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Audible Canada

If You Love Books, You’ll Love This News!

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Here’s something about me that you may not have known. While I love a good book, I’ve never really been a fan of sitting there and holding the physical book in my hands. Call me lazy if you want but I know who I am and that’s just not something I’m interested in doing.

I’m an audio book kind of guy because it allows me the freedom to work and listen to my favourite books at the same time. And yes, the term “work” occasionally means lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling but I don’t see why we have to get into all of that… Access to audio books has been a challenge but they still have books on CD at the library even though I feel like a dinosaur when I check them out.

So I was very excited this week when I found out that Audible, an Amazon company, was launching a unique and dedicated digital storefront for Canadian consumers as of September 13th! As a fan of listening to audio versions of books, I am pumped to know that I can now visit Audible.ca or download their new Audible.ca app for iOS or Android and be listening to my favourite books anywhere I go!

I also think it’s very cool that Canadian customers will be able to check out curated Audible playlists from leading Canadian voices like Margaret Atwood, George Stroumboulopoulos, Julie Le Breton, and more, as well as offering the best spoken word content from Canada and around the world. Hey, I figure if a book is good enough for Strombo, it’s perfect for me!

I had the opportunity to test out the Audible.ca service and wanted to share my original Playlist with you! Without further ado!

1. Game of Thrones, baby! ~ by George R. R. Martin

Game of Thrones Audible

That’s right, number 1 on my list had to be Game of Thrones! I am not ashamed to admit that I have seen every episode of this show more than once (maybe 3-4 times) but the thought of picking up those huge books was daunting.

Now I have access to the entire collection, which I am fortunate enough to be able to listen to while I am at work. Sure, I may know what’s going to happen but I’ve been wanting to hear the deeper details since I first watched the show!

 

 

2. Ready Player One ~ by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One Audible
 

This is probably my favourite book of all-time. I have read it approximately 5 times already and it is one of the few hard copy books I bring with me everywhere I go.

With Spielberg’s movie adaptation coming out soon, my love for this one can only go up!

 

 

 

 

3. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth ~ by Chris Hadfield (Canadian!)

Chris Hadfield Astronaut Audible

 

I don’t know of a single Canadian who wasn’t completely captured by Chris Hadfield’s adventures in space. He has a charisma that is infectious in the best possible way.

The second I found out he had a book I purchased it and the rest is history. To hear this book read in his own voice is definitely going to be a treat and I highly recommend that you download a copy today!

 

 

 

4. Waging Heavy Peace ~ by Neil Young (Canadian!)

Waging Heavy Peace Audible

 

What can I say about Neil Young that hasn’t already been said? I grew up as a musician and Young’s music was the standard I used when thinking of the kind of artist I wanted to be.

It didn’t quite work out for me in that field but I still lean on Neil Young’s music in good times and bad and he remains one of the greatest to ever hit the stage.

 

 

 

5. In This Moment ~ by Karma Brown (Canadian!)

In This Moment Karma Brown Audible

 

Another Canadian author rounds out my list of must-reads and I am a huge fan of Karma’s work! She is an incredibly smart writer whose books will draw you in and make you not want to put them down, or turn them off, as it were.

With 3 books currently available on Audible.ca, you will thank me for passing Karma’s name along to you!

 

 

 

That is just a fraction of the books I have already downloaded and with membership starting at only $14.95 CAD per month, including 1 credit/month, I will be reading a ton more before the end of the year! What are you waiting for? Go download the Audible.ca app right now and get started!! You can also visit the Audible Canada Facebook page and the @Audible_CA Twitter account for more news and details!

Oh! Also, make sure to leave a comment letting me know what your top 3 book choices are going to be!

Happy Reading!!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program. That said, I am absolutely addicted to audio books and love that I can listen to them on the Audible app now!

How To Make Awesome Crafts With Your Kids: Dad Edition

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Dad's Book of Awesome Projects

I am not handy. There, I said it. I don’t know how to build a deck or a planter. I can’t fix a car or figure out how to fix a leaky pipe. Heck, I am not even confident in my ability to paint a room properly. That’s not to say I don’t try these things. I’m just not good at them.

That brings me to today’s topic. I picked up Mike Adamick’s, “Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects”, mostly because I was tired of making the same old crafts with the kids and I thought it might help me with my aversion to crafts and general unhandiness (it’s a word, get over it).

Where most “How To” books fail due to lack of information on the “How To” part, Mike’s step by step instructions make it so that even “accidentally glue gunned my fingers together” old me can complete any project with ease. Case and point, this weekend my children and I took to the dollar store to complete our latest Awesome project: Canvas Art!

Dollar Store Craft Materials

You’ll notice I mentioned the Dollar Store. That’s because this entire project, with all the supplies you see above, cost us a whopping $11! I used to make fun of my wife for keeping the old egg cartons but as it turns out, they are pretty good for holding multiple paint colours. So…sorry, hunny. I simply turned to page 139 in the book and went to work on everything we needed to create our very own Jackson Pollock. As you can see, while my son chose to stick to the book’s task of flinging the paint at the canvas, my daughter had a different idea about what Mike should have written about.

