FREE AUDIOBOOKS: AudioBook Sync has started for the summer

[shawthorne44]

 

https://www.audiobooksync.com/2018-sync-titles/

The audiobook sync has started for the summer.   Good thing they sent me an email otherwise I would have missed several.   

I gave the books a quick peek and first impression is that they are much better than last year.   Somehow I had been unaware of Terry Pratchett until Audiobook Sync offered Dodger, so I will always be grateful to them.  

 

[8filltheheart]

I looked a couple of days ago and my reaction was that they are similar to last yr and I am disappointed again.  There are a few we will download but most will be skipped. In the past I have been excited about almost every title.

[Ottakee]

Can you pick and choose which ones to download?  Does it send you a reminder each week of which books are available?  Do you then own them or just borrow for a set amount of time?

[shawthorne44]

To download, you have to give them your name and email.   Just on general principles I gave them my gmail account that I give to all places that might spam me.  They haven't been bad though.   An occasional audiobook email on what is new, and the reminders that a download is available.   

When you download, you do each book at a time.  I think I only got about half of last year's.   Once you have them, you own them, they are not borrowed.  They will show up in your overdrive software with no expiration date.   You can also find the folder where the files are stored on your computer and move them to be with the rest of your audio stuff.   They are just mp3's.    

[vonfirmath]

On 4/26/2018 at 8:38 AM, shawthorne44 said:

 

https://www.audiobooksync.com/2018-sync-titles/

The audiobook sync has started for the summer.   Good thing they sent me an email otherwise I would have missed several.   

I gave the books a quick peek and first impression is that they are much better than last year.   Somehow I had been unaware of Terry Pratchett until Audiobook Sync offered Dodger, so I will always be grateful to them.  

 

 

Last year was pretty bad in choices. So I'm hoping for better!

[vonfirmath]

2 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

To download, you have to give them your name and email.   Just on general principles I gave them my gmail account that I give to all places that might spam me.  They haven't been bad though.   An occasional audiobook email on what is new, and the reminders that a download is available.   

When you download, you do each book at a time.  I think I only got about half of last year's.   Once you have them, you own them, they are not borrowed.  They will show up in your overdrive software with no expiration date.   You can also find the folder where the files are stored on your computer and move them to be with the rest of your audio stuff.   They are just mp3's.    

 

One warning: The first file you download is a Pointer file. You have to (within the week the titles are available) go into OVerdrive and download the files the pointer is pointing at.  So make sure you have the mp3 files before you assume you are done.  Yes, I am still listening to titles I downloaded 2 and 3 years ago.

 

[Farrar]

I'm not sure why this is a "bad" list. There are fewer classics than they've had in the past, I think? But there are still three classic titles. And as I understand it, the purpose is to appeal to a wide variety of teenage readers/listeners, which this really does. There are some big name titles and authors on here that are critically acclaimed and/or really popular with teens right now. Kwame Alexander, Robyn Schneider... these are big names in YA. I've heard good things about When Dimple Met Rishi and Love At First Sight and I really liked Openly Straight. I love that's so diverse and there are light and heavy options both.

[shawthorne44]

 

Yeah, you can't beat free.   

I thought last year's was way too agenda-heavy.  A bit of that is fine, and any individual week was fine.  But, I felt like they were trying to beat us over the head with the agendas.   I understand why that would be,  The publishers have to agree for their book to be included.   So, first-in-a-series, agenda-books and classics will be most likely to end up on the list.  Last year's also seemed very heavy.   

As a YA, I didn't read YA.  Maybe because there wasn't so much of it.  Probably because I'd rebelled as a kid at librarians and teachers trying to get me to read childish twaddle, so I went to adult books and stayed there.  Now, 40+ I'm enjoying YA.   Every single year there has been one book that I treasured and I'd never have discovered otherwise.  

eta:  What was HGTTG?   I need to see if I listened to that one and if not, do.  

