Hello all. For something a little different today, I thought I’d share with you my first impressions of the Amazon Echo Dot and its pairing with the Philips Hue lighting system. I’ve been thinking about a an intelligent speaker for a while. I regularly use Apple’s Siri on my iPhone to set alarms, timers etc and I was interested in having an always-on assistant in the home. At the time of writing, there are three contenders in this market; the Amazon Echo, Google Home and the new Apple HomePod. I was anxiously watching the Apple Keynote to see what kind of product Apple would announce. While the HomePod looks interesting, its price was beyond my budget and also the emphasis seems to be on the Bluetooth speaker rather than the smart assistant integration. The ability to play my Apple Music would have been nice though. The Google Home was also of interest, but the Amazon Echo’s ability to play Audible audiobooks as well as the low price point of the Echo Dot were the deciding factors for me. Our apartment is pretty small, and I only play music with a headset, so I couldn’t justify the extra expense for…
First of all in honour of the new site name, Scottish eReader, and also in honour of my current obsession with Vampire Academy, I have decided to host a giveaway of the first three books in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series. They are: Vampire Academy. In which we first meet dhampir bodyguard-in-training Rose Hathaway and her best friend, good vampire Lissa Dragomir. This is narrated by Stephanie Wolf. Go ahead and read my review of Vampire Academy. Check out a sample. Frostbite. This is the second book in the series and Rose’s relationship with Dimitri deepens as does her and Lissa’s knowledge of spirit magic. This is narrated by one of my favourite narrators, Khristine Hvam. Check out my thoughts on the book. Check out a sample. Shadow Kiss. Things start to get more serious between Rose and Dimitri and St Vladimir’s faces an unexpected threat and tragedy is ahead. This is also narrated by Khristine Hvam. Review coming soon. Check out a sample. The prize will be gift codes to pick up the first three books from Audible.com. In order to enter the giveaway, please check out the books on Audible.com, OR share the giveaway on your favourite social…
Legend by Marie Lu is the first in a YA dystopian trilogy and tells the story of Day and June two teenagers on the opposite sides of the political fence. June is a young government soldier, while Day is a freedom fighter. When June’s brother is killed during a raid on a hospital in which Day is taking part, their paths collide. What I liked The romance. It’s an old trope, but an effective one, to have the protagonists fall in love but be unaware that they are in fact mortal enemies because of their political viewpoints. (see You’ve Got Mail, Pillow Talk, The Shop Around the Corner)The added personal motivation of Metias’, June’s brother’s death adds an extra element to the mix. Lu builds up an excellent tension for the reveal of the identities to each other. She actually had the revelation take place earlier in the book than I’d expected – however, it works well, as the rest of the book is devoted to finding out the truth behind Metias’ death. The setting. I found Lu’s world nicely written. The dystopian side of it is very subtle at first, and it’s only when we learn more about it…
As I may have mentioned before, my job requires me to work regular nightshifts. Now, it’s a very reactive job, so some of the time you are waiting around for something to go wrong. That is the point at which I rely on my audiobooks to get me through the nights. I need to keep my eye on the computer screen at all times to watch for alerts, so I can’t really focus on a Kindle or other reading matter. However, in those circumstances, audiobooks are a real lifesaver. I can keep my eye on the screen while still enjoying my story. Having my mind on the book also helps me stay awake. As well as nightshifts, I also enjoy listening to a few chapters of a book before going to bed. With Whispersync for Voice it’s even awesomer. During my breaks I can pick up the Kindle book for a bit of variety and it keeps my place. I’m certain I wouldn’t get through as many books as I do if it weren’t for these nightshifts. From January I’m moving to regular dayshifts so I fear my book consumption may drop, unfortunately. One production I listened to during…
As many of you know, I am a big fan of audiobooks. I find though that I am very sensitive to the quality of the narrator. Much of the time I will choose whether to buy a book in Audible format or Kindle format based on the Audible sample. A great narrator can bring a whole extra dimension to a book, and so I thought I’d share some of my favourite narrators with you. James Marsters Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files is narrated by James Marsters whose narrative style fits perfectly the jaded, harassed attitude of Chicago’s only consulting wizard. He doesn’t do distinct character voices to the extent of some narrators, but when Marsters is narrating he IS Harry Dresden. This is one series that is definitely best experienced in audio format. Check out a sample here: Nathaniel Parker At the helm of the Artemis Fowl series is Nathaniel Parker. I’ve grown quite fond of narrators who have different voices for the different characters and Parker is one of the very best. I adore his Irish accent for Artemis and if memory serves he has even distinguished between an Australian and New Zealand accent. You can find a sample here…