Dad Awesome Paint Project Completed

In the end, the best part is the quality time we got to spend, flinging paint, laughing and creating incredible works of art for my “half man garage, half day care toy pile”. So if you are looking for something to get for your husband this Father’s Day and beyond, I highly recommend Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects. If I can take this book and create something amazing, anybody can! On top of that, it has inspired me to take on a few more projects I have been thinking about. Stick around and I’ll be posting them once they are done.

My Summertime Reading List and Subliminal Father’s Day Wish List

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#cbias

As a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community, I was asked to pick out a few of my favourite Summer reads from Chapters and share them with you as part of a #cbias campaign. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client, Chapters.

Only in the past few years have I become more interested in the joys of reading. I realize that sounds weird coming from a grown man but I was so into sports and video games that I never really had time for it. Now with kids, age and gravity all changing the way I looked at the world, I decided to try it out and couldn’t believe what I had been missing out on.

I still remember the exact book that dragged me back from my Hardy Boys days and into and new era of appreciation for books. It was Mo Hayder’s “Birdman” and it is a gruesomely amazing detective thriller. The kind that you never want to put down and that wakes you with nightmares so realistic that you’d swear you were living it. I have read all of her books since and was excited to snag one of her newer ones, “Hanging Hill”, on my latest trip to Chapters.

#cbias

Since that first Mo Hayder book, I have been sampling every genre I can think of in order to find a few that fit. As it turns out, I haven’t been able to narrow down the field too much because there are so many incredible titles throughout all genres. If pressured, I could probably cut it down to murder mysteries and biographies but it would be painful to leave the others behind. The biographies have really been growing on me lately, especially after reading “Always Looking Up” by Michael J. Fox and “Home Game” by Michael Lewis.

With Father’s Day just around the corner, I was excited to see that Chapters had dedicated three separate displays to books for Dad. On one of the displays I found what I believe to be a jewel in the rough, so to speak, in Mike Adamick’s “Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects”. I consider myself to be a novice crafter but this book looks to challenge me to step outside of my home made light sabers and to step up my game to the next level of Fatherhood!

#cbias

Not to be outdone, the kids love a good trip to Chapters as well because on top of the incredible play areas they have set up, they know that a book store is the one place where Daddy can’t say no to a new purchase. I’m not saying I bribe them but the promise of new reading material is an excellent way to get them to behave while Daddy shops for his literary needs.

#cbias

I have to admit that I may have gone a little overboard on my latest shopping trip but it’s a long summer and once I’m in the beach chair it’s really hard to convince me to get back out of it. Yeah, I’m kind of lazy, wanna fight about it? Sorry about that. Anyway, here is what my shopping bag full of summer reading looks like. Do you recognize any of these titles?

#cbias

Finally, I imagine that we all have a favourite place to read, whether it be in bed, on a park bench or on the beach, and I am no exception to that rule. There is nothing I love more than heading up to the cottage, grabbing a copy of Barbie’s Princess and the Popstar and curling up on a deck chair with my best gal.

#cbias

We had a great time on our shopping trip to Chapters and you can see everything I checked out, which includes my subliminal Father’s Day Wish List, over on my Google+ page! Also, I’d like to know, do you have a favourite genre, author or book? Give me your suggestions in the comments so I can expand my summer library. Happy Reading, My Friends!

Sh*t My Kids Say #5 – The Spanish Book

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It’s no secret that Dora the Explorer has stolen a large chunk of the children’s television market. Part of the draw of the show for parents is that kids get a chance to dabble in a second language.

A three year old doesn’t understand that there are people who speak different languages and therefore doesn’t know the difference between English, French, Spanish and so on.

I recently brought my son to the Library to pick out some new books for circle time at the day care. I always let him pick out his own book too and he always selects a french book first.

I don’t know if the pictures are cooler in french or if it’s because they are the first books you pass by but he will always gravitate to the french section first.

I tried to explain to him a few weeks ago that, while Daddy does speak french, translating the book to English is a bit of a tough task and I asked him to select a book from the English section.

This is the conversation we had yesterday at the Library.

D: “Okay buddy, go ahead and pick out a book.”

L: “Okay Daddy!” **Looks for about 8 seconds** “Here’s a great book Daddy! It has a Boat!”

D: “Sure pal, whatever book you want”

L: **Sits at the table and opens it** “I think I need to find a different book Daddy.”

D: “Why? That one looks good and you love boats.”

L: “I think this one’s Spanish.”

D: “Nope, it’s in English. How do you even know what Spanish is?”

L: “Remember yesterday, you told me not to pick the Spanish books.” **Everything happened yesterday by the way**

D: “That was not yesterday, it was 2 weeks ago and I said don’t pick French books, not Spanish”

L: **Blank stare** “Okay Daddy. I’ll take this Spanish one with the boats!”

D: “Haha, okay pal.”
*****************************************************************************

I’d like to note that I am not against my kids learning another language, I just think it’s more important for them to master the one they are going to use on a day to day basis first.

Plus I hate translating things, LOL!

Cheers!!