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Showing posts with label Classics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classics. Show all posts

Friday, July 5, 2013

Bargain Book Roundup

Sony has a new coupon code this week, 30JULY13, good for 30% off eligible titles through Monday.

Kobo's Independence Day Sale runs thru July 7th, with titles up to 70% off.

There are two new ebook bundles available this month. StoryBundle has a Kevin J. Anderson title in theirs and if you pay $10 or more, you get two extras (Frank Herbert and Gregory Benford); minimum price for the first 6 is $3. I'll probably get this bundle, as I have read every author included, but only have one of the novels in the bundle (although I do have David Farland's short story with the same name as the novel and the audiobook of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's novel). Humble Bundle has their second ebook bundle available and theirs works a bit differently: pay anything you want, but you have to beat the "average" at the time you buy in order to unlock the two bonus books. They are also known for adding more titles later in the month, but also the longer you wait, the higher that average tends to go (it's currently $9.43). I'll be skipping this one, since I already own all the books in the main bundle.

Only Forever ($0.21 Kindle), by Linda Lael Miller [Harlequin HQN]
Book Description
As far as Vanessa Lawrence is concerned, jocks are bad news. Once married to one of baseball's superstars, she's coped with betrayal, divorce and the tabloids. She's worked hard to establish her career, and now her exhusband's tell-all autobiography threatens to destroy everything she's achieved.

When ex-football hero Nick DeAngelo takes to the playing field that was once her heart, Vanessa's not about to let another sports-crazed womanizer ruin her life. But Nick's not prepared to let Vanessa get away. Instead, he tackles her stubborn pride, her obnoxious ex and the gossip columns head-on. Because the day he saw Vanessa, he knew he'd found his destiny….

Look for more captivating titles from #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller! Big Sky River is available now from Harlequin HQN. And don't miss The Man from Stone Creek!

Rum Punch Regrets ($0.99 Kindle), the second in the Abby George series by Anne Kemp [Premier Digital Publishing]
Book Description
In just a few short weeks, thirty something Abby George has endured the death of her mother, was dumped by her fiancé, and got laid off from her job.

Stunned and seeking a shoulder to cry on, she turns to her perfect older sister, Leigh. But instead of comfort, Abby receives a surprise: Leigh needs her in the Caribbean to help with some mysterious personal business.

While assisting in the sale and repair of a bed-and-breakfast, Abby uncovers a few huge family secrets as she juggles an unexpected roommate, quirky locals, and nasty centipedes.

Abby's world is further complicated when two potential suitors enter her life. Can Abby get beyond her own psycho drama long enough to open her heart to someone new? Or will she neurotically make her romantic life worse?

Packing nothing but her suitcases and a sense of humor, Abby George travels down an unfamiliar road, but it's all she can do to hang on for the ride...

Or will she wake up with "Rum Punch Regrets?"

Lowcountry Boil ($2.99 Kindle), by Susan M. Boyer [Henery Press]
Book Description
Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer.

She’s fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her.

Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all! Lowcountry Boil is the first book in the Liz Talbot Southern mystery series. Bonus: Includes book club discussion questions.

Sweet Tea and Secrets ($1.99 Kindle), by Nancy Naigle [Montlake Romance], with the companion audiobook also $1.99.
Book Description
This edition of Sweet Tea and Secrets has been revised and includes new scenes.

When beloved town matriarch Pearl Clemmons dies on a warm June afternoon, the folks of Adams Grove, Virginia, can hardly believe it. Sure, Pearl was eighty-five years old, but everyone—particularly her granddaughter Jill—just assumed she would live forever. Now Jill must return home to settle Pearl’s estate, comfort a town in mourning…and face Garrett Malloy, the man who broke her heart years ago.

Making matters worse, a string of break-ins at the Clemmons place has Jill and the rest of the town on edge. She can’t imagine what Pearl possibly could have had that is worth stealing. But when Jill’s safety is threatened, she and Garrett must join forces to unearth Pearl’s secrets before someone else—someone dangerous—gets there first. Garrett may have been the last man Jill wanted to see, but now, she may not want to let him go.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions ($0.99 Kindle), by Edwin A. Abbott and Rosemary Jann [Oxford University Press]. I read this years ago and it was one of the first ebooks I tracked down when I got a Kindle. It's in the public domain, but this Oxford World's Classics edition contains bonus notes you won't find in the scanned editions. The companion audiobook is $2.99.
Book Description
Including hyperlinked explanatory notes within the ebook-optimized text, introductions by leading authorities, and a wealth of other valuable material, Oxford World's Classics ebooks continue the series’ century-long commitment to scholarship across a broad spectrum of literature from around the globe.

Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? In Flatland, A Square's linear world is invaded by a Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, the novel enlarges readers' imaginations beyond the limits of our 'respective dimensional prejudices'.

The Wind in the Willows ($0.99 Kindle), by Kenneth Grahame and Peter Hunt (Editor) [Oxford University Press], another Oxford World's Classics edition with bonus materials and a companion audiobook for $2.99.
Book Description
Including hyperlinked explanatory notes within the ebook-optimized text, introductions by leading authorities, and a wealth of other valuable material, Oxford World's Classics ebooks continue the series’ century-long commitment to scholarship across a broad spectrum of literature from around the globe.

The Wind in the Willows: An international children's classic, The Wind in the Willows grew from the author's letters to his young son, yet it is concerned almost exclusively with adult themes. This new edition explores a profoundly English book with a world following; a book for adults adopted by children; a timeless masterpiece and a vital portrait of an age.

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Echoes of Empire: The Garden of Stones ($2.99 Kindle), by Mark T. Barnes [47North], with the companion audiobook for $1.99.
Book Description
An uneasy peace has existed since the fall of the Awakened Empire centuries ago. Now the hybrid Avān share the land with the people they once conquered: the star-born humans; the spectral, undead Nomads; and what remains of the Elemental Masters.

With the Empress-in-Shadows an estranged ghost, it is the ancient dynasties of the Great Houses and the Hundred Families that rule. But now civil war threatens to draw all of Shrīan into a vicious struggle sparked by one man’s lust for power, and his drive to cheat death.

Visions have foretold that Corajidin, dying ruler of House Erebus, will not only survive, but rise to rule his people. The wily nobleman seeks to make his destiny certain—by plundering the ruins of his civilization’s past for the arcane science needed to ensure his survival, and by mercilessly eliminating his rivals. But mercenary warrior-mage Indris, scion of the rival House Näsarat, stands most powerfully in the usurper’s bloody path. For it is Indris who reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation towards peace

Two Winters in a Tipi: My Search for the Soul of the Forest ($3.99 Kindle), by Mark Warren [Lyons Press]
Book Description
One stormy August night, a lightning bolt struck Mark Warren’s tin-roofed farmhouse and burned everything to the ground. Even his metal tools melted. Friends loaned him a tent, but after just a month it began to break down—which Warren vowed not to do. Instead, he decided to follow a childhood dream and live in a tipi. Excitement stirred in his chest, and so began a two-year adventure of struggle, contemplation, and achievement that brought him even closer to the land that he called home.

More than just the story of one man, Two Winters in a Tipi gives the history and use of the native structure, providing valuable advice, through Warren’s trial and error, about the confrontations that march toward a tipi dweller. It shows, without thumping the drum of environmental doom, how you can go back to the land for two days or two years. The wild plants that Natives harvested for food and medicine still grow nearby. The foods still nourish; the medicines still heal. As Warren beautifully reveals, the wild places of the past still exist in our everyday lives, and living that wilderness is still a possibility. It’s as close as the river running through your city, the woods in your neighborhood, or even the edges of your own backyard.

About the Author
Mark Warren was named Georgia’s Conservation Educator of the Year by the National Wildlife Federation. A national champion in whitewater canoeing and a winner of the World Championship Longbow Tournament, Warren founded and runs the Medicine Bow Wilderness School in the North Georgia mountains.

We, the Drowned ($2.51 Kindle), by Carsten Jensen, translated by Charlotte Barslund and Emma Ryder [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]
Book Description
Carsten Jensen’s debut novel has taken the world by storm. Already hailed in Europe as an instant classic, We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, whose inhabitants have sailed the world’s oceans aboard freight ships for centuries. Spanning over a hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War, and from the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania, to the frozen coasts of northern Russia, We, the Drowned spins a magnificent tale of love, war, and adventure, a tale of the men who go to sea and the women they leave behind.

