Looking for a solution to manage and access the directory on my NAS that is full of ebooks. Optimally I want to be able to web reader them but also automagically send it to the email that sends it to my kindle. And e-book wise, the majority of mine are epub/mobi that I got from various kickstarters or humble bundles. But I also have some RPG books (so PDF with a LOT of pictures) and manga (PDF or CBR).
Did some research and checked the various reference lists. Mostly narrowed it down to
- Weird-ass Calibre running in Kasm and accessed through a god awful web UI: This is actually what I used for the past year or two because there was a solution that was fairly plug and play with unraid. I… would rather never do this again
- “Calibre Web” https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web. This seems to be what I actually want (an actual web interface to Calibre!) but it looks like the lead dev lost their shit with obnoxious demands from users. And while I appreciate they are still supporting it, “I am going to ignore the issues unless I feel like it” seems like a good way to get a bunch of unacknowledged CVEs…
- Kavita https://www.kavitareader.com. Only found out about this today but it looks clean and efficient (plex-like). REALLY not a fan of the subscription model already being there but I also don’t want any of those features.
Thoughts? There anything better I am missing because none of these look all that great?
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FWIW, I was also looking for an ebook server solution. I looked at Calibre/Calibre-web and did not at all like how that worked and how Calibre-web was dependent on the Calibre library, and I hated how janky Calibre was as a docker container.
I settled on Audiobookshelf. I already had that up and running for my audiobooks, and they’ve been adding and improving ebook support, and I’ve been very happy with Audiobookshelf for both ebooks and audiobooks.
I didn’t care for Kavita because of the folder structure it required for ebooks. I may have been biased against Kavita’s folder requirements because I already had Audiobookshelf up and running.
For Audiobookshelf, the structure is:
Author > Series Directory (if applicable) > Book Title (directory) > Book fileI use audiobookshelf and it’s amazing. So polished and just works.
The epub reader needs work imo, however it’s more than usable and its what I use myself. Once the reader gets a few qol updates I’ll always recommend it over Cal-web or kavita.
I use Kavita and I’m really happy with it. I understand your reservations about the subscription, but I’m not subscribed to the premium features because I don’t need them either.
The PDF reader on it is okay, I think. I really prefer reading PDF files. I usually convert my PDF comics to cbz. But yeah, I like Kavita because it’s easy and convenient.
Sorry, I’m going to hijack this a bit.
Calibre on Windows has a great plugin called de-drm to help liberate your purchases from Amazon. Is there a way to use the plugin on the web version? Alternatively, is there an alternative software that allows that? Currently, I have to first use my desktop version, then upload the book to my server.
I had the same question awhile back and found no alternative to Calibre with the de-drm (I’m on macOS). So I do the same. Download my ebooks from amazon, de-drm with calibre and upload to my server.
That is what I was afraid of. I have no coding skill at all, but would it be difficult to adapt the plugin to a standalone docker container? Just upload, and it automatically saves to your library of choice.
Yeah this unfortunately doesn’t exist the way I’d like it either. I just simply won’t use an ebook reader if it’s just running in the browser. It really needs a dedicated app. There were two awesome ebook readers, one called marvin3, the other I don’t know the name. They both kinda stopped dead end, and since they were unfortunately closed source, even if the community wanted to, we can’t just pick up where the author abandoned the work. one of my dreams is to make a completely floss ebook ecosystem. A central collection/library that can serve to however many clients. A client that’s a full application for ios and android, as well as computers/macs. Also a client for appletv and other tv ecosystems so you can just lay on your couch or on your bed and read without having to actually hold the thing in your hand. Eating popcorn while reading a spy thriller the likes of john lecarre and you will be converted. All of which are as featureful and customizable as marvin. I’d rather not do it myself but it’s just kinda one of those things that really needs to be done!
I’d really love to see the client app have customizable skins/chrome. you could have an elegant woody, a futuristic white tablet, an aged leather bound tome. Or just no theme at all. You could customize the context menu for when you highlight a phrase or a word. Want different actions available on longpress, go for it.
I have written so many pages of features and ideation but haven’t even come up with a name, let a lone started any coding whatsoever 😅
Of course interop would be a central concern. Serve you library to any client that accepts it’s standard api. Add a plugin to the server so it works on whatever client you like! Fully open source so if the project is abandoned, it can be forked an given new life.
…Yeah I really have dreamt about something like this for a looooong time
How many are you talking about? I haven’t felt the need for anything like that so far but I don’t have a ton of ebooks at the moment.
Converting epub to PDF is fairly easy (I think pandoc can do it, and calibre definitely can) but the other way is harder. Same situation with search indexing (epub easy, PDF harder).
Can you just remote mount your NAS and use calibre or whatever locally? Or just make local copies of anything you plan to read?
I have really enjoyed Kavita. There are a few things that are still a little rough around the edges, but it is a project with a lot of potential.
I use calibre-web, but I host it accessible only to my home network, so I’m less concerned about unacknowledged CVEs. I do find that the upload feature is decent, but I miss the calibre plugins. I find my workflow is to use calibre on a laptop as the way I write the database and use calibre-web as a way to browse and read it.
I switched from Calibre to Ubooquity.
It seems to handle all files types, with an easy setup and nice interface.
There is a default comics section that you can use for your cbr and pdf files.
I use Calibre and its web server locally. Works great.
I use Ubooquity and Komga, both mainly for the OPDS service which I access on various devices.
Ubooquity is good for basic book and file serving, but does support graphics. Komga is very much graphic focussed and is very good at it.
