Yay….Free Audio Books

I love to read books and I love to listen to books read to me!  I have been wanting to be able to download free audio books through a library and finally found out how to do it.  I have an iPod and listen to free podcasts I download from iTunes and audio books I have downloaded from either CDs I have purchased or from a free site that has books in the public domain.  LibraVox.org has lots and lots of titles to choose from but they are older books and I have listened to many over the last couple of years but wanted to listen to modern books too.

I knew I could pay to get a library card from a large library about an hour away in Hastings and get on the website to do what I wanted but didn’t want to pay the large fee to get the card every year.  Since I don’t live in that town the fees were $30-40 a year.  The little library I go to couldn’t afford to get into that program and also doesn’t have the Nebraskard for what ever reason.  To make a long story short I found I could go to the Clay Center library a little farther away from where I live, pay a $15 fee and get a library card and the Nebraskard.  The Nebraskard is honored by many Nebraska libraries and all I had to do was show the Hastings Public Library my Nebraskard and I got a card for that library with no extra fees. 

Library Cards VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Since I now have a Hastings library card I can get on the Nebraska Overdrive website and register to check out audio books that I can download directly to my computer and iPod – all for FREE.  The Clay Center Public Library is also too small to afford to do the Nebraska Overdrive web service but they can still provide their patrons a way of accessing it.
This may sound like a lot of piddling around to do but it is worth it.  I quickly checked out one audio book using my Hastings Public Library card number and now have it on my iPod.  The download said I could listen to it for a week then it would no longer be available….not sure how that works yet but will see.  It is just like checking out a book from the library as there is a lending period you can listen to the book.

I just checked the main OverDrive website and this is available in other states and some other countries too.  Check out this page on overdrive.com to do a search of a library near you for this service and read up on what you have to do to get signed up.  I am thrilled with being able to do this as I listen to books or podcasts all the time when I am driving and all the time when I am sewing.

I feel like bursting into song  I am so happy but I won't....no one wants to hear me sing!

Lynn

I Love To Read

http://www.clker.com/

I wondered how many books I would read in the course of a year so decided that this year I would keep track of them on a spread sheet.  Most of the audio books were downloaded from Libravox.org a website that provides audio recordings of books in the public domain.   Over the last few years I have enjoyed listening to a wide variety of audio books from this website.  Some are the old classics, some are good and some are not so good.  I give them all a chance and usually listen to the entire book as some are just a little slow grabbing my interest and prove to be pretty good after a while or at least fill my sewing time with a story to listen to.

This list below is more for me – good to look back and see how much I did read or listen too.  Skip the list if you want as this is definitely not quilt related. 

I have starred the ones I thought were good and wouldn’t mind reading or listening to again.  I will admit I didn’t score them as I read or listened to them but if I remember enjoying them they got a star.  Guess there are a lot of mediocre books out there.  If you have any favorite books or audio books that you really liked please leave me a comment and tell me the title.  I am always looking for good references.

In Hastings there is a used book store that I frequent when I am in town.  I take books up to sell for credit and buy books there too.  I don’t get full price but it is better than nothing and with the credit I can get more books.  We have a small library in our small town but it has limited hours, no audio books and don’t seem to make it there when it is open.  My sisters like to read and I have several friends that like to read so we trade books back and forth too.  


Ok – here is my book list – the paper kind. Most of the time I just read a little before I go to bed so don’t get a lot read each day but feel cheated if I can not read some every night.

The D.A. Calls it Murder by Erle Stanley Gardner
A Thread of Truth by Marie Bostwick
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
* The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
* Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
* Flower Net by Lisa See
Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg
A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg
* Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
* New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
* Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
* Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
* Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
My Audiobook list of books listened to in 2010:
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
The Haunted Bookshoop by Christopher Morley
The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult (not from LibraVox)
8 Sandpiper Way by Debbie Macomber (not from LibraVox)
* The Sea Wolf by Jack London
Esther Waters by George Moore
* The Moonstone by Wilkie Colloins
The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan
The Adventures of Sally by P.G. Wodenhouse
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Blue Envelope by Roy J. Snell
The Daffodil Mystery by Edgar Wallace
The Eight Strokes of the Clock by Maurice Leblanc
The House with the Twisting Passage by Anna Katherine Green
Initials Only by Anna Katherine Green
* Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed
* One of Ours by Willa Cather
Greenmantle by John Buchan
The Rosary by Florence Louisa Barclay
Adrift in New York by Horatio Alger

Lynn

Fabric Postcards

I finished the postcards I have been working on today. They are fused applique and were a lot of fun to make. I machine quilted them which adds to the dimensions of each one I think.

They are to send to the people who hosted us when we visited them in California in February. I found poems on the Internet that I printed on the backs and will be sending a small easel with each one so they can be displayed if they choose.

While making the postcards I have been listening to the audio book "Anne of Green Gables" I downloaded from http://librivox.org/ They have a lot of books to choose from, all in the public domain that can be listened to on line as well as downloaded to your own computer. It is very enjoyable to work and listen since I love to read this is the second best thing to do. This is a wonderful book I saw made into a made for TV movie years ago when our girls were young so decided to listen to it again and it has been a great.

Lynn