FREE/BARGAIN - Audiobooks - 2016

[koland]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Audible Channels -- Featured Free Audiobook -- Prime Members Only

Today's featured selection comes from the Dramatic History channel:


FREE -- Goodbye, Darkness -- William Manchester/ Barrett Whitener --> 15.1 hrs/ R-4.2 --> memoir

So, they are "featuring" one of the 56 free ones each day? Not really adding a new one, at this point, I take it.

In the app, I presume.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by koland

So, they are "featuring" one of the 56 free ones each day? Not really adding a new one, at this point, I take it.

In the app, I presume.

No, I'm featuring them to bring awareness to those who are unaware of the program. Audible has nothing to do with what I'm doing. I should've made that clear in the opening statement, so I'll make the necessary changes.

And you must use the app to stream these books.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Admittedly, this audiobook will not be for everyone.

I generally do not "go for" revisionist histories, of which this is one. I'll take some things said in the audiobook with a grain of salt. But I thought that this audiobook/book might make an entertaining listen/read, and a truly educational one except for, perhaps, the revisionist matter.

Of course, it's a fantastic bargain compared to the regular Audible price for the audio alone, or I wouldn't be posting it (or buying it for myself). In this case, the Whispersync deal (audiobook, ebook, and syncing) is only 31% of the price of the audiobook alone at Audible.

BTW--the author apparently argues that walking the plank never happened. And, a question that I hope he answers: did pirates really go around saying "har" all of the time? Maybe the book will tell . . . .

Title: Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates.
Genre: Non-Fiction (Naval/Caribbean & West Indies).
Author(s): David Cordingly.
Price: $6.48 ($1.99 ebook (marked down) + $4.49 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $20.95 (1 credit).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.3 stars/228 reviews, with a good distribution (Amazon).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 3.8/116 ratings.
Pages/Audio Length: 336/10 hours and 34 minutes.
Narrator(s): Don Hagen.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/pd/History/Un...ok/B006FKPGO4/.
Amazon URL (you can get the whole Whispersync deal here): https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-F.../dp/B004FEG2R2.
Comments: The book is the #1 seller in the Kindle store in one category; it is also #1 in one physical books category at Amazon.
Book Description (Amazon):
For this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier. 16 pp. of photos. Maps.

From the Hardcover edition.

I notice that the ebook is still marked down to $1.99, so the WS deal, for $6.48, continues.

I've been listening to the audio. Pretty interesting stuff. Very interesting at some points.

The narrator speaks with a matter-of-factly voice, That's okay, for me, with this book, because the subject matter will keep your interest anyway. I didn't delve into the reasons for the fairly low (3.8) audio rating, but I wouldn't be surprised if the lukewarm ratings weren't in large part for the narrator's matter-of-factly narration.

I'm no experts on pirates. But, I've listened to about 1/3 of the book and I really haven't heard any revisionism to speak of. The author does dismiss the "walking the plank" business as myth, saying that the pirates had a lot of other things to do than stand around and watch one of those (they were much more into cutting up, slashing, and chopping up victims, it seems).

[tubemonkey]

Here's another free tale for your Halloween listening, the classic Phantom of the Opera:

Audiobooks.org --> archives

FREE -- Phantom of the Opera -- Gaston Leroux/ Alexander Adams --> 7.8 hrs/ R-3.8 --> horror

On the screen and on Broadway, this classic tale of romance and horror has thrilled audiences the world over. No director in his right mind could refuse the gothic eeriness of Gaston Leroux's most famous novel. Now, experience the work that began it all, the story of an ingenious artist driven mad by injustice and love. Deep in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House, a masked monster lurks, dreaming of the day that he'll capture a beautiful singer and keep her in his own twilit world. But the road to realizing his fantasy is strewn with fear and murder. What evil will the phantom perpetrate when the curtain rises again? Once you hear the original tale, you'll discover why this century-old novel still stirs our imaginations today.

The Phantom of the Opera (Audible Summary)

Under the Paris Opera House lives a disfigured musical genius who uses music to win the love of a beautiful opera singer.

The actors, singers, and patrons of the Paris Opera House say that a ghost haunts the labyrinthine chambers beneath its stage. While there are those who laugh off such superstitions, they always do so nervously, in the bright light of day. Nearly everyone connected with the Opera House in any way has felt the phantom's vague, troubling presence. But beautiful, talented young singer Christine Daae will soon experience a terror far more acute than any vague feeling of unease. For she is about to learn the secret of why the man who has made the tunnels beneath Paris his private domain must forever hide his face behind a mask.

Part horror story, part historical romance, and part detective thriller, the timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, as well as to movie and theater-goers. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies a universal theme: the relationship between outward appearance and the beauty or darkness of the human soul.

[marylou13]

Another audible freebie has surfaced: "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.

Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of 20th-century African-American life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching - yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places.

After a brief prologue, the story begins with a terrifying experience from the hero's high-school days; it then moves quickly to the campus of a "Southern Negro college" and then to New York's Harlem, where most of the action takes place.

The many people that the hero meets in the course of his wanderings are remarkably various, complex and significant. With them he becomes involved in an amazing series of adventures, in which he is sometimes befriended but more often deceived and betrayed - as much by himself and his own illusions as by the duplicity and the blindness of others.

Invisible Man is not only a great triumph of storytelling and characterization; it is a profound and uncompromising interpretation of the anomalous position of blacks in American society.

Enjoy!
~M.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by marylou13

Another audible freebie has surfaced: "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.

Enjoy!
~M.

Thanks - added to OP & Free Audible Titles

[ApK]

Oh, THAT Invisible Man...I assumed it was a Halloween-themed freebie....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ApK

Oh, THAT Invisible Man...I assumed it was a Halloween-themed freebie....

My first thought too.

[tubemonkey]

Audible UK Daily Deal -- exp 28 Oct @ 11:59 PM BST

£2.99 -- Hanging Girl -- Jussi Adler-Olsen/ Graeme Malcolm --> 15.6 hrs/ R-4.0 --> suspense

The Hanging Girl --> Department Q Series (book 6 of 6)

Whispersync: Audible (£2.99) | Kindle (£3.99)

In the middle of a hard-won morning nap in the basement of police headquarters, Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, receives a call from a colleague working on the Danish island of Bornholm.

Carl is dismissive at first, but then he receives some shocking news. Carl then has no choice but to lead Department Q into the tragic cold case of a vivacious 17-year-old girl who vanished from school, only to be found dead hanging high up in a tree.

The investigation will take them from the remote island of Bornholm to a hidden cult, where Carl and his assistants must stop a string of new murders by a skilled manipulator who refuses to let anything - or anyone - get in the way.

[GtrsRGr8]

Am I about to scoop the 'monkey? I do believe that I am.

Downpour has 100 "Chilling" (Halloween-themed, not temperature-related, I'm sure. ha) audiobooks for only $3.95 each.

All of the ones for $3.95 appear to be downloads only.

Here's the landing webpage for the sale.

This sale ends on 10/31/16, which is Halloween, I do believe.

None of the titles are going to be of interest to me. I just don't get into the whole "chilling" mood around Halloween or at any other time of the year, for that matter. The closest that I've gotten to it is being a fan of Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kicker Five's "Monster Mash" (the re-release in 1977, not the original in 1962, in case you are wondering) audio. It's kind of fun to play on Halloween when I'm either answering the door giving out candy or have all of the lights turned out so the little crumb crunchers will go away.

However, I am impressed to see such a great price at Downpour on so many downloads. I hope that this is the beginning of a trend.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Here's another free tale for your Halloween listening, the classic Phantom of the Opera:

Audiobooks.org --> archives

FREE -- Phantom of the Opera -- Gaston Leroux/ Alexander Adams --> 7.8 hrs/ R-3.8 --> horror

Thank you, tubemonkey! FYI, this is a release of this earlier version which comes with a free ebook, downloadable here.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Am I about to scoop the 'monkey? I do believe that I am.

Downpour has 100 "Chilling" (Halloween-themed, not temperature-related, I'm sure. ha) audiobooks for only $3.95 each.

All of the ones for $3.95 appear to be downloads only.

Here's the landing webpage for the sale.

This sale ends on 10/31/16, which is Halloween, I do believe.

None of the titles are going to be of interest to me. I just don't get into the whole "chilling" mood around Halloween or at any other time of the year, for that matter. The closest that I've gotten to it is being a fan of Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kicker Five's "Monster Mash" (the re-release in 1977, not the original in 1962, in case you are wondering) audio. It's kind of fun to play on Halloween when I'm either answering the door giving out candy or have all of the lights turned out so the little crumb crunchers will go away.

However, I am impressed to see such a great price at Downpour on so many downloads. I hope that this is the beginning of a trend.

Yep, you did

Thanks - will add to OP

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Froide

Thank you, tubemonkey! FYI, this is a release of this earlier version which comes with a free ebook, downloadable here.

YW, and thanks for the additional info

[tubemonkey]

Audiobooks.com Sale -- exp 31 Oct

$6.66 -- October Thriller Sale (50 titles)

Great sales on spooky favorites

Some are thrilling, some are terrifying, all are only $6.66!

[nancy-mo]

Whispersync Deal: Julia Kent's Shopping for a Billionaire Box Set

This hilarious romantic comedy is a great Whispersync deal. $0.99 for the Kindle 5 book boxed set and $1.99 for the Whispersync Audible version. I'm terrible at posting, but take a look.