Ships are wrecked at sea and blown up during wars, they are places of terror and violence, yet they continue to lure each generation of Marstal men—fathers and sons—away. Strong, resilient, women raise families alone and sometimes take history into their own hands. There are cannibals here, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, forbidden passions, cowards, heroes, devastating tragedies, and miraculous survivals—everything that a town like Marstal has actually experienced, and that makes We, the Drowned an unforgettable novel, destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific ($2.99 Kindle), by Paul Theroux [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]
Book Description
In one of his most exotic and breathtaking journeys, the intrepid traveler Paul Theroux ventures to the South Pacific, exploring fifty-one islands by collapsible kayak. Beginning in New Zealand's rain forests and ultimately coming to shore thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Theroux paddles alone over isolated atolls, through dirty harbors and shark-filled waters, and along treacherous coastlines. This exhilarating tropical epic is full of disarming observations and high adventure.

Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea ($2.51 Kindle), by Steven Callahan [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]
Book Description
Before The Perfect Storm, before In the Heart of the Sea, Steven Callahan’s dramatic tale of survival at sea was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than thirty-six weeks. In some ways the model for the new wave of adventure books, Adrift is an undeniable seafaring classic, a riveting firsthand account by the only man known to have survived more than a month alone at sea, fighting for his life in an inflatable raft after his small sloop capsized only six days out. “Utterly absorbing” (Newsweek), Adrift is a must-have for any adventure library.

Waiter Rant ($1.99 Kindle), by Steve Dublanica [HarperCollins], with the companion audiobook for $3.99.
Book Description
According to The Waiter, eighty percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining twenty percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Waiter Rant offers the server's unique point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen bits of human grace transpiring in the most unlikely places. Through outrageous stories, The Waiter reveals the secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and how to keep him from spitting in your food. The Waiter also shares his ongoing struggle, at age thirty-eight, to figure out if he can finally leave the first job at which he's truly thrived.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - Carter Finally Gets It & She Stoops to Conquer

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Carter Finally Gets It ($7.39 Kindle; $17.95 Audible or $3.49 as a companion edition), by Brent Crawford, narrated by Nick Podehl.
Book Description
Meet Will Carter, but feel free to call him Carter. (Yes, he knows it's a lazy nickname, but he didn't have much say in the matter.) Here are five things you should know about him:

1. He has a stuttering problem, particularly around boobs and belly buttons.
2. He battles Attention Deficit Disorder every minute of every day...unless he gets distracted.
3. He's a virgin, mostly because he's no good at talking to girls (see number 1).
4. He's about to start high school.
5. He's totally not ready.

Join Carter for his freshman year, where he'll search for sex, love, and acceptance anywhere he can find it. In the process, he'll almost kill a trombone player, face off with his greatest nemesis, suffer a lot of blood loss, narrowly escape death, run from the cops (not once, but twice), get caught up in a messy love triangle, meet his match in the form of a curvy drill teamer, and surprise the hell out of everyone, including himself.

She Stoops to Conquer ($5.95 Audible), by Oliver Goldsmith, narrated by Rosalind Ayres and the L.A. Theatre Works cast, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.
Book Description
Starring James Marsters, this classic comedy of manners from 1773 is still widely performed and studied. Love, lies, and dysfunctional families. Sound like your last family gathering? Try this one on for laughs. Two randy young gents, Charles and George, set out to woo the alluring and upper-crust Kate and Constance. But inexperienced Charles is shy and clumsy around upper-class ladies, so it's the barmaid who catches his eye. But is she really who she seems? Bawdy high-jinx, popped pretensions, and good dirty fun are the hallmarks of this romping frolic that's kept audiences laughing for over two centuries.

An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring (in alphabetical order): Rosalind Ayres as Mrs. Hardcastle; Adam Godley as Tony Lumpkin; Julian Holloway as Elder Marlow/Stingo; James Marsters as Charles Marlow; Christopher Neame as Roger; Paula Jane Newman as Bet Bouncer/Pimple; Ian Ogilvy as Mr. Hardcastle; Moira Quirk as Constance Neville; Darren Richardson as Diggory/Jeremy; Joanne Whalley as Kate Hardcastle; and Matthew Wolf as George Hastings. Directed by Martin Jarvis. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in June 2010.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Free Audiobook - The Good Earth

Get a free audiobook download of The Good Earth ($17.95 Audible or $3.99 companion priced with this Kindle edition at $8.54), by Pearl S. Buck, narrated by Anthony Heald, from Downpour (Blackstone Audio's retail site) this month.
Book Description
Pearl S. Buck’s timeless masterpiece, the Pulitzer Prize–winning story of a farmer’s journey through China in the 1920s

The Good Earth is Buck’s classic story of Wang Lung, a Chinese peasant farmer, and his wife, O-lan, a former slave. With luck and hard work, the couple’s fortunes improve over the years: They are blessed with sons, and save steadily until one day they can afford to buy property in the House of Wang—the very house in which O-lan used to work. But success brings with it a new set of problems. Wang soon finds himself the target of jealousy, and as good harvests come and go, so does the social order. Will Wang’s family cherish the estate after he’s gone? And can his material success, the bedrock of his life, guarantee anything about his soul?

