Some great audiobooks for free

Today, three absolutely great audiobooks are being offered totally free, for a limited time. First off is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, available from Audiobooks.com. I've reviewed a LibriVox reading of this classic novel before, but this is a professional audiobook. I highly recommend it if you've never read this story before. It's available for download until 10 am Friday.

Second are two books from Sync: Monster by Walter Dean Myers and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Monster is a Michael L. Printz Award winner and National Book Award nominee about a teenage African-American boy on trial for murder. It's a full-cast unabridged recording and comes highly recommended. I can't wait to listen.

Lord of the Flies is another classic. It tells the story of a group of boys, stranded on an island, who have to establish their own society. Their decent into savagery is a compelling insight into the nature of civilization. This recording is a 1976 reading by the author. From the sample I heard, it's less polished than newer editions, but the chance to hear Golding's own voice narrating is a compelling reason to listen. Both Monster and Lord of the Flies will be available for download until next Thursday morning.

Three free audiobooks available today

From Sync, there's two audiobooks that will be available for download the rest of the week. Anne Frank Remembered is the memoir of Meip Gies, the woman who helped hide the Frank family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.  The audiobook was a finalist for a 2010 Audies award, honoring the best audiobooks published that year.

The second book from Sync is Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wien.  This novel is about an American female pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary who is captured by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp. Last year, Sync offered another audiobook by Wien, Code Name Verity about a female pilot and a spy during World War II; it was one of my favorite listens of the year.

The third book being offered today is from Audiobooks.com, Nancy Drew Diaries: Curse of the Arctic Star. This one is available for one day only, so if you're a fan of the Girl Detective, download it now. A new audiobook will become available from the same website at 10:00 AM on Friday and Nancy Drew will be gone.

Audiobooks.com is giving away free audiobooks

Audiobooks.com is giving away a free audiobook as a download every day in June. I've missed the first few days, but today (June 9) is Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, read by Jim Dale, an excellent narrator. The book itself is a great adventure; I've reviewed a LibriVox version here.

To get your free audiobook, download the Audiobooks.com iOS or Android app. Then, go to Booklists and Bestsellers to find the free book of the day. Download it and it's yours to keep!

If you haven't tried out Audiobooks.com before, you can also take advantage of a 30 day trial membership and download a free book. I recommend The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, or the unabridged Simon Vance version of The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brien (the fourth book of the Aubrey-Maturin series, but a good starting point). I've listened to all of these as audiobooks and can confirm that they're great books and great performances.

This week's free audiobooks

Another two free audiobooks are being offered by AudioSync. The YA book, A Corner of White, is a magic-portal fantasy about teenagers in two different worlds communicating by letter. The classic, Dracula, is about . . . Dracula. I've previously reviewed a free version here, but this is a multi-reader, professional version, so you may prefer it over the other. Happy reading!

Sync audio gives away two more audiobooks this week

It's Thursday, so Sync Audio has released another two audiobooks for free. In what is becoming a pattern, I find one of the books intriguing enough to download, while the other holds no interest for me.

I'll start with the less exciting of the two. The Book and The Crown is a fantasy / romance novel set in an alternate history Europe with magic and court intrigue. According the Goodreads reviews, there's lots of love triangles and illicit sex and YA angst. If that's you're thing, have fun, but I'd rather read something else.

The other book being given away, Sea Hearts (also released under the much better title The Brides of Rollrock Island), sounds like a trip. The novella version of the book won the World Fantasy Awards and the author, Margo Lanagan, wrote the excellent and creepy short story "Singing My Sister Down," so I have high expectations.There's not much I can tell about the plot other than that it involves a witch, magic, seal-girls and revenge. It sounds absolutely insane and wonderful.

Yes, I skipped the audiobook review this week. I'll have one up next week.

This week's Sync includes Walter Dean Myers and X: A Novel

Sync is continuing its free audiobook giveaway this week with two more books. One is a book of poetry, Here in Harlem by award winning author Walter Dean Myers. The second book is X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. The X of the title is Malcolm X, an interesting protagonist for a YA book, due to his polarizing rhetoric on race in America. This book is a fictionalized account of Malcolm X's younger days, co-written by his daughter, Shabazz. I haven't read it yet, but it looks to be an intriguing perspective.

Sync continues with free Terry Pratchett

Audiobook Sync is continuing this week with a novel by the great Sir Terry Pratchett. The free audiobook, Dodger, is not from Pratchett's well-loved Discworld series, but it sounds great anyways. Dodger is set in Victorian London and follows the adventures of a young street urchin. Pratchett always manages to combine great social commentary with hilarious comedy, so I highly recommend this one.

