I hope those of you who like audiobooks are keeping on top of the Sync offerings this summer. I'm pleased to announce that this weekend there is yet another set of books (a modern YA and a classic pairing) that you can download for free.
Week 3's theme is "Be Careful What You Wish For" with an opportunity to download The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud and Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang. As always, you can snag these by going to sync's website before July 4th.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
How do you feel about eBooks?
We interrupt the (somewhat sparce) Book Battle coverage today to bring up one of my new favorite things to talk about: eBooks.
I'm looking to get back into doing reviews again since I've been so lax about it over the past year or so. And in going through books I've read organizing things, I realize that several of them are eBooks. I got a Kindle for my birthday last year, so I've been picking up cheap eBooks and freebies over the last year doing that.
For those of you who don't know, Kindle also offers a lending program, where you can loan an ebook to someone with a Kindle (or Kindle app on their table, phone, or PC) for 2 weeks. It's like borrowing a book from the library, only you can't renew it.
So my question is, would you, my readers, be interested in a highlight of the ebooks I have to lend? Otherwise some of them once I'm done will just get deleted, but if anyone out there might be interested in borrowing them instead, I might keep them around.
Let me know what you all think. Perhaps a new feature will be coming to The Shady Glade soon...
I'm looking to get back into doing reviews again since I've been so lax about it over the past year or so. And in going through books I've read organizing things, I realize that several of them are eBooks. I got a Kindle for my birthday last year, so I've been picking up cheap eBooks and freebies over the last year doing that.
For those of you who don't know, Kindle also offers a lending program, where you can loan an ebook to someone with a Kindle (or Kindle app on their table, phone, or PC) for 2 weeks. It's like borrowing a book from the library, only you can't renew it.
So my question is, would you, my readers, be interested in a highlight of the ebooks I have to lend? Otherwise some of them once I'm done will just get deleted, but if anyone out there might be interested in borrowing them instead, I might keep them around.
Let me know what you all think. Perhaps a new feature will be coming to The Shady Glade soon...
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Sync Audiobooks Week 2
So I posted last week about the awesomness that is Sync, a website that is giving away free audiobooks all summer.
Week 2 is now upon us. Apparently this week's theme is sisters, with the offerings being Francisco X. Stork's book Irises and the wonderful Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility (not as good as Pride and Prejudice, but still one of my favorites!).
These will be available until June 27th, so grab them now while you can!
Meanwhile, we're getting really close to seeing some action for the Blog Battle. Round 1 is almost over, and that's when things really get started. :) So keep an eye out for that coming soon...
Week 2 is now upon us. Apparently this week's theme is sisters, with the offerings being Francisco X. Stork's book Irises and the wonderful Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility (not as good as Pride and Prejudice, but still one of my favorites!).
These will be available until June 27th, so grab them now while you can!
Meanwhile, we're getting really close to seeing some action for the Blog Battle. Round 1 is almost over, and that's when things really get started. :) So keep an eye out for that coming soon...
Friday, June 15, 2012
FREE Sync YA Audiobooks
Hey readers!
I know I've been absent a lot lately (much organization going on behind the scenes for the battle!), but I had to pop in really quick and share this with all of you.
One of my favorite things is to listen to audiobooks while I'm doing chores or in the car. I just download them to my iPod and take them with me wherever I go. My library even has a program (through OverDrive) that allows me to borrow audiobooks for my iPod from the library. Cuz let's face it, audiobooks are expensive!
Which is why I'm so excited about this. Sync YA is hosting a free download every week this summer. The idea is not only to introduce new readers to audiobooks, but also to share some great books. Every week they will bring a new YA audiobook to the site that you can download for free for that week only. And they've even paired each book with a classic. So it's a great way to get some of those required summer reading books too. Did I mention it was FREE? No catches, no gimmicks. I tried it myself; it really is free. What could be better than free books?
This week's title is the dyspotian book The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch from Scholastic Audio paired up with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. These will be replaced with a new pairing on 6/21, so you'll want to download both while you still can.
If you're looking ahead, they've posted the schedule of books that will be available for the rest of the summer as well. There's some great new recent reads out there including Anna Dressed in Blood, Cleopatra's Moon, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Check it out!
I know I've been absent a lot lately (much organization going on behind the scenes for the battle!), but I had to pop in really quick and share this with all of you.
One of my favorite things is to listen to audiobooks while I'm doing chores or in the car. I just download them to my iPod and take them with me wherever I go. My library even has a program (through OverDrive) that allows me to borrow audiobooks for my iPod from the library. Cuz let's face it, audiobooks are expensive!
Which is why I'm so excited about this. Sync YA is hosting a free download every week this summer. The idea is not only to introduce new readers to audiobooks, but also to share some great books. Every week they will bring a new YA audiobook to the site that you can download for free for that week only. And they've even paired each book with a classic. So it's a great way to get some of those required summer reading books too. Did I mention it was FREE? No catches, no gimmicks. I tried it myself; it really is free. What could be better than free books?
This week's title is the dyspotian book The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch from Scholastic Audio paired up with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. These will be replaced with a new pairing on 6/21, so you'll want to download both while you still can.
If you're looking ahead, they've posted the schedule of books that will be available for the rest of the summer as well. There's some great new recent reads out there including Anna Dressed in Blood, Cleopatra's Moon, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Check it out!
Monday, June 04, 2012
Saturday, June 02, 2012
2012 Book Battle Long List
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who nominated a title! Without your suggestions we wouldn't be able to have a battle. We did have a few nominations who got filtered out as duplicates or because they didn't fit the parameters of this battle. So if anyone doesn't see their nomination and would like to know why, please send me an email and ask.
There were 71 (!) nominations this year, way more than I thought we would have in such a small(ish) category. This compares to about 80 nominations last year just to give you an idea of the scope of these nominations. And the funny thing is, there are even more fairy tale retellings that weren't nominated and so didn't make the list! It's a good time to be a fairy tale fan apparently. :) Our long list has a nice mix of the expected fairy tale and Greek myths, but also has some surprises like Navajo and Polynesian legends.
Now with the release of this list, our Round 1 judges will get busy reading, reading, reading, and more reading over the next month to determine which of these books will make the short list and move onto the brackets. 71 books in, only 16 out...
The battle is on!
2012 Battle Nomination Long List
A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Abandon by Meg Cabot
Avalon High by Meg Cabot
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Between Two Ends by David Ward
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Damosel by Stephanie Spinner
Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett
Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton
Destined by Jessie Harrell
Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough
East by Edith Pattou
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Golden by Cameron Dokey
Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl
Half Upon a Time by James Riley
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Inside the Walls of Troy by Clemence McLaren
Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Lightbringer by K.D. McEntire
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski
Nobody's Princess by Esther Frisner
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Princess of the Wild Swans by Diane Zahler
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Bahija Lovejoy and Barbara Cohen
Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
Shifting by Bethany Wiggins
Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan
Snow by Tracy Lynn
Snow in Summer: Fairest of Them All by Jane Yolen
Starcrossed by Jospehine Angelini
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
The Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn
The Poison Apples by Lily Archer
The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
The Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman
The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott
The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan
The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler
The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli
The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker
Thornspell by Helen Lowe
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguié
Waking Rose by Regina Doman
Water Song by Suzanne Weyn
Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
Wildefire by Karsten Knight
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
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