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the William Dean Howells Award, The Good Earth was an Oprah’s Book Club choice in 2004. A readers’ favorite for generations, this powerful and beautifully written fable resonates with universal themes of hope and family unity.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Use Promo code earthfree during checkout (and make sure you see a $0.00 total before continuing). If you are a member there, be sure to log in first - otherwise, the code gets stripped during checkout and you may end up using one of your credits (if you do, contact support and they'll put the credit back on your acct).

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - Rotters & Frankenstein

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Rotters ($9.99 Kindle; $29.95 Audible), by Daniel Kraus, narrated by Kirby Heyborne. This looks like it will be very good and will probably go to the top of my listening list.
Book Description
Grave-robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It's true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey's life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.

Everything changes when Joey's mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey's father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey's life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.

Daniel Kraus's masterful plotting and unforgettable characters make Rotters a moving, terrifying, and unconventional epic about fathers and sons, complex family ties, taboos, and the ever-present specter of mortality.

Frankenstein ($23.95 Audible), by Mary Shelley, narrated by Jim Weiss, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening, although this $1.99 edition from Random House is the one linked to the companion edition at Audible.
Book Description
Victor Frankenstein learns the secret of producing life, and so, by putting together parts of various corpses, he creates the Frankenstein monster. The monster is huge and disformed, but he means no harm to anyone--until constant ill treatment drives him to murder and revenge. This easy-to-read version of Mary Shelley's long-standing masterpiece easily captures the sadness and horror of the original.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - Once & Letter from Birmingham Jail

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Once ($6.76 Kindle; $16.95 Audible), the first novel in the series by Morris Gleitzman, read by Morris Gleitzman.
Book Description
Felix, a Jewish boy in Poland in 1942, is hiding from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. The only problem is that he doesn't know anything about the war, and thinks he's only in the orphanage while his parents travel and try to salvage their bookselling business. And when he thinks his parents are in danger, Felix sets off to warn them--straight into the heart of Nazi-occupied Poland.

To Felix, everything is a story: Why did he get a whole carrot in his soup? It must be sign that his parents are coming to get him. Why are the Nazis burning books? They must be foreign librarians sent to clean out the orphanage's outdated library. But as Felix's journey gets increasingly dangerous, he begins to see horrors that not even stories can explain.

Despite his grim suroundings, Felix never loses hope. Morris Gleitzman takes a painful subject and expertly turns it into a story filled with love, friendship, and even humor.

Letter from Birmingham Jail ($4.95 Audible), by Martin Luther King, narrated by Dion Graham, is the second selection for this week. There are a couple of editions to choose from on Kindle ($2.99+), for those that like to read as they listen.
Book Description
April 16th, the year is 1963. Birmingham, Alabama, has had a spring of nonviolent protests known as the Birmingham Campaign, seeking to draw attention to the segregation against blacks by the city government and downtown retailers. The organizers longed to create a nonviolent tension so severe that the powers that be would be forced to address the rampant racism head on. Recently arrested was Martin Luther King, Jr....

It is there in that jail cell that he writes this letter; on the margins of a newspaper he pens this defense of nonviolence against segregation. His accusers, though many, in this case were not the white racist leaders or retailers he protested against, but eight black men who saw him as "other" and as too extreme. To them and to the world he defended the notion that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Free Audiobook - Riders of the Purple Sage

Get a free audiobook download of Riders of the Purple Sage: The Restored Edition ($19.95 Audible or $0.99 companion priced with this Kindle edition at $3.82), by Zane Grey, narrated by Mark Bramhall, from Downpour (Blackstone Audio's retail site), as part of their June is Audiobook Month celebration (but, only thru June 19) and AudioFile Magazine's Western Adventures promotion.
Book Description
Now, for the first time in a century, Zane Grey's best-known novel is presented in its original form exactly as he wrote it.

When in the early 1900s Zane Grey took his manuscript to two publishing companies, they rejected it because of the theme of Mormon polygamy, fearing it would offend their readers and subscribers. Then Grey made a special plea to Frederick Duneka, who was vice-president of Harper & Bros. and who had been Mark Twain's editor at that company. Duneka and his wife read the novel and liked it but feared it would offend some readers. Harper & Bros. agreed to publish a changed version of the novel and purchased both the book and magazine-serial rights. Given the task of executing the necessary editorial changes, a senior editor of the company made changes in tone, diction, and style as well as content. The novel first appeared in nineteen installments in the monthly magazine Field & Stream from January 1912 to July 1913.

