see which of those titles fits your available time and preferred reading style, then open Reading Tracker to set a pace. For example, you might filter by Historical Social Novels and a medium length, compare two candidates, and then track your progress through the one you choose. The tools are designed to be flexible, so you can also jump straight to Compare if you already have titles in mind, or use the Tracker alone for a book you are already reading. There is no single correct workflow—only the one that helps you read more of this remarkable collection.