Last week the folks around Simply Audiobooks threw down our theories about who we thought would win the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album. Our money was on Michael J. Fox for his memoir Always Looking Up. We were right. This post is partially to gloat in our correct prediction, but mostly to congratulate Mr. Fox on a beautiful, inspiring book that absolutely deserved this recognition.
The Grammy Awards are coming up this Sunday, and we’ve been taking bets on who we think will take home the prize for Best Spoken Word Album (includes Poetry, Audio Books, and Story Telling).
The nominees are (drum roll please):
Always Looking Up, written and narrated by Michael J. Fox.
Always Looking Up is a memoir of Fox’s past decade, told through the critical themes of his life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson’s.
In the Simply Audiobooks crowd, Fox is the hands down favorite to take home the hardware.
We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land, written and narrated by JImmy Carter.
Nobel Peace Laureate and former President Jimmy Carter argues that the present moment is a unique time for achieving peace in the Middle East - and he offers a bold and comprehensive plan to do just that.
Carter comes as a close second for our favorite to win; he has a previous win for Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis, and has the whole presidential angle working for him. Since 2005 the Grammy for Best Spoken Word has gone to audio books by Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Carter, and two audio books by Barack Obama.
Wishful Drinking, written and narrated by Carrie Fisher.
Fisher rounds out our top 3 with this memoir which was adapted from her one-woman show. She tells the true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and infectious humor.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, narrated by Richard Dreyfuss and David Stathaim.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates made history and changed its course through seven legendary match-ups between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the 1858 Illinois senatorial race. Although he lost the election, Lincoln’s gift for oratory and his anti-slavery stance made him a nationally known figure, and led to his election to the presidency in 1860.
This is the first time these debates have been presented in audio.
The Maltese Falcon, and Jonathan Winters - A Very Special Time round out the nominees.
Who would you like to see win?
Jennifer Weiner, author of Best Friends Forever, Little Earthquakes, and In Her Shoes, is working on a TV pilot, and she’s encouraging fans to petition ABC to pick it up.
The show is called Jane and Dick and is “a show about family, and work, and love. It’s got that funny/sad thing that I do, along with a very relatable, very human narrator in Jane….and thanks to my co-writer, Michael Reisz, a lawyer himself who’s written for ‘Boston Legal’, it also has legal cases that actually make sense!” (Read more about it on Weiner’s blog.)
In the author’s own words: “If you want more Weiner on your TV (and really, who wouldn’t?), you can go sign it at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/weineronABC.
The petition, amusingly yet appropriately named I WANT WEINER, is aiming for 50,000 signatures.
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Black Friday deals!
Today only, save 40% on all Harry Potter audiobooks - that’s a saving of more than $180 when you purchase the entire audio set on CD.
Get a great Christmas gift for a phenomenal price.
But get moving - this offer ends at noon EST tomorrow!
When Michael Crichton died at 66 of cancer in November 2008, it wasn’t immediately known whether he had left any unpublished work. Three months later, the manuscript of Pirate Latitudes was found in one of his computers.
Released today, Pirate Latitudes is an irresistible adventure of swashbuckling pirates in the New World, a classic story of treasure and betrayal.
Today only, save 30% when you buy Pirate Latitudes on CD. A necessity for all Crichton fans.
Simply Audiobooks’ 25 Days of Christmas is back and it’s bigger and better than ever.
What: Get a new deal every day for 25 straight days. Each deal lasts for only 24 hours. Get free shipping, free downloads, save up to 25% off your entire purchase, and get huge savings on Twilight, Harry Potter, James Patterson, Dan Brown, and MORE.
When: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 to Sunday, December 13th, 2009
Where: Right here on your Simply Audiobooks homepage
Each deal starts at noon EST and will end at 11:59 a.m. EST the following day when the next day’s offer will be revealed.
The Catch? - We’re not telling you what is being offered when. Check back each day to see what’s going on.
See The Elf? - See a little elf peeking his head out the factory windows? Click on him to get a sneak peek of what’s coming up.
BOO! October’s Free Download of the Month is Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
At more than 110 years old, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is still considered the quintessential vampire novel.
Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, travels to Count Dracula’s home on business, but soon finds himself prisoner in the eerie castle and subject to its nefarious spells.
The Count soon heads for London on an ill-fated ship from which no sailors survive. He begins to menace Harker’s fiancee and preys upon her best friend, ultimately turning her into one of his undead.
October 13th - Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide case in South L.A. and soon identifies a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad as his prime suspect. Before he can close in, he gets word that his young daughter who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing. Bosch drops everything to cross the Pacific and find his daughter. Is her disappearance connected to his case? The stakes are high and Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is what it seems.
See all Michael Connelly audio books available for rent or download from Simply Audiobooks.
October 20 - Malcolm Gladwell, the genius behind The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, is one of the most gifted and influential journalists in America. Now, the very best and most famous of his New Yorker pieces are collected in this anthology, What The Dog Saw. Among the pieces: his investigation into why there are so many varieties of mustard, but only one kind of ketchup; a surprising assessment of what makes for a safer automobile; a look at how we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job; an examination of machine built to predict hit movies; a dissection of Ivy League admissions and who gets in; the saga of the quest to invent the perfect cookie; and a look at hair dye and the hidden history of postwar America.
For the millions of Malcolm Gladwell fans, this anthology is like a greatest hits compilation - a mix tape from America’s alpha mind.
October 6 - Go on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure as the Great War brews in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan
October 27 - Get your hands on David Baldacci’s newest, True Blue
Until September 16, 2009 download the first in the captivating Voices from the Front Civil War series and learn about The Battle of Bull Run and Blockade Runners.
It’s like an American History class, free! Who says the kids are the only ones who get to go back to school?
For the first time ever, Simply Audiobooks is pleased to announce 2 Free Downloads for the month of September, as a special back to school treat! 
For the second half of September, listen to Volume 2 in the series, detailing the major events of the Civil War through the letters written by soldiers to their loved ones back home.