# Liseur

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://github.com/chmouel/liseur/releases/latest">
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/chmouel/liseur?style=flat-square&color=10b981" alt="Latest Release">
  </a>
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/chmouel/liseur/total?style=flat-square&color=3b82f6&logo=github" alt="Total Downloads">
  <a href="https://github.com/chmouel/liseur/blob/main/LICENSE">
    <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/license/chmouel/liseur?style=flat-square&color=3b82f6" alt="License">
  </a>
</p>


<p align="center">
  <picture>
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="docs/banner-dark.png">
    <img src="docs/banner-light.png" alt="A woman reading on a couch under a lamp" width="640">
  </picture>
</p>

An open-source ebook reader for Android, and a client for [calibre-web](https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web), [Komga](https://komga.org), [BookOrbit](https://bookorbit.app), [liseur-sync](https://github.com/chmouel/liseur-sync) and any [OPDS](https://specs.opds.io/opds-1.2) catalog: EPUBs on your phone or in sync with book server.

<table>
  <tr>
    <td width="33%"><img src="docs/screenshots/01-library.png" alt="Library"></td>
    <td width="33%"><img src="docs/screenshots/02-reading.png" alt="Reading"></td>
    <td width="33%"><img src="docs/screenshots/24-read-aloud.png" alt="Read aloud"></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td align="center"><sub>The shelf, sorted by what you are currently reading.</sub></td>
    <td align="center"><sub>Distraction-free page with notes and bookmarks.</sub></td>
    <td align="center"><sub>Read aloud with device voices or your own speech server.</sub></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><img src="docs/screenshots/14-series-detail.png" alt="One series"></td>
    <td><img src="docs/screenshots/25-companion-profile.png" alt="Reading companion character profile with source passages"></td>
    <td><img src="docs/screenshots/26-codex-relationships.png" alt="Companion map of character relationships across chapters"></td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td align="center"><sub>Reading order, progress, and which volumes are missing.</sub></td>
    <td align="center"><sub>Character profiles grounded in earlier passages.</sub></td>
    <td align="center"><sub>See which characters appear together across chapters.</sub></td>
  </tr>
</table>

<sub><a href="docs/SCREENSHOTS.md">More screenshots</a> here</sub>

## About Liseur

Liseur renders EPUBs with the Readium engine, in open typefaces (Literata,
Vollkorn, Atkinson Hyperlegible, Inter) or whatever the publisher shipped.
Four reading themes: Light, Sepia, Dark, OLED Black. Margins, line spacing,
brightness, and page-turn vs. continuous-scroll are adjustable per book or
library-wide. Auto-scroll runs at a set pace and continues across chapter
boundaries, with on-page controls to pause it, change the speed or stop.

A footer shows the page you are on, how much of the chapter is left, and
time remaining. Highlights, margin notes,
bookmarks, and dictionary lookups are inline; book-level notes live in the
notebook. Marking a passage offers one colour, and you tick which of
the six you want along with the colour new marks use. Footnotes open as a
card over the page rather than sending you to the back of the book. A
selected passage can be translated by Android's own translator on the
phone, or by a server you add, and from there the page itself can be
translated sentence by sentence as you read.

The reading companion answers questions about characters and events using
the passages before the selected text. Character profiles show their source
passages, and optional background recaps summarize finished chapters. Even
without a server, the companion builds a searchable index of people, places
and groups on your device, and shows which names appear together in earlier
chapters. With a server chosen, its Story tab shows the earlier chapters'
recaps, recaps the ones missing, and writes a summary of the story so far, and
character pages show what those recaps already say. Answers come from a
server you configure; the index runs on your phone.

The library is one shelf whatever the source: local folders, calibre-web,
Komga, BookOrbit, liseur-sync, or any OPDS catalog. Series are grouped into stacks tracking
reading order, progress, and missing volumes. "Download all books" fills the
shelf from a connected server in one go. An empty library also offers
free books from [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org): browse it
by language and shelf, and download the books you want before there is
anything to connect to.

Reading position syncs across devices through [calibre-web](https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web), [Komga](https://komga.org/),
[BookOrbit](https://bookorbit.app) or [liseur-sync](https://github.com/chmouel/liseur-sync),
down to the exact sentence on the last three. BookOrbit positions travel as EPUB CFIs.
A Custom connection can be an [OPDS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Publication_Distribution_System) address, a kosync address, or both, so a plain catalog and a sync server that know nothing about each other still add up to a library that follows you. What each server can and cannot do is in [`docs/SERVER_CAPABILITIES.md`](docs/SERVER_CAPABILITIES.md).

With liseur-sync you get extras, like a per-device settings backup, and better insights of your reading progress across devices.

Two home-screen widgets show the current book cover or a paged shelf of your
library covers. Tap a cover to read. Neither needs configuration.

Liseur has no ads or account, and its own code has no trackers or analytics.
It connects to services you choose for book sync, speech, translation and the
reading companion. Browsing Project Gutenberg and using an online dictionary
also makes network requests. See the
[privacy policy](https://chmouel.github.io/liseur/PRIVACY) for details.

## Install

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chmouel.liseur">
    <img alt="Get it on Google Play" src="https://appure.io/badges/playstore/en.svg" height="80" width="180" />
  </a>
  <a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.chmouel.liseur/">
    <img src="https://f-droid.org/badge/get-it-on.png" alt="Get it on F-Droid" height="80" />
  </a>
  <a href="https://github.com/chmouel/liseur/releases">
    <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kunzisoft/Github-badge/main/get-it-on-github.png"
         alt="Get it on GitHub" height="80" />
  </a>
</p>

## Related Projects

- [liseur-sync](https://github.com/chmouel/liseur-sync): Lightweight self-hosted library and sync server. Watched folders, browse, download, positions and reading stats. This will give you the best "kindle/just work" experience compared to the other sync servers.
- ~[liseur-desktop](https://github.com/chmouel/liseur-desktop): Desktop version of Liseur (abandoned).~

## Development

See [DEVELOPER.md](DEVELOPER.md) for build instructions and architecture notes,
and [`docs/SERVER_CAPABILITIES.md`](docs/SERVER_CAPABILITIES.md) for what each
server exposes, what Liseur implements against it, and why the gaps remain.

## What's in a name?

**Liseur** ([li.zœʁ], *lee-ZUR*) is the French word for an avid reader or book lover. It sounds dignified, like the English word *leisure*.

Another inspiration was a painting by [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Auguste_Renoir) portraying [Claude Monet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet) as "Le Liseur":

<p align="center">
  <picture>
    <img width="30%" height="30%" alt="image" align="center" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a412231-9d5d-4131-8afd-b1a1f6da2a90" />
  </picture>
</p>

## Video 

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csXAmDJxxok">
    <img src="docs/video-thumbnail.jpg" alt="Liseur: free and open source, no ads, no account. Watch the video on YouTube" width="640">
  </a>
  <br>
  <sub><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csXAmDJxxok">Watch the 30-second tour on YouTube</a></sub>
</p>

## Author

[![Sponsor](https://img.shields.io/badge/Sponsor-❤️-ff69b4?style=for-the-badge&logo=github)](https://github.com/sponsors/chmouel)

### Chmouel Boudjnah

- Fediverse - <[@chmouel@chmouel.com](https://fosstodon.org/@chmouel)>
- Twitter - <[@chmouel](https://twitter.com/chmouel)>
- Blog  - <[https://blog.chmouel.com](https://blog.chmouel.com)>

## Licence

[MIT](LICENSE). Bundled fonts are under the SIL Open Font License.