Tuesday 25 June 2013

More Free Reading

I guess by now you know that I love books. I can't help myself. I was raised by a book addict - my dad. My dad read to my sisters and I so many books when we were growing up. He didn't just read picture books to us when we were little; he read classics to us when we were older. He instilled in all of us a deep love for reading. My mom taught us the mechanics of reading, but my dad gave us the love of reading.
 
Photo: Grampa reading to Micah.jpg
My dad passing the love of books on to the next generation.
 
You can imagine my excitement today when I discovered that there is a website where you can download audio books for free. Yes, you read that correctly - F.R.E.E. Not only can you download audio books for free they also give you different sources for the book such as the Gutenberg Project, a wikipedia link, a cover for a CD case and several audio option for downloading the book. The books are read by volunteers. Some books could have more than one reader. You could even volunteer to do some reading if you so desired.
 
I've only looked up a few books (yes, Eva-Joy, they have Les Mis in French or English) but am excited by what I've seen. I can think of so many applications. You could listen to these while ironing, for a sick child, listen to the literature book they are studying, in the car on a trip, a bedtime story. You could just download them as needed or plan ahead and get several books ready for a trip.
 
So where is this site, you ask. So glad you asked or in my enthusiasm I may have forgotten to tell you. The website is http://librivox.org/. Happy reading or I guess I should say listening.
 
What book will you look for/listen to first?

P.S. While we're talking about reading - look for a small reading-related giveaway to be announced when I hit my 50th post.

2 comments:

  1. This is great!! I'm going to have to download some of these and play them for the kids. I'm looking for ways to ween them away from movies so much. Another great application for these audio books is for people with learning difficulties like dyslexia. They do a lot better listening than reading. Thanks!

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  2. My children have fond memories when we were living in the country of sitting around a tape player listening to "Pilgrim's Progress" on tape so many times they had it memorized. They also listened to Enid Blyton books. On Friday nights they would have the added fun of a hot chocolate. Your girls would probably be open to listening to a story if you turned it into a pajama party. :)

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