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Faith and challenge – stories true & terrible on free audiobooks

Jul2

Time to download this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

Click on a title, download a book, enter into another’s life:

CD cover of Echoes of an Angel by Aquanetta Gordon, Chris Macias | Read by Robin Miles Published by Christian Audio Echoes of an Angel
by Aquanetta Gordon, Chris Macias

Read by Robin Miles
Published by Christian Audio

A true story of faith as blind Ben masters echolocation to ‘see’ with sound, and his family sees God’s hand at work.
Buddha BoyCD cover of Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja | Read by Spencer Murphy Published by Full Cast Audio
by Kathe Koja
Read by Spencer Murphy
Published by Full Cast Audio

Justin must decide whether to bully the new Buddhist student like everyone else at his high school or learn how differences can bring harmony.

Faith in the face of unfair situations – where else have you seen this?
**kmm

So many stories

Jun26

Looking through oval window into gallery at Rembrandt's house in AmsterdamGaze out?
Peer inward?
Focus on something unseen?

Art, music, and books can help us do all these things.

But please don’t let preference for favorites keep you from trying new genres and types of books!

Grab a graphic novel like Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks and Canaan White to go into WWI trenches with underappreciated African American heroes – these aren’t “just comic books” for sure.

Read books aimed at younger readers that can bring important issues and hard truths to light. Like Water on Stone by Dana Walrath gives voice to victims of the Armenian Holocaust.

If you think all novels about death are depressing, reconsider with funny yet realistic Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark.

So, about my photo here: I visited Rembrandthuis to see how the great artist lived and worked, others were there for his paintings up close, a few were obviously dragged there by art-loving companions.

Standing in his recreated studio was decidedly worth climbing all the narrow, twisting stairways. But I was most pleased by seeing how the same etching looked when printed on different papers – the same story, with a slightly changed look.

How have you experienced different stories lately?

Staying off the tourist track in Amsterdam and meeting booklovers from all over (hi, Izzie and Mom and Dad!),
**kmm

Strong young women in WWII – free audiobooks of high prices paid

Jun18

Stories of courage, read by professionals – welcome to World War Two, through free audiobooks.

Remember that although these free complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you can listen to them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.

One tale is fiction, the other is biographical, both tell stories that we must never forget.
CD cover of Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein | Read by Sasha Pick Published by Bolinda Publishing Rose Under Fire
by Elizabeth Wein
Read by Sasha Pick<
Published by Bolinda Publishing

A young American woman flying Allied transport planes is downed in Germany and must survive the infamous Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp. A companion book to Code Name Verity.

 

Anne Frank RememberedCD cover of Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies, Alison Leslie Gold | Read by Barbara Rosenblat Published by Oasis Audio
by Miep Gies, Alison Leslie Gold
Read by Barbara Rosenblat
Published by Oasis Audio

The couple who sheltered Anne Frank’s family risked their lives daily for two years. Now Mies shares the story of her own life and those dangerous days in World War II.

What other tales of bravery by “everyday people” do you recommend?
**kmm

To Harlem and days of change with SYNC audiobooks

May21

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC take us to the African-American experience in Harlem of the 1950s, through personalities famous and everyday.

Click on the title to download either or both of these complete audiobooks. Remember that they’re only available from Thursday through Wednesday, but you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

Bookmark the SYNC site now so you can download great audiobooks all summer long: http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of X by Ilyasah Shabazz, Kekla Magoon, Read by Dion Graham, Published by Brilliance Audio X: A Novel
by Ilyasah Shabazz, Kekla Magoon
Read by Dion Graham
Published by Brilliance Audio

The daughter of Malcolm X tells of her famous dad’s years as a young adult, struggling to excel in a system where the odds were stacked against him.

CD cover of Here in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers | Read by Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, Charles Turner Published by Live Oak Media

 

Here in Harlem
by Walter Dean Myers
Read by Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, Charles Turner
Published by Live Oak Media

Many voices ring out in Myers’ 54 poems about his beloved Harlem, inspired by The Spoon River Anthology – both feature poems where neighbors, friend and enemy alike, talk about their everyday lives.

What other titles reflecting neighborhoods and linked lives do you recommend?
**kmm

Displacement, by Lucy Knisley (book review) – cruising with grandparents, dry-docked by aging

Feb17

book cover of Displacement A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley published by FantagraphicsCaribbean cruise during winter – yay!
Being with long-lived grandparents – good!
Traveling with them on the cruise – ummm…

Yes, Lucy did volunteer to go with her grandparents on the cruise, but dealing with dementia, body control problems, and boredom at sea weren’t quite what she’d planned on.

