A Lending Library In Your Mailbox

Problem: You spend too much on books and don't have time to go to the library.

Solution: Rent classics or new releases from sites like Paperspine.com. Much like Netflix, the online movie-rental service, Paperspine sends books to your mailbox for a fee. Monthly plans start at $14.95 for up to three books at a time, with free two-way shipping, no late fees and an unlimited rotation of copies. The site stocks more than 200,000 fiction and nonfiction titles, searchable by genre or categories such as "bestsellers" and "at the movies." Members can also purchase over 400,000 unused titles at discounts of up to 50%; nonmembers pay a yearly fee of $19.95 to get the reduced book-purchasing rates. Bookswim.com, another rental service, lets monthly subscribers keep the books they like, at second-hand prices. The site focuses on recently released best-selling paperbacks and hardcovers. Their starter rental plan, for $19.98 a month, delivers three books at a time with no shipping or late fees. Students also can rent textbooks at pay-per-book semester rates (delivered through a third party, Chegg.com).Booksfree.com rents paperbacks and audiobooks in CD or MP3 formats, with plans starting at $10.99 a month. Audible.com, owned by Amazon.com, has more than 60,000 audiobooks, podcasts and audible magazines, which can be downloaded to most digital players or streamed to a computer.