Blackstone Audio here presents the original, uncensored, unabridged novel Riders of the Purple Sage, obtained through the Golden West Literary Agency with the cooperation of Zane Grey's son, Loren Grey, and the Ohio State Historical Society.

In Cottonwoods, Utah, in 1871, a woman stands accused and a man is sentenced to whipping. Into this travesty of small-town justice rides the one man whom the town elders fear. His name is Lassiter, and he is a notorious gunman who's come to avenge his sister's death. It doesn't take Lassiter long to see that this once peaceful Mormon community is controlled by the corrupt Deacon Tull, a powerful elder who's trying to take the woman's land by forcing her to marry him, branding her foreman as a dangerous 'outsider'. Lassiter vows to help them. But when the ranch is attacked by horse thieves, cattle rustlers, and a mysterious masked rider, he realizes that they're up against something bigger, and more brutal, than the land itself.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Use Promo code FREERIDERS during checkout (and make sure you see a $0.00 total before continuing). If you are a member there, be sure to log in first - otherwise, the code gets stripped during checkout and you may end up using one of your credits (if you do, contact support and they'll put the credit back on your acct).

Two Free Audiobooks - The Raven Boys & Bless Me, Ultima

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with The Raven Boys ($9.50 Kindle; $23.95 Audible or $3.99 companion edition), by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Will Patton [Scholastic]. This is going to the top of my listening list.
Book Description
"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve," Neeve said. "Either you're his true love . . . or you killed him."

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them--not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He has it all--family money, good looks, devoted friends--but he's looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we've never been before.

Bless Me, Ultima ($5.69 Kindle; $17.95 Audible), by Rudolfo Anaya, narrated by Robert Ramirez, is the second selection for this week. There's only one ebook edition of this still-in-copyright classic [Grand Central Publishing/Hachette].
Book Description
Stories filled with wonder and the haunting beauty of his culture have helped make Rudolfo Anaya the father of Chicano literature in English, and his tales fairly shimmer with the lyric richness of his prose. Acclaimed in both Spanish and English, Anaya is perhaps best loved for his classic bestseller ... Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his people, and discover himself in the pagan past, in his father's wisdom, and in his mother's Catholicism. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world-and will nurture the birth of his soul.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - The Mysterious Howling & Jane Eyre

It's time for this week's free audiobooks from Sync. I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with The Mysterious Howling ($5.69 Kindle; $17.95 Audible), book one in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood, narrated by Katherine Kellgren.
Book Description
Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Jane Eyre ($11.95 Audible), by Charlotte Bronte, narrated by Wanda McCaddon, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from nothing to a few dollars and probably get an edition that will work for reading along while listening (although, for $26, the Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations edition will give you a very detailed, scholarly treatment).
Book Description
This classic story shows how a young woman can overcome adversity and find true happiness. It is a story of passionate love, travail, and final triumph.

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre leads a lonely life until she finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls by night.

The relationship between the heroine and Mr. Rochester is only one episode, albeit the most important, in a detailed fictional autobiography in which the author transmuted her own experience into high art. In this work, the plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance but possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit, and great courage. She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer, and the rigid social order that circumscribes her life and position.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Two Free Audiobooks - Of Poseidon & The Tempest

It's time once again for free audiobooks from Sync! There is a new set each week, pairing a Teen/Young Adult novel with one of the classics. Be sure to fully download your books each week, as they are only available during the one-week promotion (there is no "library" to track your purchases and redownload later). I've linked in the info from the ebook or audiobook version of each title (Amazon has the best reviews), followed by the link to get your copies free, with directions to ensure you get the complete download.

Start off with Of Poseidon ($6.76 Kindle; $18.17 Audible), by Anna Banks, narrated by Rebecca Gibel, a teen romance with an element of fantasy.
Book Description
Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he's a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange - is it attraction? - and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he's heard of - a human who can communicate with fish. What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma's gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she's the key to saving his kingdom.

