I don’t know how I never discovered this service before now, but better late than never. Booksfree is a Netflix-like service for paperback books and audiobooks. For a flat monthly fee, you can get any of their titles shipped to you (free shipping). Whenever you’re done, ship it back.

At $11/mo for the paperback book plan, I think you would need to read 2-3 books per month for it to pay off. The audiobook plans are more pricey and the any format you want plan tops out at $30.49/mo.

As my reading sources have shifted to the Net, I probably wouldn’t break even – I think I’ll stick to the local library for now.