2014 Sync schedule

Sync YA literature into your earphones with
two free audiobook downloads each week
May 15 - August 13, 2014

Teens and other readers of young adult literature will have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required reading classics this summer. Each week from May 15 to August 13, 2014, Sync, a program sponsored by AudioFile Magazine, will offer two free audiobook downloads.

The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists.

SYNC Schedule:


May 15 - May 21

• Warp: The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer,
  Narrated by Maxwell Caulfield (Listening Library)
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells,
  Narrated by Derek Jacobi (Listening Library)

May 22 - May 28

• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge,
  Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden (Harper Audio)
• Oedipus the King by Sophocles,
  Performed by Michael Sheen and a full cast (Naxos AudioBooks)

May 29 - June 4

• Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro,
  Narrated by Emma Galvin (Hachette Audio)
• The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie,
  Narrated by Richard E. Grant (Harper Audio)

June 5 - June 11

• All our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill,
  Narrated by Meredith Mitchell (Tantor Audio)
• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare,
  Performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

June 12 - June 18

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (highly recommended, see post),
  Narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell (Bolinda Audio)
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
  Narrated by Bernadette Dunne (christianaudio)

June 19 - June 25

• I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter,
  Narrated by Renée Raudman (Brilliance Audio)
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery,
  Narrated by Colleen Winton (Post Hypnotic Press)

June 26 – July 2

• Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick,
  Narrated by Noah Galvin (Hachette Audio)
• October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman,
  Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister (Brilliance Audio)

July 3 - July 9

• Torn from Troy by Patrick Bowman,
  Narrated by Gerard Doyle (Post Hypnotic Press)
• Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson,
  Narrated by Jim Dale (Brilliance Audio)

July 10 - July 16

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose,
  Narrated by Channie Waites (Brilliance Audio)
• While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George,
  Narrated by Felicia Bullock (Oasis Audio)

July 17 – July 23

• The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer,
  Narrated by Katherine Kellgren (Recorded Books)
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II by Arthur Conan Doyle,
  Narrated by David Timson (Naxos AudioBooks)

July 24 – July 30

• Headstrong by Patrick Link,
  Performed by Deidrie Henry, Ernie Hudson, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Scott Wolf (L.A. Theatre Works)
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson,
  Narrated by Scott Brick (Tantor Audio)

July 31 – August 6

• Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy,
  Narrated by Andrew Eiden (Scholastic Audio)
• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane,
  Narrated by Frank Muller (Recorded Books)

August 7 – August 13

• Living a Life that Matters by Ben Lesser,
  Narrated by Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser (Remembrance Publishing)
• The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick,
  Narrated by Yelena Shmulenson (HighBridge Audio)

Another important note is that these books don't expire like th e-audiobooks you get from the library. So, be sure to check in each week to download the books even if you don't think you'll get around to reading them right away.

More information about Sync is available on the Sync website.

public service announcement: free audio books starting todaySync is back!

I'm a huge fan of the Sync free-audiobooks-in-summer program, which is administered by AudioFile Magazine and supported by the audiobook publishers¹ who make the selections available free of charge during the weeks in which they are featured.   I promote the program because I like it, as a user. 

The most important thing to note, which is not mentioned below,² is that these books don't expire like the e-audiobooks you get from the library. So, be sure to check in each week to download the books even if you don't think you'll get around to reading them right away.


Sync offers free audiobook downloads of Young Adult and Classic titles this summer!
May 20 - August 21, 2013

Teens and other readers of young adult literature will have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required-reading classics this summer. Each week from May 30 to August 15, Sync will offer two free audiobook downloads.

The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists. For example, Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, the first book in a bestselling series about a group of teenagers search for the supernatural ley lines, will be paired with the Latino classic of magical realism, Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima.

