Are you a young adult who enjoys listening to audiobooks?  Or an adult who enjoys listening to young adult (YA) audiobooks?  Or just someone with an interest in audiobooks?  Then let me tell you about a great program happening this summer. For the third year in a row, SYNC, sponsored by AudioFile, is offering two free audiobook downloads per week from May 30 to June 5, 2013.  The downloads consist of one current YA title thematically paired with a classic title.  These eAudiobooks are yours to keep and listen to whenever you want to.  Just visit this page every week starting Thursday, May 30, 2013 to download the two titles.

See the selections from SYNC for Summer 2013 below!

And if you can’t wait or you want to preview the offerings, you can always check out some version of each title from SJPL.  See the link after each for SJPL’s offerings.

May 30 – June 5, 2013
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks (SJPL)
The Tempest by William Shakespeare (SJPL)

June 6 – June 12, 2013
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood (SJPL)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (SJPL)

June 13 – June 19, 2013
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (SJPL)
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (SJPL)

June 20 – June 26, 2013
Once by Morris Gleitzman (SJPL)
Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. (SJPL)

June 27 – July 3, 2013
Rotters by Daniel Kraus (SJPL)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (SJPL)

July 4 – July 10, 2013
Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford (SJPL)
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (SJPL)

July 11 – July 17, 2013
The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann (SJPL)
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (SJPL)

July 18 – July 24, 2013
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (SJPL)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (SJPL)

July 25 – July 31, 2013
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (SJPL)
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (SJPL)

Aug 1 – Aug 7, 2013
Death Cloud by Andrew Lane (SJPL)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (SJPL)

Aug 8 – Aug 14, 2013
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (SJPL)
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (SJPL)

Aug 15 – Aug 21, 2013
Sold by Patricia McCormick (SJPL)
Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie (SJPL)

August is Audio Appreciation Month! Celebrate this event by checking out various audio book and music titles at your library! Here are a few recommendations for children.
* indicates Series

Books on CD

Harry Potter* by J.K. Rowling

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart

39 Clues* by Various Authors

A series of intriguing adventure stories written by today's popular authors such as Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis and more. These audio books will engage readers by combining card collecting, reading and online gaming.

Digital Audio Books

Besides compact disc, you can also download audio books to your digital audio player, including your iPod, smartphone, or home computer via OverDrive Digital Library or OneClickdigital. Using your digital audio player, you can transition or navigate to other chapters of the book without having to change discs. Here are a few recommended digital audio book titles:

Children's Digital Audio Books

Artemis Fowl* by Eoin Colfer

The Mysterious Benedict Society* by Trenton Lee Stewart

Percy Jackson and the Olympians* by Rick Riordan

Tina Fey’s Bossypants is awarded Audiobook of the Year 2012, by the Audio Publishers Association. For all of the 2012 winners and finalists listed in various categories, pleas visit the Audies Competition; the titles are grouped in more than two dozen categories including works of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s. Provided with the list are book reviews to read, as well as segments of the audios to listen.

Allan Wolf’s The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic won the award for Distinguished Achievement in Production. “This production tells the story of the passengers on the TITANIC through interlinked poems from multiple perspectives. Five narrators help listeners keep the large cast straight as they create appropriate and distinct voices for each character.” You may listen to an excerpt of this audiobook at the Audies Competition site. Currently in our neighborhood, there is a copy only at Santa Clara County Library though.

For downloadable audiobooks at SJPL, visit Overdrive; and use library card and PIN to download. Below are a couple high-interest titles:

Bossypants

I, Claudius  

The Barefoot Executive

In general, for ebooks and audiobooks, visit the library’s download page; for books or recorded books, see our catalog. For example, here are, besides download, two different formats of Tina Fey’s:

Bossypants (Print)

Bossypants (Book CD)

Happy reading and listening!

I recently had a conversation with a colleague in which we agreed that movies based on books, no matter how good, are virtually never as good as the book itself. However, I've become a big fan of audiobooks, and I believe that many audiobooks are as good or even better that the print version of the book. Listening to books instead of reading them has obvious benefits for people who have a vision impairment or who want to enjoy a book while driving, walking, or exercising. But beyond that, some books seem especially cut out for the audio format because there are multiple narrators, each of whom can be supplied with a distinct voice. A well-read (acted?) audiobook can add intonation, accents, and other elements that enrich the story. Case in point: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Set in the early 60s during the civil rights era in Jackson, Mississippi, the book is told through the viewpoints of two black maids and a young white woman who wishes to write a chronicle of the maids' stories. Listening to the book, I find it hard to imagine that I could enjoy it any more in print format (although, with the book's bestseller status, the print version is doing just fine, thank you). Another book I found particularly suited to audio format is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger -- again, because the book is told from the standpoint of more than one narrator. San José Public Library has an increasing number of audio options available to customers. In addition to books on CD, you can download audiobooks with your library card via Overdrive, MyiLibrary, and NetLibrary. I was able to download The Help from Overdrive with no waiting, and transferred it to my iPod. I'm looking forward to the movie scheduled for release in August... but I doubt it will be as good as the (audio)book!

Most readers know that Stephen King's novels usually take place in the state of Maine, where the novel Olive Kitteridge (2008), by Elizabeth Strout also takes place, but King broke out of the mold with the popular Duma Key (2008),which takes place in Florida. Many novels take place in New York, both city and state.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), by Jonathan Safran Foer, a moving 9/11 novel, features a child as the main character. Most of the Agent Pendergrast series of novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, such as Cemetery Dance (2009), start in New York City as well, while also visiting, among other sites, Prendergast's childhood home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Gone Tomorrow (2009), one of Lee Child's best thrillers, also takes place in New York.

Moving West, Jeannette Walls' novel, Half-Broke Horses (2009), is based on her grandmother's incredible life growing up in Texas and Arizona. Alaska is featured in the mysteries of Dana Stabenow and in a bleak new novel about marriage and relationships, Caribou Island (2011), by David Vann. Finally, the "granddaddy" of all writers of novels about states, James Michener, wrote one of the best ever, Hawaii (1959).

These days it's easy to see what your favorite author is doing - besides hopefully working on the next great book. John Green is a great example:

• You can see videos and get all kinds of information on his website
• You can read quotes on goodreads
• Or just follow him on twitter or facebook

And while you are waiting for his next book: listen to his latest book Will Grayson, Will Grayson as an audiobook!