Open the page and read EPUB, PDF, TXT, Markdown, MOBI, and more — while books and notes stay in your own browser.
Why this exists
This started as a private problem. My shelves were full of books I never finished. EPUBs, PDFs, Word files, TXT drafts, Markdown documents, and old Kindle-family files were scattered across drives, cloud folders, and chat history. Just finding the book I wanted to read tonight was usually enough to put me off entirely.
I tried plenty of reading apps. Some locked me into their own bookstore — if a title wasn't there, I couldn't read it. Some paywalled note exports. Some opened with three notifications and a splash ad. Some turned "minutes read" into a KPI and made reading feel like a job. And most of them treated cloud sync as mandatory — which I was never quite comfortable with. Half-finished books and scribbled notes don't really belong on someone else's server.
So I built this one.
No bookstore. No account. No cloud. No notifications. No ads. Open the page, drop in your own book, and read. Highlight, write a note, add a bookmark, close the tab, come back tomorrow. Your books and notes sit quietly in your own browser; after the offline cache is ready, TingRead can reopen even without a connection.
That's TingRead.
What we believe
Simplicity is a form of respect. A reading tool shouldn't put accounts, bookstores, or sync setup before the book. Open it and read; if you want AI later, bring your own key then.
Local first. Your books, your highlights, every note, every bookmark, and your API key — by default, all of it stays in your browser. TingRead doesn't have a server holding any of this. Not because we're noble, but because none of it really belongs anywhere else.
Summoned, not pushed. No popups, no red dots, no "you're 13 minutes short of your daily reading goal." The features are here when you want them. Reading is supposed to be a quiet, self-directed thing.
An eastern kind of quiet. The palette is drawn from xuan paper, pine-soot ink, and cinnabar; the home page rests under faint mountains, a bamboo grove, and a small pavilion in the rain, with a Song-dynasty poem on the side. We weren't trying to make a "Chinese-themed skin." We were trying to build a place where someone could actually slow down.
Restraint is the luxury. We'd rather not ship a feature than ship a cheap one. Every time we want to add something new, we ask: for someone who just wants to finish a book in peace — does this help, or does this get in the way?
What TingRead is
TingRead is a browser-based e-book reader. Nothing to install — just open tingread.cn and start reading.
It now supports EPUB, PDF, Word (DOCX), TXT, Markdown, HTML, FB2, RTF, MOBI, AZW, AZW3, and PRC, covering most personal libraries, documents, and older e-book files people already have. Books, notes, bookmarks, and reading positions are stored in your browser's local site storage, never uploaded to TingRead's servers.
- Shelf. Search, pinning, local-copy deletion, unfinished/finished tabs, share posters, daily quotes, and built-in Chinese and English manuals.
- Reading. Table of contents, full-text search, bookmarks, highlights, notes, browser read-aloud, single/double page layouts, font and theme presets, Zen fullscreen, keyboard, wheel, touch swipe, and mobile/tablet adaptation.
- Offline. Books, notes, bookmarks, progress, and API keys stay in the current browser; once offline caching is ready, TingRead and the local library can reopen on a flight or without network access.
- AI. The companion uses your own key, supports selected-text questions, full-book context warmup, and current-page text repair for mojibake or obvious typos. Related text goes only to the AI service you configure, not through TingRead.
It's made for people who want to step out of the feed and finish a book from the beginning, slowly.
The Pavilion Builder
TingRead is designed and developed by TimZhang (TimZhang踢木桩) as a one-person independent project.
No team, no funding, no KPIs — this pavilion was built because I wanted to finish the books I hadn't finished. If it helps you do the same, that's the best version of what it can be.
If you have something to say, write to timzhangherenow@gmail.com. Feature requests, bugs, a sentence you loved from a book you just finished — all welcome.
What we don't do
No built-in bookstore. No book sales. TingRead only reads books you already have.
No mandatory account. You don't need to sign up to finish a book.
No reading data uploaded. We don't know what you're reading, and we don't plan to. Unless you actively call your configured AI service, book content does not leave the local browser.
No ads. No push notifications. No "reading streaks" gamification.
No hosted official API key. AI companion features currently use your own key, which is stored long-term in your browser only.
No impersonation. The AI companion is a fictional character. It doesn't pretend to be any historical figure or real author.