Enjoy an excerpt of this autobiographical travel graphic novel at the publisher’s site here. Get your copy soon – you won’t want to miss her grandfather’s actual WWII memoir which Lucy includes as she reads it during their unusual journey.

Lucy chronicled her growing-up years in Relish (my review here) and has written/illustrated other travelogues of her recent years, too.

**kmm

Book info: Displacement: A Travelogue / Lucy Knisley. Fantagraphics, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [video preview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When Lucy volunteers to travel with her 90-year-old grandparents on a cruise, she encounters much more than a change from winter weather as she deals with failing memory, family history, hope, and mortality in this graphic novel autobiography continuing the Relish artist/author’s life story.

Why her grandparents signed up for the cruise is a mystery as they have limited mobility, bad hearing, and no interest in gambling, swimming, or tours. But someone must go with them on planes and shuttles, through TSA security, and aboard the gigantic ship, so away the young woman goes, carrying her granddad’s memoir of WWII along.

Yes, flying with multiple connections, dealing with her grandmother’s dementia and grandfather’s failing health, and trying to find something to do for a week at sea are very difficult for Lucy, as every day brings more glimpses of mortality and the infirmities no one can control. Each day, the chapter title shows the sea level rising and rising, like Lucy’s stress and worry levels.

No, it wasn’t time wasted, as reading the memoir, coaxing her grandmother into the warm pool, and learning how folks stay married for over 65 years are gems that she will treasure. “Good or bad, it’s important to feel connected sometimes. Even if that connection can be painful,” Lucy writes, as she phones to check on how her grandparents are settling in after the trip is over.

 

Stories from the Holocaust in final AudioSYNC books of summer 2014

Aug7

The last week of summer 2014 to download free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

As long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device, you can listen to either or both of these complete audiobooks, if you download them by Wednesday, August 13, 2014.

CD cover of Living a Life That Matters: From Nazi Nightmare to American Dream By: Ben Lesser Read by: Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser Published by: Remembrance PublishingLiving a Life That Matters: from Nazi Nightmare to American Dream  (download here)
By: Ben Lesser
Read by:  Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser
Published by: Remembrance Publishing

A Holocaust survivor urges us to stand up for our neighbors, not stand idly by and allow violence to injure anyone.
The Shawl CD cover of The Shawl By Cynthia Ozick Read by Yelena Shmulenson Published by HighBridge Audio
By Cynthia Ozick
Read by  Yelena Shmulenson
Published by HighBridge Audio

In this award-winning short story, an anguished mother in a Nazi concentration camp searches for the shawl which could bring her just-murdered child back to life.
Many thanks to the publishers who allowed free downloads of their noteworthy audiobooks this summer through AudioSYNC.

Thirteen weeks, 26 great audiobooks – which was your favorite title?
**kmm

Harlem Hellfighters, by Max Brooks & Canaan White (book review) – WW I graphic novel of prejudice, peril & courage

Aug2

book cover of Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks art by Canaan White published by Broadway booksVolunteering to fight in the Great War,
stymied at every turn by their own countrymen,
the Black Rattlers will prevail or die trying.

As the world marks the centennial of World War I’s start this month, follow the African-American 369th Infantry from routine prejudices in the US to the unpredictable violence of trench warfare in this stunning graphic novel.

Combining emotion-packed art (be very, very glad that it’s not in full color) with the era’s poems and narratives, this book unlocks a little-known episode of American history as the “Men of Bronze” inch toward the Rhine through mud, blood, lice, and poison gas.

Get it today at your local library or independent bookstore. I’ll wait here for you – I’m going to read it again myself.

p.s. Will Smith has already optioned it for a movie.
p.p.s. Yes, the author is the same Max Brooks who wrote World War Z.
**kmm

Book info: Harlem Hellfighters / Max Brooks; art by Canaan White. Broadway Books, 2014. [author site]   [artist Tumblr]   [publisher site]   [NPR interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through BloggingForBooks.org.

My book talk: Black skin, white-hot patriotism, red blood on the battlefields of France – the 369th Infantry fights prejudice from the US Army itself en route to pushing German forces back to the Rhine during the Great War.

