Three ways to get pdfs:
To read pdfs, use Astro file manager to find sdcard/Download, which is where they should be. Then click on the one you want to read. It gives me the options of using Kindle or a built-in pdf reader. I like Kindle better, so I've chosen it as the default (and I haven't even tried a book yet).
To read Google books with text-to-speech, you need to go to Settings/Accessibility, and then turn on "Talkback" by clicking it and then clicking the "OFF" button in the upper right (which makes it go "ON"). Now everything talks, but Google books do too. It seems you have to reverse this process if you want it to shut up. It helped to make an icon for Settings in my desktop. The Kindle reader does not talk.
To read pdfs out loud, I spent a few dollars on ezpdf. With the configuration, I changed the default directory to Download, which is where I had all my pdfs. To get it to work, I had to turn on Talkback, as in the last paragraph. (More soon.)