Edited April 28, 2018 by shawthorne44
added

[Farrar]

Is "agenda books" code for diversity and LGBTQ books? To the kids who need those books, they're not an agenda, they're just books they need. To the rest of them, they're books that can help bridge understanding.

HGTTG is Hitchhiker's Guide. A true classic, of course! This year's list is missing something like that - a pop classic or scifi classic of the last fifty years or so. ETA: Though there is a pop mystery, but I don't know if it's well known. Sadly, I don't read much in thrillers and the only time I dip into mysteries, they tend to be cozies or almost cozies.

Some of the books that look "better" in previous years maybe didn't look better in the moment? I mean, I'll Give You the Sun was one there before it became a hit. Grasshopper Jungle is on there before it won its Printz.

[RootAnn]

I meant to check out some of these before they started, but I only had a chance to try out Kwame's poetry. Thumbs down on that one for me, but I'm sure it is someone else's cup of tea. My teens & tweens would not be interested. 

I still love that they do this every summer. We've found some real gems, but the last two years have been disappointing in quality overall. I think they have a Shakespeare one again, so I'm glad for that. I missed it when they didn't have one for a few years.

[vonfirmath]

Looking over my records, there wasn't a single book last year that I downloaded that has survived to this year.  Maybe I forgot to download the weeks that had stuff I'd be interested in. But even then--it was not interesting enough to make sure I got there and got it downloaded.

I have several books from both 2015 and 2016 that still get listened to. (though for some reason my Words in the Dust is incomplete. It just breaks off.)

[shawthorne44]

