Contest Alert: Will Your Review Make The Grade?
Now that the kids are back at school, you’ve got more time for audiobooks, right? And more time to write awesome audiobook reviews!
To help get you back into the swing of your super-fantastic-amazing review writing, we’ve come up with a contest that (we hope) will help get your creativity flowing.
The Rules:
Review an audiobook you have listened to recently, and post your review in the comment section of the blog. This is key, cause if you don’t post it in the blog comments, we wont recognize your review as a contest entry.
Do this before September 30, 2008 (that’s when the contest closes) and then we’ll pick 3 winners.
Prizes, you ask?
- First place (an ‘A.’ Cute, right? It compliments our Back To School Theme!) is a $100 Simply Audiobooks gift card.
- Second place (a ‘B’) gets a $50 Simply Audiobooks gift card.
- Third place (a ‘C’) will receive a $25 Simply Audiobooks gift card.
The Simply Audiobook gift certificates can be used towards your monthly subscription cost, or the a la carte purchase of audiobooks. Sweet!
All the reviews will be graded on content, flow, and relevance. Bonus points if it’s also entertaining. We like being entertained! Remember this is a book review, not an essay, so keep it fairly short. Check out reviews currently on our site for ideas.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I recently listened to Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz and my review is below:
When I began listening to Odd Thomas I was immediately wary that this was closer to a horror than a thriller. As a rule I try to avoid books that are going to give me nightmares or keep me awake. There’s no denying that Odd Thomas is truly frightening at the beginning. It’s arguable that it’s frightening throughout but what’s fascinating about this book is that it’s also charming, funny, and thrilling. The scariest parts of the book were at the beginning before Odd metaphorically holds your hand and you feel assured that everything will somehow work out.
The book was very difficult to pause at any point and I finished it in record time. The ending was spectacular and I felt that I’d got every drop of value out of my purchase. However, the best news was yet to come: I discovered that this is in fact the first book of a series which currently includes four books of a planned seven. If like me you start this series, I’m sure you’ll stay on for the Odd but thoroughly entertaining ride.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:15 am
One of the best books I have ever listened to is “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson. It is an interesting look at a future where the rich live in faux victorian splendor and the poor live in a classing futuristic setting of replicators and flying cars. What, from the outside, seems like a perfect future where anyone can get free access to food, clothing, & water shows itself to be flawed. It is a society of impenetrable classes where human interaction is limited and children are left to be raised by the tv/computer/and other AI systems.
While there are a lot of interesting people and plots mixed into the book the main story is about Nell. She is a child of a poor dysfunctional family who is left for anything to raise other than her mom and who ever the mom’s current boyfriend is at the time. She gets her hands on a copy of the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” which is an e-book designed to rear children. While the book is an AI system that changes and grows with the child it differs from the impersonal AI because it is read by real people.
Some of the children who get the book have it read to them by whatever person is free at the audiobook reading agency, some of the children get a copy that is read by nothing more than a computer, and our heroine Nell is lucky enough to click with a reader at the agency who commits to reading the book to her throughout her life. She finally gets a chance to make a real connection to someone.
While there is f social commentary involved in the story it is so wildly entertaining that it is a joy to hear. It works especially well in an audiobook format because much of the story is the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” being read to Nell. While it is a sci-fi/fantasy/cyber-punk novel I can see it appealing to anyone who is interested in the social ramifications of a tv raised society.
This book was originally published in 1995 and it focuses on how important that the personal relationship between a parent/educator and a child is for success. Every time I hear a new study about how child rearing DVD’s actually slow development or how successful high schools are that have teachers that stay with the student throughout their entire education I am reminded that Neil got this right. Don’t let the depth of this book scare you off. The story is so fun and enjoyable you won’t even notice that you are thinking.
September 28th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Whether you identify yourself as an atheist, an agnostic, or a Christian, you must listen to this book: The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God. Lee Strobel embarks on a journey to follow the evidence wherever it leads. He interviews the top scientists and researchers in each field and explains complicated scientific concepts in easy to understand language. Strobel’s flowing narrative throughout the book keeps you engaged. I found this book to be easy to listen to, but also intellectually stimulating. It was read by the author, which for me brought the words to life. It was like I was sitting in on each interview. I never knew there was so much evidence for creation by intelligent design. Once you listen to this book, you’ll just want to share it with someone!
October 6th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I am admittedly a huge fan of Friedman’s. I read his column weekly in the NY Times, & I’ve read every one of his books. His last book is on my Top 5 list of books that I recommend to people. This book didn’t disappoint either. It sets out to prove how tightly integrated the three topics are today – Hot (global warming / climate change), Flat (globalization), and Crowded (the rising global population). Friedman lays out exhaustive details on how this is a global problem, & the US’s role in it. He also describes in exhaustive detail the steps he thinks the US, as well as the rest of the world needs to take to slow down / halt the catastrophic damage that we are doing to our planet, making ourselves next on the endangered species list. He goes into detail how the US needs to play a MAJOR role in TheGreen Revolution, and how ET (Energy Technology) is to the 21st Century as IT was to the latter half of the 20th. This book is a MUST READ!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
[...] is running out to participate in the Simply Audiobooks review contest. We know a lot of you have been writing reviews this month– but you need to post yours in the [...]