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott is the first in the Spiritwalker trilogy and tells the story of Cat Hassi Barahal as she comes to terms with the strange new path her life is taking her and the new powers she acquires. Cold Magic has been on my TBR list for some time. I’d picked it up several months back when it was on special offer on Kindle for $1.99, but never got round to reading it. It moved up the list a few weeks ago when I read an intriguing article on the magic system, yet it never quite made it to the top. Finally a couple of weeks ago, Audible released it as an audiobook. This is the first of the books to be released on Audible, so I picked it up to listen to during my nightshifts and it finally made it to the top of the list. I’m very glad it did! What I liked Interesting themes. Elliott explores some interesting themes in this novel. One of the major ones is magic vs technology. The society in which Cat lives is beginning to make progress with industrialisation and this engenders conflict with the powerful Mage Houses, the…
It certainly isn’t a good week to be a bookworm in Quebec. Canada’s Globe and Mail is reporting that Quebec’s legislature has opened a hearing on pricing for new books. Being discussed is the question of whether or not to prevent the price of new books being discounted by more than 10% for the first nine months after release. The stated intention behind this is to protect the smaller bookstores, especially smaller Francophone ones, from the big hitters such as Amazon and Walmart. Now, while I can appreciate the sentiment, I’m really not certain that keeping book prices high is really going to help anyone. Smaller bookstores are never going to be able to compete with Amazon on price, so perhaps the government should concentrate on supporting them other ways. For example subsidising author signings in the province, sponsoring book groups, or subsidising the cost of Quebecois francophone books. Most Quebec produced books are still noticeably more expensive than their English counterparts. This week I have been working nightshift. As my job is very reactive – sitting around waiting on servers burping, not many human callers – I find it’s a perfect time to enjoy some audiobooks. The books help to keep…
This evening when I went to download my latest Audible read to my Canadian Kindle Fire, I got a big surprise. A message popped up advising me that I could now listen to and shop for audiobooks natively from my Kindle Fire and that I should uninstall the Audible app. I did so and found that my audiobook played in a new, integrated player. I also noticed that individual Audible audiobooks now appear in my carousel and can be added individually to the Favourites drawer rather than just the Audible app itself. Being a Kindle, of course they’re trying to sell you things, and I see that when I view an audiobook in the carousel, I now get recommendations for other audiobooks. Searching the Kindle is now integrated with my Audible library. Searching for an audiobook will find it in your Audible library ready for downloading. It seems that they’re not quite there yet with the integration though. Audiobooks doesn’t appear in the top menu bar, and clicking on one of the audiobook recommendations doesn’t take you anywhere yet. Clicking on Shop still only shows three options available to Canadians: Books, Games and Apps. At this point Audible books are…
As many of my regular readers will know, I am a big fan of both ebooks and audiobooks. For those of you unsure about e-reading or looking to take the first step, take a look at my Newbie’s Guide to eReading. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. For my audiobook needs I go to Audible. Here’s how it works. You can either buy audiobooks at full price, with no membership or monthly commitment. An average audiobook, say for example The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling, costs around $25 USD for non members. A larger book, like say Fires of Heaven from the Wheel of Time may be as much as $60 USD, but most are in the $25 USD range. Alternatively, you can choose to take a membership with Audible. The basic plan $14.95 USD per month which gives you one credit per month to use on any audiobook. An ideal introduction to Audible. The Platinum plan, which I have, is two credits to spend on books a month. That costs $22.95 USD per month. They also have an Annual plan for which you pay…
This week could more easily have been described as “listening roundup” as I’ve been listening more than reading – or rather I have been listening and reading along on my brand spanking new Kindle Fire. Here is what I have been reading and listening to this past week. I recently finished Siege and Storm in both Kindle and Audible by Leigh Bardugo, the followup to Shadow and Bone. To be honest I was rather disappointed in this book. I loved the Russian-style setting of the first book, and my enjoyment of this continued into the second book. However, I found the pacing of this second book rather slow. After a promising start, the story slows down to a crawl. It also annoys me when young protagonists suddenly find themselves in a leadership position with no training or experience, just because they have some unrelated power. On a positive side some new and very interesting characters were introduced, especially Sturmhond. Also the ending picked up again dramatically and I will certainly read the final book in the Grisha trilogy to see how it all ends. I listened to Graceling by Kristin Cashore from Audible which was marked as a full…