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Friday, August 19, 2011

Three Free Audiobooks

There are three free audiobook selections you can grab today, all three of which can be played on your Kindle (or PC or most MP3 players). The first one also includes the ebook, for those that like to read along as they listen.

Hard Times ($19.95 Amazon), by Charles Dickens, narrated by Simon Prebble, is the freebie this month from Tantor Audio. While you are there, it might be time to stock up on a few other audiobooks, as you can use coupon code AUG11 to get $40 off $80 in audiobooks (and purchases over $80 are apparently half price, for the amount over $80). You'll need an account at Tantor, even for the free download, but once you are logged in, the red banner above the title that says Log in to download! will change and you click it to start the download. It is a fairly large download (325MB ZIP file, which includes the ebook and MP3 files for the audio), so if you have problems, I'd try again later at night or during the weekend. It looks like Learn Out Loud also has the free download (but I don't know if it comes with the ebook and they are not having the same sale).
Book Description
Full of suspense, humor, and tenderness, Hard Times is a brilliant defense of art in an age of mechanism and a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought on by the Industrial Revolution.
...
Red brick, machinery, and smoke-darkened chimneys. Reason, facts, and statistics. This is the world of Coketown, the depressed mill town that is the setting for one of Charles Dickens's most powerful and unforgettable novels.

The highest priority for Thomas Gradgrind, head of the Gradgrind model day school, is his version of education---feeding the mind while starving the soul and spirit. Inflexible and unyielding, he places conformity above curiosity and sense over sentiment...only to find himself betrayed by the very standards that govern his own unhappy life.

Hard Times is Dickens's scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society and its misapplied utilitarian philosophy. And Thomas Gradgrind is one of his most richly dimensional, memorable characters. Filled with the details and wonders of small-town life, Hard Times is also a daring novel of ideas---and ultimately a celebration of love, hope, and the limitless possibilities of the imagination.

The Ghosts of Ragged-Ass Gulch, by Bill Pronzini, narrated by Nick Sullivan, is free over at Audible. Strangely enough, AudioGO is the publisher on this one, but I don't even see it on their website (but see below for a freebie from them).
Book Description
Ravaged by time and abandoned by the people who once flocked there in search of golden nuggets, Ragged-Ass Gulch is a ghost town. What’s left is a small, proud, and close pack of people who aren’t looking for change. But change seems to be afoot as several mysterious fires plague the town. That’s where the Nameless Detective comes in….

AudioGO is hosting a new free download everyday, on their Comedy Page (click on the brown box on the right side that says Get Your Free Daily Comedy Download). Today, it is Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, Series 1, Part 1: Sudan ($3.95 Amazon), but the selection will change every weekday, thru Aug 29. You'll need an account at AudioGo, but you should be able to register from any country and get the download. No credit card info should be needed, so long as you stick to their free selections.
Book Description
Meet Giles Wemmbley Hogg. 2ms, 2gs. Traveller, backpacker, ethnologist, fearless investigator of cultural diversity, connoisseur of all Eastern and Mystic philosophies, and upper middle-class student ponce from Budleigh Salterton.

In his gap year between school and University, Giles travels far and wide along the student trail from Beijing to Bolivia by way of Thailand and the North Pole. Each week, with his trusty portable DAT and his Charterhouse rugby shirt, Giles travels to far-off foreign lands, and records his adventures for the benefit of the Radio 4 listener. And each episode, he makes a thumping great prat of himself.

Free Book (nook) - First, There Is a River

First, There Is a River ($7.99 Kindle), by Kathy Steffen, is this week's Free Friday book at B&N, courtesy of Medallion Press. Look like I'll be reporting the lower price to Amazon on this one.
Book Description
An old riverboat and the colorful characters aboard it form the backdrop for this tale of a woman's heartache and self-discovery and her crazed husband's quest for revenge. After her children are sent away, Emma seeks solace on her uncle's boat, where she is greeted by the kindness and companionship of a stranger. As she learns about herself and the possiblity of happiness, her husband follows close behind, determined to take his anger out on her and everyone else aboard the boat.
Click HERE for the free book from B&N.

Free Book (EPUB) - The Professors' Guide to Conquering College

The Professors' Guide to Conquering College, by Jeremy S Hyman and Dr. Lynn F Jacobs, is free over at Copia. They are the authors of Professors' Guide(TM) to Getting Good Grades in College and The Secrets of College Success (Professors' Guide), but this newest title (which is about 80 pages long) doesn't appear in the Kindle store.
Book Description
From the introduction: When you think about "conquering" college - overcoming all its hurdles and getting the most out you can - probably think of acing the exams and killing the papers. About how you’ll reach the end of the semester with sweet-looking A’s in all your courses – the required ones, the electives, and those in your major. And you wouldn’t be wholly wrong, either. One mark (though not the only one) of college success is the grades you get. Others include whether you learn something of value, whether you get on track for a good career or graduate education, and, most generally, whether you have a productive and rewarding experience in your four (or five or six or seven) years of college.
Click HERE for the free book from Copia. You will have to install their reader and use it to download the book (there is no other choice), but you can move it once it is downloaded, to either you Adobe ADE so that you can load it on your ereader.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Free nookColor App - Minesweeper

Here's something I don't find very often: a free game for the nookColor! Minesweeper, by Toy Studio LLC, has been temporarily reduced to free in the nookColor app store. For those with a Kindle, it's version of Minesweeper is still free and there are quite a few versions in the Amazon App Store (for Android).
Game Description
The classic word game of Minesweeper is now available on your NOOK Color™ by Barnes & Noble. With 3 types of difficulty levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced you will have hours and hours of addicting and fun gameplay. You won't want to put it down! Experience for yourself why hundreds of players love this addicting game. Enjoy an AD-FREE game of Minesweeper in the car, at home, or on the go.

Guest Review - Zendegi

One of the last 5 books I read was called Zendegi ($0.01 Kindle, Kobo; free B&N), by Greg Egan. Greg is an excellent writer and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked how he started in a place, which, as an American, I know nothing about (modern Iran), and brought it to life. He then was able to take current (albeit controversial) research and turn it into a nice storyline for the rest of the book. Kudos to Greg for a great story. At this price pick it up for yourself and enjoy.

- The Step Son (Brian)