If you’ve never heard of Project Gutenberg, you’re missing out on some Unadulterated Awesome™.

It’s a place where you can find books in the public domain, including many of the great classics such as Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (pictured above). You can even find works by Austen, Lawrence, Twain, the other Brontë sisters, Wells, and many more.

FinePrint is software which allows you to print multiple pages on a single sheet of paper. It’s not free, but there’s a fully-functional free trial that doesn’t expire—it only adds a small footer.

Personal laser printers offer sharper lines than inkjets, meaning smaller font sizes are easier to read, and they tend to print much faster. (My Brother wireless printer shot out the entire novel pictured above—50 pages—in under two minutes.)

The wonders of binder clips should be self-explanatory. But just in case: No unholy mess of papers. (Also good for keeping snack bags closed.)

Now I can curl up with a novel and highlight sections and jot notes in the margin without any residual guilt for mangling a perfectly good (bound) book (which may not be mine in the first place).

Here are a couple helpful tips if you plan on going this route:

• Whenever possible, choose the HTML version of a book, and then copy/paste it into a word processing program so you can format the font/margin sizes, remove space between paragraphs, and add page numbers. (12 pt Times New Roman/.5” margins all around usually works best for me.)
• Delete everything that isn’t part of the novel itself—it’ll save you about 5-10 pages. Most of it is found at the very beginning and very end of the novel.
• If you use heavy weight/darker paper, double-sided printing will save more trees, but if you wish to take notes, then single-sided is best.
• Print a single test sheet to make sure everything is as you like it. Much easier than printing 50 sheets and discovering the font’s too small for your pleasure.