Getting books without buying from a store or requesting from a library?

Is there any way to get some books without having to go to a library? I know this might sound silly and normally I have no issue going to a library… But I will need specific books for some very personal topics. My librarian is actually a personal friend and is a bit nosy by nature, so I'm really afraid to start requesting books of such a nature (I know I'd get questions, odd looks, and probably talked about). I know I could buy books from various places… BUT I would need many and I do NOT want to pay tons and tons of money. Plus, some of the books may not even turn out to be what I hoped, so I may not even use them. I would mainly be wanting the books to look through and then if there's anything helpful or beneficial, I could jot down some notes and move on.

I know I can look up information online and I have, but I really think some books will help too as they may provide different (and even better) assistance. Is there a way I could "read" entire books online for free - or would all of them cost money? I have heard of Kindles before but, I know the device obviously costs money. I also know I may not be able to find All the books in some cases for my device if I had one.

And in case anyone needs to know, the books are to help someone close to me. They would be on topics such as addiction and stuff. I would rather keep stuff like this private, which is why I'm scared to go in to my local library for them.
Added (1). And if going to the library would turn out to be the best way for me to go, how can I avoid feeling judged and kind of dodge the nosy/probing questions about what I'm getting?
Added (2). Also, I want to keep it legal obviously. I don't want to "steal" books from unreliable/bad websites. I just want to temporarily have the books long enough for me to look them over and possibly write some notes. That's why I don't want to actually buy them. It'd be super expensive and I only need them for a little while.

Read more: Getting books without buying from a store or requesting from a library?