The other audiobook being given away this week is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I already have another audio copy sitting in my virtual to-read pile, so I'm less excited by this, but by all means pick it up if you're interested. As before, you'll need to download the Overdrive software to your computer or audio device and provide an email address to download these books. There are some geographic restrictions that also apply for certain books.

I'm back!

Yeah, I know I haven't published anything in almost 3 years. I had given this blog up, since I had changed jobs, changed my commute, and didn't have as much time for audiobooks or blogging anymore. This summer, I'll have a bit more time, so I'll be posting occasionally.

The first big announcement for the summer is that SYNC audio is back! Sync gives away free audiobooks to everyone, though the program is designed to get young people interested in reading. No credit card is required, just a name, an email and a free download of the Overdrive software for your computer or portable device. They offer 2 different titles each week. This week, they're offering Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Beautiful Creatures by  Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Both books have excellent reviews and I've heard great word-of-mouth on both, though I haven't read either. These free books are only available for download until May 12, so go grab them now.

Sync will be back each week though the summer with new titles for download. I'll update as they're released.

"That Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce

 

Source: Naxos Audiobooks (mp3)
Length: 20 minutes
Reader: Johnathan Keeble

The story: "Seeing is believing." Unlike most other mammals, we primates rely on our sense of sight over our hearing or sense of smell. So when we can't see something, we become suspicious.

In this story, an invisible monster is on the loose in a mountain wilderness. Bierce plays with the imagery of sight: characters squint at a dead man's dairy, react when they see his mangled body, and disbelieve the testimony of an eyewitness to his death. Yet, we get the sense that the monster is not actually evil, but simply hated because he cannot be seen.

Rating: 7 / 10

The reader: Keeble is a professional voice actor in a professional audiobook. He creates distinct voices for each of the characters, making it easy to follow the action. His performance definitely adds to the appeal of this story. This is a free sample of a larger collection of stories. It's only free until the end of October, 2011, so download it soon.

Sync is giving away free audiobooks

Like last summer, Sync is giving away free audiobooks this summer. Each week, they're offering a free contemporary YA fiction audiobook and a free classic from common assigned summer reading lists.

There are a few caveats: first you have to use OverdDrive media console (not available for all operating systems) to download the files. I was able to burn the audiobook that I downloaded to CD to listen to in my car, but it's not clear if all books will be burnable. Second, each audiobook is only available for download for one week, though the files do not expire once you download. The schedule of release dates is available after the jump. Third, you have to give a valid email address.

To download the first two books, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, go to Sync and follow the directions.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Source: Tantor Audio
Length: 4 hours
Reader: Scott Brick

The book: In one of the great classics of science fiction, an English gentleman-scientist introduces into science fiction canon a scientific means for traveling through time: by moving freely through the fourth dimension. After telling his friends and performing a test-run with a model, the time traveler proceeds to journey into the future. He expects technological marvels and enlightened humans, but finds something much different.

H.G. Wells shows himself to have an astute understanding not only of physics, but also of both sociology and biology. In a time when Progress and Eugenics were the watchwords, Wells was able to see the opposite side of these ideas. He knew that technological advance meant better lives for some, but not always for those at the lower end of the class structure. He understood that evolution has great power to change humanity, but that it is not progress to a more perfect being, but a process that reacts to the pressures of the environment. Forgive the pun, but Wells was ahead of his time.

Rating: 9 /10

The reader: Scott Brick is a professional reader and one of the best in the business. He reads this story with a cultured English accent, appropriate for the frame story narrator's position. The voice of the Time Traveler is performed with a weary dreaminess, similar to Gene Wilder's performance in the 1971 film Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

This book is being provided for free for a limited time by Tantor Media. Click the link to Tantor above, and sign up for a free account. You'll need a valid email address, but you will not need a credit card and you will not have to cancel any membership. The offer lasts until May 31, 2010.

Entered in Cym Lowell's Book Review Wednesday. Follow the link for book reviews from other bloggers.

Young Adult audiobook giveaway

For a limited time this summer, Sync is giving away free audiobooks, mostly in young adult fiction. The books are free, but there are some hoops to jump through. First, you have to sign up for Audiobook Community. Then you have to join the Sync group in Audiobook Community and download them from there. To download the files, you'll have to install Overdrive Media Console (presumably a DRM program). Some of these books may not be available outside the US and I have no idea what players the Overdrive DRM is compatable with, so listener beware.

After the break, I've listed the available books.