Practicing with broomsticks instead of the new rifles issued to white troops, the black National Guardsmen nevertheless become a formidable fighting unit with the best regimental band anywhere.

When the Men of Bronze from New York complete their training in South Carolina and ship out overseas in 1914 with no parades or fanfare, they fight in the muddy, bloody trenches alongside grateful French forces, determined to reach the Rhine.

A most graphic illustrated retelling of an ignored episode of US history, Harlem Hellfighters  uses the 369th’s enemy-given nickname in this true story of bravery and sacrifice.

SYNC audiobooks showcase Civil Rights herstory

Jul10

Courageous teen women in the early Civil Rights movement – this week’s free SYNC audiobooks bring little-heralded history/herstory to life.

CD cover of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice By Philip Hoose Read by Channie Waites Published by Brilliance AudioClaudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
By Philip Hoose
Read by Channie Waites
Published by Brilliance Audio

Several months before Rosa Parks’ celebrated bus ride in 1955, black teen Claudette rode a segregated Montgomery bus, but her protest was ignored by area Civil Rights leaders.

 

 

While the World WatchedCD cover of While the World Watched By Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George Read by Felicia Bullock Published by Oasis Audio
By Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George
Read by  Felicia Bullock
Published by Oasis Audio

As a 15 year old, Carolyn was an eyewitness to the fatal Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, another KKK atrocity in the South as the Civil Rights Movement grew.

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available for free download from Thursday through Wednesday, you can listen to them as long as you keep the Overdrive Media files on your computer or electronic device.

Visit SYNC for a full list of this summer’s featured audiobooks. If you missed any, try your local library or the publisher.
**kmm

Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History, by Joel Christian Gill (book review) – graphic novel

Jun15

book cover of Strange Fruit by Joel Christian Gill published by Fulcrum BooksA cycling champion,
a chessmaster,
a marshal who memorized arrest warrants –
lives of purpose whose stories are rarely told.

Nine “Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History” come to life through Joel Christian Gill’s unique art in this graphic novel, originally a series of mini-comics.

Gill took the name for his comic series from Abel Meerpol’s “Strange Fruit” about lynchings in the South, hauntingly performed by Billie Holiday.

Ask for Strange Fruit at your local library or independent bookstore – they may have to order this June 3rd #diversebooks release, but it’ll be worth the wait.

Any suggestions for Gill to include in volume 2?

**kmm

Book info: Strange Fruit, Volume 1: Uncelebrated Narratives from Obscure Black History / Joel Christian Gill.  Fulcrum Books, 2014. [author blog]  [publisher site]  [video interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Seven outstanding men and two groundbreaking institutions are featured in this graphic novel of little-told stories from African-American history.

Included are lawman Bass Reeves, who arrested 3,000 dangerous criminals during his 30-year career in Indian Territory, and Marshall “Major” Taylor, the Black Cyclone, fastest cyclist in the world in 1899, first black champion in any sport.

Henry “Box” Brown escaped from slavery by being packed in a crate for 27-hour wagon journey. The Noyes Academy in New England (1835) was the first integrated school, but townspeople drove them out.

From the original black pro basketball star to a magician’s greatest illusion, become more familiar with these lives which made a positive difference, despite prejudice.

Brave women of WWII in free SYNC audiobooks

Jun12

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC feature women who risked everything to save others from Nazi brutality and the horrors of World War II.

Download these free full-length audiobooks before Wednesday June 18, and you can listen to them for as long as you have them on your computer or electronic device.

CD cover of Code Name Verity By Elizabeth Wein Read by Morven Christie & Lucy Gaskell Published by Bolinda AudioCode Name Verity  (download here)
By Elizabeth Wein
Read by Morven Christie & Lucy Gaskell
Published by Bolinda Audio

Captured by the Gestapo when their  plane crashes in occupied France, young British spy Queenie survives her friend Maddie, but for how long?

CD cover of The Hiding Place By Corrie ten Boom, John Sherrill & Elizabeth Sherrill Read by Bernadette Dunne Published by Christian Audio
The Hiding Place (download here)
By Corrie ten Boom, John Sherrill & Elizabeth Sherrill
Read by Bernadette Dunne
Published by Christian Audio

The memoir of Dutch Resistance heroine who helped many Jews escape from the Nazis and later became a noted evangelist.

Such tales of bravery against terrible odds! Which one will you download first?
**kmm