1	THE GREAT WAR	A toy soldier. A butter dish. A compass. Mundane objects, perhaps, but to the remarkable authors in this collection, artifacts such as these have inspired stories that go to the heart of the human experience of World War I.
1	A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE	The first book in a witty, suspenseful new trilogy about a brilliant new crime-solving duo: the teen descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
2	THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY	Urrea’s book conveys the ambiance of the border between the U.S. and Mexico and the human cost of U.S. immigration policy. The story revolves around the gruesome events—now more than a decade old—that resulted in the deaths of 14 Mexicans who were trying to walk into the U.S. across the desolate Sonoran Desert. Urrea is scrupulously evenhanded in his treatment of U.S. officials and Mexican immigrants. He’s even fair to the “Coyote” gangsters most obviously responsible for the tragedy.
2	SOLO	Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback.
3	JOHNNY GET YOUR GUN	When a nine-year-old boy shoots an older child, a race war is ignited between militant blacks and racist whites of 1960s Pasadena.
3	ON TWO FEET AND WINGS	Abbas Kazerooni is not yet ten, but he’s suddenly forced to leave his parents, his friends—his entire world—and flee Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war is at its bloodiest, and the Ayatollahs who rule Iran have reduced the recruitment age for the army. If Abbas doesn’t escape, it’s almost certain that he will be drafted and die fighting for a regime that has stripped his family of all they have.
4	BEING JAZZ	At the age of five, Jazz transitioned to life as a girl, with the support of her parents. A year later, her parents allowed her to share her incredible journey in her first Barbara Walters interview, aired at a time when the public was much less knowledgeable or accepting of the transgender community.
4	SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE	Montgomery Sole is a square peg in a small town, a girl with two moms forced to go to a school full of homophobes and people who don't even know what irony is. Her saving grace--her two best friends, Thomas and Naoki.
5	WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI	Now that Dimple Shah has graduated, she's ready for a break from her family - especially from Mamma's inexplicable obsession with her finding the "Ideal Indian Husband." Ugh. But Dimple knows that her mother must respect that she isn't interested in doing that right now - otherwise she wouldn't have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers, right?
5	BAKER'S MAGIC	Bee, a young orphan, is terribly hungry when she steals a bun from a local bakery. This desperate act sets off a series of events that takes the twelve-year-old on an incredible adventure that begins with her being hired by the baker and discovering that whatever she bakes reflects her current mood. Bee’s unusual talent comes in handy as she helps her new friend Princess Anika escape the evil mage, meets up with pirates and finds a family.
6	LOVE AND FIRST SIGHT	After a lifetime attending a school for the blind, sixteen-year-old Will Porter's first day at a mainstream high school went about as well as he expected.  … But learning to see is more difficult than Will could have ever imagined, and as he adjusts to his new sense, he finds the sighted world has been keeping more secrets from him than he realized.
6	EXTRAORDINARY MEANS	Up until his diagnosis, Lane lived a fairly predictable life. But when he finds himself at a tuberculosis sanatorium called Latham House, he discovers an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and an eccentric yet utterly compelling confidante named Sadie - and life as Lane knows it will never be the same.
7	EVERLAND	Forget the story of Peter Pan you know. Because in Everland, the only way to grow up is to survive. London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived are children, among them Gwen Darling and her siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the ruthless Marauders -- the German Army led by Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer. Unsure if the virus has spread past England's borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook hunts for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the survivors. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return. Until the day they grab Joanna. As Gwen sets out to save her, she meets a mysterious boy named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground.
7	THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA	The Four Just Men, dedicated to ridding the world of unpunished criminals and profiteers, take their campaign into the treacherous, aristocratic world of gambling, horse-racing and high finance, where blackmail, poison and murder are commonplace. Working outside the law, the Four take it upon themselves to clean things up in their own way.
8	MY NAME IS NOT FRIDAY	A gorgeously written account of a freeborn black boy sold into slavery during the Civil War; think 12 Years a Slave for young adults.
8	COME AUGUST, COME FREEDOM	Born a slave in 1776, Gabriel grows up capable and literate only to be taken from his mother and sent to the capital city as a blacksmith’s apprentice.
9	OPENLY STRAIGHT	Rafe is a normal teenager from Colorado. He's been out since 8th grade, accepted by his peers & championed by his progressive parents. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to be a regular guy. To have his sexuality be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time. So when Rafe transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down and realizes his own labels aren't well-concealed. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben...who doesn't even know that love is possible.
9	DOCTOR CERBERUS	Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's coming-of-age, coming-out cocktail with a twist of terror. Thirteen-year-old Franklin Robertson is trying to survive adolescence. His parents don't understand him, his brother torments him, he has no friends, and he's more interested in the high school quarterback than any girl. The one bright spot in his life is the glow of the black-and-white TV in his parents' basement. Here, he worships at the altar of the Saturday Night Horror Movie, hosted by the eerie Dr. Cerberus. Before long, Franklin is convinced that only by going on the show will his life be redeemed—by Dr. Cerberus himself!
10	MACBETH	When General Macbeth is foretold by three witches that he will one day be King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth convinces him to get rid of anyone who could stand in his way—including committing regicide. As Macbeth ascends to the throne through bloody murder, he becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and paranoia.
10	THE CURSE OF CROW HOLLOW	Billy Coffey draws us into a town where good and evil—and myth and reality—intertwine in unexpected ways. Everyone in Crow Hollow knows of Alvaretta Graves, the old widow who lives in the mountain. Many call her a witch; others whisper she’s insane. Everyone agrees the vengeance Alvaretta swore at her husband’s death hovers over them all.
11	GIRLS LIKE US	With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world.
11	THE INVISIBLE GIRLS	A girl scarred by her past. A refugee mother uncertain of her future. Five little girls who brought them together.
12	HOW TO HANG A WITCH	Salem, Massachusetts, is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather. Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials—and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves the Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?
12	THE SCARLET LETTER	Hester Prynne, an unmarried young mother who must wear an embroidered scarlet "A," denoting her commission of adultery.
13	THE LOST WORLD	this tale of a trip by journalists, scientists, and adventurers to investigate rumors of dinosaurs on a mysterious plateau deep in a mythical South American jungle. Much fun and over-the-top adventure ensue.
13	MONSTROUS BEAUTY	Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.