SYNC Schedule:

May 30 - June 5, 2013

• Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
  free audio version read by Rebecca Gibel, courtesy of AudioGo
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare
  free audio version read by a full cast, courtesy of AudioGo

June 6 - June 12, 2013

• The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1) by Maryrose Wood (see post)
  free audio version read by Katherine Kellgren, courtesy of HarperAudio)
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (see post)
  free audio version read by Wanda McCaddon, courtesy of Tantor Audio

June 13 - June 19, 2013

• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (see post)
  free audio version read by Will Patton, courtesy of Scholastic Audiobooks
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
  free audio version read by Robert Ramirez, courtesy of Recorded Books

June 20 - June 26, 2013

• Once by Morris Gleitzman
  free audio version read by Morris Gleitzman, courtesy of Bolinda Audio
• Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  free audio version read by Dion Graham, courtesy of ChristianAudio

June 27 - July 3, 2013

• Rotters by Daniel Kraus
  free audio version read by Kirby Heyborne, courtesy of Listening Library
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  free audio version read by Jim Weiss, courtesy of Listening Library

July 4 - July 10, 2013

• Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford
  free audio version read by Nick Podehl, courtesy of Brilliance Audio
• She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
  free audio version read by a Full Cast, courtesy of L.A. Theatre Works

July 11 - July 17, 2013

• The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann (see post)
  free audio version read by Peter Altschuler, courtesy of HarperAudio
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  free audio version read by Simon Vance, courtesy of Tantor Audio

July 18 - July 24, 2013

• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
  free audio version read by Erin Moon, courtesy of Recorded Books
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
  free audio version read by a full cast, courtesy of L.A. Theatre Works

July 25 - July 31, 2013

• The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
  free audio version read by Charlie McWade, courtesy of Scholastic Audiobooks
• The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
  free audio version read by Steve West, courtesy of Blackstone Audio

Aug 1 - Aug 7, 2013

• Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
  free audio version read by Dan Weyman, courtesy of Macmillan Audio
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  free audio version read by Ralph Cosham, courtesy of Blackstone Audio

Aug 8 - Aug 14, 2013

• Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
  free audio version read by Katherine Kellgren, courtesy of Brilliance Audio
• Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
  free audio version read by Miriam Margolyes, courtesy of Bolinda Audio

Aug 15 - Aug 21, 2013

• Sold by Patricia McCormick
  free audio version read by Justine Eyre, courtesy of Tantor Audio
• Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie
  free audio version read by Tavia Gilbert, courtesy of Blackstone Audio

Visit Sync's Educators, Librarians, Bloggers page for more information about the program.

footnotes:

1. AudioGo, Blackstone Audio, Bolinda Audio, Brilliance Audio, ChristianAudio, HarperAudio, L.A. Theatre Works,  Listening Library, Macmillan Audio, Recorded Books, Scholastic Audiobooks, and Tantor Audio as indicated.
2. An ever so slightly modified version of their press release

Google Reader's demise and the FTC's need for clear[er] and [more] conspicuous disclosures

Two headaches in two days have shriveled my desire to blog going forward.

So, yesterday Google announced that it will be killing off Google Reader as of July 1, 2013. Now, if you use Google Reader you've no doubt been apprised of this news since you (like me) were greeted by a pop-up announcement when you logged in to read your feed last night. There are lots of other options (Lifehacker's Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives post discusses some of them and provides instructions on how to migrate over your feeds), but I'm unhappy on principle. I spend more time in Google Reader than I do on Facebook and I hate having it ripped away from me. I'll use this forced change (Reader-substitute to be determined) to weed my subscriptions, but I remain stubbornly resistant.

Also this week (Tuesday actually, but I didn't learn about it until today) the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a document explicating disclosure requirements for online advertising. The blog Beauty and Fashion Tech has a thorough overview of the new guidelines and how they impact bloggers: For Bloggers: How to Comply With The New FTC Guidance on Disclosing Products Provided For Review.
Now, as I understand it, if I want to continue posting reviews in my usual manner, I will need to make the following changes:

1. explicitly state next to each Powell's link that I would receive a 7.5% commission on what you buy if you buy anything at Powells.com after clicking through to the store via my link
2. make the first line of my post a statement that I received a copy of the book in question from someone/some entity to review if I happen to be posting about a review copy of that book (first line because I usually start the post with a title and author header that includes a link to the book's listing at Powells.com, 7.5% commission) while also keeping the end-of-post disclosure statement I already use in these instances

Of course I could also stop linking to any store sites, which wouldn't be too onerous considering that I've made all of $100.13 in the 6+ years that I've had this blog.  In the interest of full disclosure, $93.04 (plus ~$5 of my own money) was used to buy and ship the prizes for my 5-year anniversary giveaway and $7.09 is sitting unclaimed in my partner account.  But what of all the older posts?  I have neither the time nor the inclination to go back and edit ~930 posts to remove or annotate links.

