Simply Audiobooks Inc.

It’s almost a cliche that audio books are great for kids who aren’t naturally inclined toward reading… but I wish it came up more often that audio books just generally boost a kid’s capacity for reading, even if they’re already good readers.

In retrospect, I probably would have benefited significantly from audio books when I was a kid, even though my reading comprehension was advanced by several grades, and I’d routinely polish off 2 or 3 books each week… I ended up with a vocabulary that far outpaced my ability to actually pronounce words correctly. In fact, I still embarrass myself fairly regularly with mispronunciations… luckily I’ve convinced most people it’s a charming idiosyncracy .

Free audio books at SAB! We’re now offering a different title to download for free every month.

Georgia State University students have made a film meditation on the speed limit, which made me so happy that I don’t live anywhere near there.
A small gang of these students basically took over a whole highway, driving at the speed limit… can you imagine how maddening that would be? I can’t remember ever being on a highway where at least one lane wasn’t going about 20% over the speed limit (ie, around here the limit’s 100kph, and the far right lane is always going at least 120kph, and in the short movie the limit’s 55mph and everyone is used to driving at least 70mph).
There is no way that I would have the guts to be a part of this kind of prank. It’s civil obedience gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Not all the quirky little experiments we’ve tried fell flat. Like the blue mailers… they used to have all these little funny sayings on them, which members didn’t always notice, but when they did, they really enjoyed ‘em. And best of all, people even noticed when they disappeared!

Now we’re looking for more ideas for the blue audio book mailer.

People sometimes ask me about my favourite books. For me, the test is whether I’ve read the book more than once and/or recommended it many times. Aren’t your favourite movies ones you’ve seen many times? Like the original Star Wars series, or Sound of Music?

My favourite book then would have to be Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s a book that non-sci-fi lovers love, despite it’s scenario of alien invasion. So I like recommending it because it introduces them to something really new.

I’m not normally a fan of love stories, but I recently listened to The Time Traveler’s Wife by  Audrey Neffenegger, and darned if what I thought was science fiction didn’t turn out to be a wonderful genre-spanning love story. But…. I can’t say it’s of my all-time favourites, because another criterion for that distinction has to be the test of time.

My 10 year old daughter just read Ender’s Game and loved it (it’s also trans-generational). She’s also read each of the Harry Potter books a couple of times. I wonder if Harry will stand the test of time? You can’t recommend the darn book, just because everyone’s already read it. Da Vinci code is another that I think is a great book, but is more of a cultural fad than one that people will recall decades later and reminisce about their first time.

Speaking of which, you should check out the movie Bambi… My daughter has watched is several (more than 30) times and highly recommends it. Believe it or not, it’s also a book. Unfortunately for me, it’s not sci-fi, though I’ve always wondered how all those animals learned to talk.