Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Monday, June 18, 2012

Fill Your MP3 Player with Free Audio Books this Summer

SYNC is offering 2 Free Audiobook Downloads Each Week  June 14 - August 22, 2012 

Each week from June 14 - 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, will be paired with Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.

To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit www.AudiobookSync.com or text syncya to 25827. 

This week's books are The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  Be sure to grab them by Wednesday June 20, because they'll only be available for one week.  Once you've downloaded them, you can listen to them any time - they do not expire.

Here's a list of the upcoming titles:
  • 06/21/12-06/27/12
    Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
    Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media) 
  •  06/28/12-07/04/12
    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) 
  • 07/05/12-07/11/12
    Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
    The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO) 
  •  07/12/12-07/18/12
    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) 
  • 07/19/12-07/25/12
    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) 
  • 07/26/12-08/01/12
    Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
    Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Brilliance Audio) 
  • 08/02/12-08/08/12
    Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio) 
  • 08/09/12-08/15/12
    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) 
  • 08/16/12-08/22/12
    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) 
What a great way to keep young people 'reading' over the summer!

I may be all grown up, but I enjoy reading/listening to YA literature, too.  I'm actually looking forward to listening to several of the classics on this list, because I've never read them.  They were not on my school reading lists, and I never read them on my own.  I guess it's about time....  Which ones are you looking forward to?

I would strongly suggest you sign up to get the alerts, via text message or email, so you don't miss any of these downloads.  I did, because I just know I'll forget if somebody doesn't remind me.  All downloads are in MP3 format and you'll need the FREE Overdrive Media Console to download them.  They'll only be available for that one week, but once you've downloaded them, you can listen any time.

If none of these titles spark your interest, be sure to visit your local library to find out if they offer the Overdrive service where you can browse and downloads hundreds (thousands?  probably thousands) of audio books and ebooks from the comfort of your own home.  Those are free, too.  However, they do come with an expiration date, just like all library checkouts.
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

How Fast Do You Read?

This is fun.  Take a quick test to see how fast you read and how your speed compares to other people.  Then you'll get to see how long it would take you to read popular and classic books at that speed.

Click the image to start your test.  You can use the little Options Cog to pick the book you'd like to read from and the length of the sample.  The say a longer sample is more accurate.

Be sure to come back and let me know how you did!  I got 367 words per minute - 47% faster than the national average.  My son got 900 and some words per minute.  I'm jealous.  I wish I could read as fast as he does!  (of course, he was reading at a 7th grade level at the end of 2nd grade, and he's been reading voraciously ever since)


Friday, October 28, 2011

Love this Version!

Image representing YouVersion as depicted in C...Image via CrunchBaseAbout a year ago, one of my friends mentioned on Facebook that she had started an online Bible reading plan together with a couple other friends.  Being nosy, or always looking for a good site for Bible reading, I asked her what site they were using.  That's how I found YouVersion, and I really love it.  They have many, many, many different Bible versions for reading, and it's so handy when I'm online and want to look up a scripture.  You can even use the Parallel option to compare two versions at once.

There are lots of reading plans to choose from - over 150.  Choose a plan, and YouVersion sets it up for you and gives you the daily readings - and keeps track of your progress.  I just started a Chronological plan to read through the entire Bible in chronological order, and my plan is 1.4% complete!  I hope I won't need to do it too often, but YouVersion also has an option to 'Catch Me Up!' so if you get behind (or read ahead) it will reset the calendar to make you current.  This is good for me because I tend to get discouraged when I get behind a few days and despair of ever catching up - so this way I can just catch up and continue with the plan.  I think it sets people up for success.

YouVersion is also available as a Mobile App for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows phone, and practically everything else - meaning you can take your Bible reading with you everywhere you go!  I love it.  I've got it on my tablet, and it makes the daily Bible reading so nice, and it keeps track of my progress as I go.  I also love that the app makes it super easy to share verses to Facebook!  and take notes, and highlight meaningful verses.  All the Bible versions that are available on the web are available in the app if you're connected to the Internet or your service provider, and many of them are available for download, meaning you can read the ones you download literally anytime, anyplace, even when you can’t connect to your service provider or to the Internet.  This Sunday and Monday, two versions that aren't usually available for download will be - the NIV and NLT.  They will only be available from 12am Central time on Sunday October 30 through 11:59pm on Monday October 31.  The NLT is one of my favorite versions, so I'm planning to download that one.  Usually I'm using my tablet here or somewhere that I'm connected to WiFi, but you never know, and I like knowing I will always have it available.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying everything YouVersion has to offer, and I'm sure there are even more features that I haven't discovered yet.  And did I mention that it's all FREE!
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