The need to include the disclosure statement both at the beginning and at the end of the post irks me. It's unnecessarily repetitive, I think, especially given the clientele of a book blog (i.e. people who actually read and, hopefully, pay attention to what they are reading).

And, what bothers me more than anything else is that I have to worry about this when makeup companies can get away with using false eyelashes in mascara ads.

PSA: audiobook giveaway

My friend Jessica alerted me to this great giveaway going on at Publishers Weekly's audiobook blog, Listen Up -

The Great Audiobook Giveaway: Summer 2012

The 30+ book prize pack includes:

• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel (see post)
• Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann (see post)

All you need to do to enter is post a comment on the relevant blog post, preferably about your favorite audio book or narrator. That's it. They say that the winner will be announced on 31 August, so I assume it closes on the 10th. Good luck.

the best thing about summer

Summer is without question my least favorite season, mostly because I hate the weather. I don't hold up well in heat and humidity.

There's one thing I do like about summer though--
Sync, a program that provides free YA-appropriate audiobooks all summer
--and I was horrified to realize that I'd missed the first few week's of this year's program.
So, this is a belated public service announcement.

The Sync-week is Thursday-Wednesday so be sure to download this week's titles (Anna Dressed in Blood and The Woman in White) today or tomorrow.

Another important note, not mentioned below,¹ is that these books don't expire like the e-audiobooks you get from the library. So, be sure to check in each week to download the books even if you don't think you'll get around to reading them right away.

Sync YA literature into your earphones with
two free audiobook downloads each week
June 14 - August 22, 2012

Teens and other readers of young adult literature will have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required reading classics this summer. Each week from June 14 to August 22, 2012, Sync will offer two free audiobook downloads.

The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists.  For example, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the first book in a new series about a girl who opens a door to two otherworldly cities at war,² will be paired with Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.

SYNC Schedule:

July 5 – July 11, 2012
- Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO)

July 12 – July 18, 2012
- Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
- The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books)

July 19 – July 25, 2012
- Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
- Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO)

July 26 – August 1, 2012
- Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
- Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Brilliance Audio)

August 2 – August 8, 2012
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)²
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio)

August 9 – August 15, 2012
- Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
- Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast (Galaxy Press)

August 16 – August 22, 2012
- The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga’aia (Bolinda Audio)
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks)


And, just for documentary purposes - titles from previous weeks

June 14 – June 20, 2012
- The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, Read by Dan Bittner (Scholastic Audiobooks)
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Frank Galati [Adapt.], Read by Shirley Knight, Jeffrey Donovan, and a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

June 21 – June 27, 2012
- Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media)

June 28 – July 4, 2012
- The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library)
- Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens (Naxos AudioBooks)

More information about Sync is available on the Sync website

1. An ever so slightly modified version of their press release
2. I really enjoyed Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I read recently. See my post about it.

public service announcement:get a YA story from Jen Lancaster

Earlier today Jen Lancaster posted a request on her blog. She wants to test the commonly held belief that "social media mentions are tantamount to success" for authors. She's offering a free copy of her never-before-seen (young adult) short story, "The Girl Most Likely," to anyone who talks about her and her work on social media during the next week. And, you don't even need to say nice things. See this post on her blog for full details.

In any case, I like Jen Lancaster (she shares my affection for footnotes) so I have no problem going along with her experiment and I'm interested to hear the results (she's promised to report back). In any case, if you're interested in learning more about her work, I've posted abut Bitter is the New Black (see post) and Such a Pretty Fat (see post). Her blog is also good reading. If you're intrigued, you can post somewhere and earn a copy of "The Girl Most Likely." If not, it's no skin off anyone's back.

last chance to enter the giveaway

You have until the end of the day (11:59 pm, EDT) TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 10 to enter. More information in this post.

why you should enter my giveaway

Because of the fantastic prizes. If you win, you'll get something you've picked out for yourself (a book from your wishlist) as well as a book that I've handpicked for you.