Soon, Emma can't deny her feelings for him, but can't explain them, either - and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings. Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

BBC Radio Shakespeare: The Tempest ($14.95 Audible), by William Shakespeare, narrated by Philip Madoc, Nina Wadia and a full cast, is the second selection for this week. As with most classics, there are many editions to choose from on Kindle; you can spend anything from 99 cents and to $10 and get an edition that will work for reading along while listening.
Book Description
BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Raging storms and rich beautiful music combine to magical effect in this production of Shakespeare's allegorical last play, where mystical forces work to restore harmony and order to an estranged community.

Revitalised, original, and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.
Click HERE to get the free downloads (you'll need to enter your name and an email address. You'll end up clicking about three pages (for each book), before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up; there is a link at Sync, if you don't already have Overdrive installed).

Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started). Make sure your audiobook is fully downloaded before the end of the week, as once the promo period is over, you won't be able to get them free.

You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date).

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

UK Kindle Daily Deal 4/16

Austenland (£0.99 UK), by Shannon Hale, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.99).
Book Description
Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?In this addictive, charming and compassionate story, Shannon Hale brings out the Jane Austen obsessive in all of us.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Free Audiobook - Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

Get a free audiobook download of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus ($13.97 Audible or $4.99 companion edition w/ Kindle book purchase), by Mary Shelley, narrated by Simon Templeman, Anthony Heald and Stefan Rudnicki, from Downpour (Blackstone Audio's retail site). There are a couple of low-cost editions, for that that like to read along, including the $1.71 edition from Penguin Classics that is linked to this audio edition (if you get it from Audible).
Book Description
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist, is consumed by a fanatic desire to create a living being. He fashions an eight-foot-tall creature and succeeds in animating him, but, horrified by his visage, perceives his creation to be a monster and frightens him away. The monster, wandering in search of human companionship, is spurned and repulsed by all he approaches and learns to hate and to kill. He confronts his maker with a terrible choice: unless Frankenstein creates for him a mate, he will go on a rampage of destruction.

Frankenstein, a masterpiece of 19th-century Gothic horror and considered to be the first science-fiction novel, is a subversive tale about the corrupt tendencies in humanity's most "civilized" ambitions.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Use Promo code FRANKENFREE during checkout (and make sure you see a $0.00 total before continuing). If you are a member there, be sure to log in first - otherwise, the code gets stripped during checkout and you may end up using one of your credits (if you do, contact support and they'll put the credit back on your acct).

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Free Audiobook - The Picture of Dorian Gray

A special audiobook edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray ($24.95 list), by Oscar Wilde, narrated by Steven Crossley, is free over at Audible. For those that like to read along while listening, there are many editions in the Kindle store, ranging in price from free to a nice edition from Bantam Classics (Random House) for $6.99.

Book Description
Oscar Wilde’s classic story of a young man who sells his soul in exchange for eternal beauty and youth continues to thrill generations of readers. Written by a man who was every bit as flamboyant and unconventional as its hero, The Picture of Dorian Gray is as haunting today as when it first shocked the British public in 1891. Dorian Gray, young, intelligent, sophisticated, gazes on his freshly painted portrait. Wishfully, he murmurs, “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! … I would give my soul for that!” From that moment, as Dorian spends his days enjoying the splendors of the world and his nights exploring its depravity and sin, his face remains untouched by life. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde creates a metaphor that transcends a specific era to become a timeless reflection on the nature of art, morality, and beauty—and a splendid horror story. Narrator Steven Crossley’s performance highlights the interplay of innocence and corruption that weaves a dark, seductive spell on all who encounter this enigmatic work.
Get the free audiobook from Audible. Note that the edition found when searching isn't free, so use this link; this edition is also not Whispersync enabled; for that, you can buy the pay-edition for $2.99 after picking up on of the Kindle editions above (this edition is in my library, so I suspect it was, at one time, a free edition).

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Free Audiobook - Robinson Crusoe

Get a free audiobook download of Robinson Crusoe ($20.97 Audible), by Daniel Defoe, narrated by John Lee, from Downpour (Blackstone Audio's retail site). There are a couple of low-cost editions, for that that like to read along, including a $1.99 edition from Bantam Classics.
Book Description
Shipwrecked and cast ashore onto an uninhabited island, Robinson Crusoe ingeniously carves out a solitary, primitive existence for 24 years. Eventually, he meets a young native whom he saves from death at the hands of cannibals. He calls him Man Friday and makes him his companion and servant.

Crusoe and Friday share in a variety of adventures, including a fierce battle with cannibals that culminates in the heroes recapturing a mutinous ship and returning to England.

