About 17 minutes
It Was the Road to Jericho — Text and Context
Fantasy Juvenile Worlds
3,732 recorded words. Selected by the catalog's stored reading-time estimate.
View Gutenberg source #40462
Explore this collection
Start with a reading choice
Three of the shortest recorded reading commitments in this catalog. Times are estimates, not quality ratings.
About 19 minutes
The Raven Illustrated — A Reader’s Guide
Fantasy Juvenile Worlds
4,241 recorded words. Selected by the catalog's stored reading-time estimate.
View Gutenberg source #45484About 19 minutes
How Rifleman Brown Came to Valhalla — Background and Themes
Fantasy Juvenile Worlds
4,269 recorded words. Selected by the catalog's stored reading-time estimate.
View Gutenberg source #53449Search the excerpts stored with this catalog
90 of 90 catalog books have a stored excerpt with a Gutenberg source record. Search covers these excerpts only, up to 6,000 characters per book. A missing match does not mean the phrase is absent from the full work.
Read a catalog excerpt example: The Gold Horns — Context and Discussion
Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, UK, for kindly supplying the images from which this transcription was made. TRANSLATED BY GEORGE BORROW _from the Danish of_ ADAM GOTTLOB OEHLENSCHLÄGER EDITED _with an Introduction by_ EDMUND GOSSE, C.B. LONDON: PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION 1913 _Copyright in the United States of America_ _by Houghton_, _Mifflin & Co. for Clement Shorter_. Ear…
The search controls load when this section is ready.
Compare two books and their available excerpts
| Book | Recorded words | Estimated minutes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| It Was the Road to Jericho — Text and Context | 3,732 | 17 | Gutenberg #40462 |
| The Raven Illustrated — A Reader’s Guide | 4,241 | 19 | Gutenberg #45484 |
| How Rifleman Brown Came to Valhalla — Background and Themes | 4,269 | 19 | Gutenberg #53449 |
How these choices and excerpts are prepared
Choices use stored catalog measurements. Estimates vary with reading speed. A shared category is a catalog label, not a claim that two books have the same argument or literary quality.
Search reads excerpt text stored with this catalog and links to its associated Gutenberg record. The connection is stored in the site database; this tool does not recheck that every excerpt is word-for-word identical to that external record. Excerpt search does not cover every chapter and does not verify historical publication dates.
Catalog snapshot checked: 2026-09-26. Coverage: 90 public books, 90 available source excerpts.
Do more with this book catalog
This library holds 90 public-domain texts, arranged into four categories: Adventure Picaresque Fiction, Fantasy Juvenile Worlds, Science Fiction Utopias, and Historical Psychological Social Fiction. Most works are short, with a median length of about 15,500 words and a typical reading time of 68 minutes.
Use the tools below to find a text that fits your interests, compare works side by side, or get a realistic estimate of the time a book will take to read. Each tool draws on the catalog's own data, so you can explore with confidence.
90
books in this catalog
4
catalog categories
90
books with reading-time data
Made for this collection
Ways the catalog data becomes useful
Book Finder
Filter the catalog by category, length, reading time, or subject to see which works match your preferences. Pick from 90 titles across four genres, from quick reads to longer epics.
Compare Books
Put two or more titles side by side to compare word counts, reading minutes, sentence complexity, and other details. Useful for choosing between similar works or planning a reading list.
Reading Time Estimator
Get an honest estimate of how long a title will take to read, based on its word count and typical reading speed. See whether a work fits into a short break or a longer session.
Finding Your Next Read in the AUACY Collection
With ninety public-domain titles spread across four categories, the AUACY library can feel both inviting and overwhelming. The three working tools on this page—Book Finder, Compare Books, and Reading Tracker—are designed to help you choose, compare, and plan your reading, but they serve different purposes and are most effective when used in sequence.
Consider a volume like A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson (1786) — Context and Discussion. Its 12,961 words place it in the short range, and its two text sections suggest a compact structure. The Finder can surface such works based on your preferred length or category, but deciding between two similar options often requires a closer look.
Start with the Finder to Narrow the Field
The Book Finder is your first stop when you have a general sense of what you want—perhaps a category like Adventure Picaresque Fiction, or a commitment level such as a quick read under an hour. You can also filter by chapter rhythm, sentence flow, or subjects like 'Poetry' or 'World War, 1914-1918 -- Poetry.' The tool is forgiving: leaving a criterion at 'no preference' does not penalize a book, so you can experiment without worry.
For instance, if you know you want something brief and poetic, setting the length to 'short' and the estimated reading time to 'quick' will immediately reduce the field to a manageable set. The Finder’s strength is in elimination, not final selection.
Use Compare to Decide Between Finalists
Once you have two or three candidates, the Compare tool lets you place them side by side. It displays word count, estimated reading time, text sections, sentence flow, chapter rhythm, subjects, and page information when available. These are descriptive metrics relative to this catalog—they do not rank quality, but they reveal practical differences in reading commitment.
Suppose you are torn between a 15,000-word work with ten sections and a 20,000-word work with only two sections. The first may feel more episodic, while the second might be a continuous narrative. Compare helps you see that the shorter book could actually require more pauses if you prefer to stop at section breaks.
Plan Your Progress with the Tracker
After you have chosen, the Reading Tracker turns the book’s word count into a page-based plan. It estimates total pages using a default of 250 words per page, which you can adjust to match your edition. Set a daily page goal—the interface suggests 20—and the tracker calculates how many days you need and how much time remains, based on the book’s estimated reading minutes.
A Workflow That Fits the Catalog
A practical approach is to start with the Finder using one or two firm criteria, such as category and a maximum reading time. Then use Compare to distinguish between the remaining titles by examining their section counts or sentence flow. Finally, load the chosen book into the Tracker to set a realistic pace. This sequence moves from broad filtering to close comparison to concrete planning, and each tool builds on the last.