My choice will definitely be a book that I've enjoyed myself. Here are some of the books that might be contenders (but my choice will be based on what I know of your reading tastes):

• 1984 by George Orwell
• All We Know of Love by Katie Schneider
• The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
• The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
• Stravaganza: City of Masks by Mary Hoffman
• Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann
• Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
• The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber
• Zahrah and the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

You have until Wednesday, August 10 (11:59 pm, EDT) to enter. More information in this post.

a couple of things

First, I want to thank Rhiannon Paille for featuring me on her blog last week.
If you don't know about her self-titled blog already, you should definitely check it out. Rhiannon is a really interesting person and I appreciate her book reviews and thoughts on the publishing industry.

Second, be sure to visit this blog later this month (in 10 days or so) as I have something extraordinary planned.
If you are one of those people who can't handle anticipation, you might a clue at the very bottom of this page if you look hard enough.

Have a great week, everyone.

NetGalley

This morning as I was catching up on my blog reading, I happened across a reference to NetGalley.¹ It sounded promising so I went to check it out straight away.

NetGalley "delivers secure, digital galleys to professional readers." The site considers you a professional reader if you are a reviewer, blogger, journalist, librarian, bookseller, educator, or member of the media. That definition is pretty broad and it may well cover the majority of this blog's readers.

Here's how it works:
You create an account on the site, after which you can search all the books available for request (you can also browse the catalog by genre, publisher, or date added).
Once you have an account you can request any of the titles, but almost all of the requests are vetted by the publishers (I did request one title that had automatic approval). Each publisher has different reviewer guidelines, which are outlined on the What are publishers looking for? page. Because the publishers screen you before approving your requests, it seems like you'll have better luck if you include lots of information in your profile (they call the part of the profile that the publishers can see your "public bio").
It seems like the majority of the time you'll be able to get the books you want in a format that'll work with the reader of your choice (using Adobe Digital Editions for rights management just like when you borrow ebooks from the library), but NetGalley also has a web-based reader.
Once you read the book, you still post your review in whatever places you would normally post it (whether that's on your blog, bookseller websites, or other review sites like LibraryThing and GoodReads), but notify the publisher about your review (and share a copy) through NetGalley (more details about this are on the Before you Request page).
The site also has Groups and Communities, but I haven't yet figured out what their purpose or how they work.

In any case, I have a long train ride on the schedule for Saturday so I've requested a bunch of books in the hopes of getting approved for a few in time to load them onto my Nook before the trip.

1. It was in this post on The Olive Reader (a blog associated with HarperPerennial).
   Another aside: the book mentioned in the post (Domestic Violets) sounds promising, doesn't it? I requested it via NetGalley so I'll be posting a review once I've read it.

giveaway

srah at srah blah blah is giving away a copy of Sandition by Jane Austen and "another lady."

Synopsis: When Charlotte Heywood accepts an invitation to visit the newly fashionable resort of Sanditon, she is introduced to a full range of polite society, from the local reigning dowager Lady Denham and her impoverished ward Clara, to the handsome, feckless Sidney Parker and his amusing, if hypochondriacal, sisters. A heroine whose clearsighted common sense is often at war with romance, Charlotte cannot help observing around her both folly and passion in many guises. But can the levelheaded Charlotte herself resist the attractions of the heart?
Publisher comments: "Out of print for more than 20 years, this novel--an 11-chapter fragment at Austen's death completed with seamless artistry by an Austen aficionado and novelist--is a wonderful addition to Austen's beloved books."

Head over to srah blah blah to enter.

PSA: book giveaway

Booklogged at A Reader's Journal is having a drawing for The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

I've been hearing lots about this novel (and it's on the voting list for next year's book club selections), so I'd love to get a copy. Depending on how many comments she gets, Booklogged has up to five copies to give away.

Pop over to this post to enter.