Based partly on the real-life experiences of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, Defoe's novel of human endurance in an exotic, faraway land exerts a timeless appeal and has taken its rightful place among the great works of Western civilization.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Use Promo code crusoeemail during checkout (and make sure you see a $0.00 total before continuing).

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Six Free Audiobooks from Audible

Audible has a special Valentine's Day gift for all account holders, whether you have a subscription membership or not: Six Free Audiobooks. The email I received said you could get one for yourself and give one away, the page is confusing vague and it looks like you have to choose to get one or give one, but, it turns out you can add all of them to your cart and once (and give as many away as you like, I suspect) and checkout without using any credits or cash.

Here are your choices (the last is a very short story):

  • Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find - and Keep - Love, by Amir Levine, Rachel S. F. Heller, Narrated by Walter Dixon, Length:7 hrs and 9 mins
  • Undead Sublet: A Free Story from 'The Undead in My Bed', by Molly Harper, Narrated by Sophie Eastlake, Length:4 hrs and 29 mins
  • Romeo and Juliet (Dramatized), by William Shakespeare, Narrated by Calista Flockhart , Matthew Wolf , Julie White , Alan Mandell , Richard Chamberlain , Nicholas Hormann , Josh Stamberg, Length:2 hrs and 53 mins
  • Love in the Afternoon, by Alison Packard, Narrated by Gia St. Claire, Length:10 hrs
  • Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Narrated by Flo Gibson, Length:11 hrs and 32 mins
  • Eureka: A Free Story from 'The Last Girlfriend on Earth', by Simon Rich, Narrated by Simon Rich, Length:3 mins

Monday, February 11, 2013

Free Audiobook & Book - The Souls of Black Folk (DF)

The download edition of The Souls of Black Folk (free - $11.99 Kindle; $20.99 Audible), by W. E. B. Du Bois, narrated by Richard Allen, is free direct from Tantor Media.
Book Description
W. E. B. Du Bois was the foremost black intellectual of his time. The Souls of Black Folk, his most influential work, is a collection of 14 beautifully written essays, by turns lyrical, historical, and autobiographical. Here, Du Bois records the cruelties of racism, celebrates the strength and pride of black America, and explores the paradoxical "double-consciousness" of African American life.

When it was first published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk quickly established itself as a work that wholly redefined the history of the black experience in America, introducing the now-famous "problem of the color line." In the decades since its publication, its stature has only grown, and today it ranks as one of the most influential and resonant works in the history of American thought.
Get the free ebook from Tantor Media, along with a bonus PDF ebook when you download the complete ZIP file from your library. The download is available in MP3 (Kindle compatible) format and both it and the book are DRM-free.

While you are there, check out their $6.99 sale, which includes Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl amongst the selections.

Free Audiobook - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (DF)

Get a free download of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (free-$7.99 Kindle, $15.37 Audible), by Mark Twain, read by Grover Gardner, from Downpour.com, Blackstone Audio's new consumer site.
Book Description
This humorous and nostalgic novel takes the listener back to the carefree days of boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up.

Just what did boys do in a small Midwestern town during the mid-1800s, a time when there were no televisions, no arcades, and no videos? They whitewashed fences, floated down rivers, traded marbles, formed secret societies, smoked pipes, and, on occasion, managed to attend their own funerals. Yes, they may have been a bit mischievous, but as Aunt Polly said of Tom when she believed him to be dead, "He was the best-hearted boy that ever was." Aunt Polly's sentiments reveal one of the cardinal tenets of Twain's philosophy: In this deceitful and infirm world, innocence can be found only in the heart of a boy.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Add the Download edition to your cart, then enter coupon code sawyeremail (make sure there are no extra spaces, if you cut and paste) and click on Apply. Make sure that the new total has been adjusted to $0.00, then click on Checkout. You'll be prompted to log into your account (or create a new one) and then taken to the final screen; click on Place Order and then on Continue to My Library in order to download the audiobook. The download is available in either MP3 (Kindle compatible) or M4B (iTunes) formats and is DRM-free.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Free Audiobook - Beowulf

Get a free download of Beowulf ($9.95 Audible/Amazon), produced and directed by Yuri Rasovsky, read by Robertson Dean, from Downpour.com, Blackstone Audio's new consumer site.
Book Description
The earliest extant heroic epic in any European vernacular, Beowulf is considered the most important poem in Old English. The title character is a warrior of superhuman strength who accomplishes glorious deeds to honor his king. He also represents the ideal lord and vassal, generous to his own men while fulfilling all the forms of courtesy at court. The narrative itself falls into two parts: Beowulf first rescues the royal house of Denmark from two marauding monsters; then, after having ruled his people peacefully for fifty years, he is called upon to combat a dragon that is terrorizing the countryside.

Combining mythical elements with actual historical figures and events, the narrative ranges from fierce action sequences to detailed portrayals of court life and earnest considerations of social and moral dilemmas, all in a tone of sustained grandeur.

First transcribed circa AD 1000. Translated into English prose by Robert K. Gordon in 1922.
Get the free audiobook from Downpour. Add the Download edition to your cart, then enter coupon code LOLBEOWULF (make sure there are no extra spaces, if you cut and paste) and click on Apply. Make sure that the new total has been adjusted to $0.00, then click on Checkout. You'll be prompted to log into your account (or create a new one) and then taken to the final screen; click on Place Order and then on Continue to My Library in order to download the audiobook. The download is available in either MP3 (Kindle compatible) or M4B (iTunes) formats and is DRM-free.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Free Audio Short Story - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

The audiobook edition of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, by Arthur Conan Doyle, narrated by Alan Cumming, is free for members (those with a subscription) at Audible. I checked the price while not logged in, however, and it looks like everyone with an account can get it free, as well.
Book Description
The season of gift-giving is here, and this year we've got something special for our members: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Yuletide whodunit "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle". In this holiday-themed short story, Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson, follow the trail of a lost hat and a Christmas goose through the streets of London and into a rapidly expanding mystery. And, since a great story calls for a great voice, we’ve brought in Emmy Award nominee Alan Cumming (TV's The Good Wife), a past Audie Award winner for Best Male Narrator and one of our very favorite narrators. We enjoyed it, and we hope you will too. Happy listening and happy holidays!
Get the free audiobook from Audible.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Free Audiobook - Three Short Stories by Charles Dickens

It's my favorite time of year and Tantor Media is starting off the gifting season by giving all of us the Audio + Ebook edition of Three Short Stories ($19.95 Audible), by Charles Dickens, narratted by Donada Peters, free on their website.
Book Description
Three of Charles Dickens's much-loved Christmas novellas — The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man — are brought to life in this classic audiobook collection.

About the author
Charles Dickens is known not only for his novels but also for his shorter works. Particularly notable are his five Christmas novellas, especially A Christmas Carol. In this genre, Dickens's stories had a powerful commercial impulse, for it became an annual tradition for the author to publish one in time for the holiday season between 1843 and 1847. Three Short Stories brings together a trio of the celebrated author's Christmas stories: The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All three lay emphasis on family love and the delights of home, but there is more to these stories than surface sentimentality. Each year, a whole nation would eagerly anticipate these tales, telling us much about the age Dickens lived in. And these stories never would have survived without roots and power.
Get the free audiobook and ebook from Tantor Media. Be sure to download the ZIP file to get the ebook (PDF, DRM-free).

Friday, October 19, 2012

Free Audiobook - The Phantom of the Opera

The MP3 download audiobook edition of The Phantom of the Opera (free+ Kindle, $19.59 Audible), by Gaston Leroux, narrated by Alexander Adams, is free over at Tantor Media for your Halloween listening pleasure, complete with a PDF edition of the book to read as you listen. It isn't quite the same as Whispersync for Voice, but it's a lot cheaper, since it appears that the combo cost at Amazon is $8+, depending on the ebook edition you choose (they are often linked to different audiobook performances; none appear to be linked to this one, sadly).
Book Description
Under the Paris Opera House lives a disfigured musical genius who uses music to win the love of a beautiful opera singer.

The actors, singers, and patrons of the Paris Opera House say that a ghost haunts the labyrinthine chambers beneath its stage. Those who laugh off such superstitions always do so nervously, in the bright light of day. Nearly everyone connected with the opera house in any way has felt the phantom's vague, troubling presence. But beautiful, talented young singer Christine Daae will soon experience a terror far more acute than any vague feeling of unease. For she is about to learn the secret of why the man who has made the tunnels beneath Paris his private domain must forever hide his face behind a mask.

Part horror story, part historical romance, and part detective thriller, the timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, as well as to movie and theater-goers. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies its questioning of a universal theme: the relationship between outward appearance and the beauty or darkness of the human soul.
Get the free audiobook/ebook combo from Tantor. While you are there, you may also want to check out their $6.99 Horror Sale; I see a lot of Zombie Apocalypse at the front of the sale, but there are some Urban Fantasy titles too (such as Kim Harrison's Hollows series).