Italo Calvino has 19 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 9 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 7,101 ratings. The most-rated is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Book 7.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Book 7
Summary
"'Give me Harry Potter', said Voldemort's voice, 'and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.'" As he climbs into the sidecar of Hagrid's motorbike and takes to the skies, leaving Privet Drive for the last time, Harry Potter knows that Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters are not far behind. The protective charm that has kept Harry safe until now is broken, but he cannot keep hiding. The Dark Lord is breathing fear into everything Harry loves and to stop him Harry will have to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. The final battle must begin - Harry must stand and face his enemy.... Having now become classics of our time, the Harry Potter audiobooks never fail to bring comfort and escapism to listeners of all ages. With its message of hope, belonging, and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.
©2007 J.K. Rowling (P)2007 Listening Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Magic Tree House Collection: Books 9-16
Summary
Dolphins at Daybreak (#9) It's sink or swim for Jack and Annie when Magic Tree House whisks them off to the middle of the ocean. Ghost Town at Sundown (#10) "Is this town haunted?" Jack and Annie wonder when the Magic Tree House takes them to the Wild Wild West. Lions at Lunchtime (#11) "Where are the lions?" Jack wonders when the Magic Tree House whisks him and his sister to the vast plains of Africa. Polar Bears Past Bedtime (#12) It's icicle city...when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie to the frozen Arctic. Vacation Under the Volcano (#13) Who wants to vacation next to a volcano? Jack and Annie are about to find out when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to the days of the Roman Empire. Day of the Dragon-King (#14) Who would burn books? Jack and Annie find out when the Magic Tree House takes them back to ancient China. Viking Ships at Sunrise (#15) "Beware the Vikings!" warns Morgan. Then Jack and Annie are whisked back to ancient Ireland. Hour of the Olympics (#16) Join Jack and Annie as the Magic Tree House takes them to ancient Greece to witness the very first Olympic games!
©2003 Mary Pope Osborne (P)2011 Listening Library
Invisible Cities
Summary
In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo - Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts the emperor with tales of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. Soon it becomes clear that each of these fantastic places is really the same place.
©1972 Giulio Einaudi Editore (P)2013 Tantor
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Summary
Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but 10, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.
©1979 Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.A., Torino; 1981 Harcourt, Inc. (translation) (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Baron in the Trees
Summary
A landmark new translation of a Calvino classic, a whimsical, spirited novel that imagines a life lived entirely on its own terms. Cosimo di Rondo, a young Italian nobleman of the 18th century, rebels against his parents by climbing into the trees and remaining there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an existence in the forest canopy - he hunts, sows crops, plays games with earthbound friends, fights forest fires, solves engineering problems, and even manages to have love affairs. From his perch in the trees, Cosimo sees the Age of Enlightenment pass by and a new century dawn. The Baron in the Trees exemplifies Calvino's peerless ability to weave tales that sparkle with enchantment. This new English rendering by acclaimed translator Ann Goldstein breathes new life into one of Calvino's most beloved works.
©1957 Giulio Einaudi Editore S.p.A., Torino; 2017 Ana Goldstein (Translation) (P)2018 Recorded Books
The Cloven Viscount
Summary
In this fantastically macabre tale, the separate halves of a nobleman split in two by a cannonball go on to pursue their own independent adventures. In a battle against the Turks, Viscount Medardo of Terralba is bissected lengthwise by a cannonball. One half of him returns to his feudal estate and takes up a lavishly evil life. Soon the other, virtuous half appears. The two halves become rivals for the love of the same woman, fight a bloody duel, and achieve a miraculous resolution. Now available in an independent volume for the first time, this deliciously bizarre novella is Calvino at his most devious and winning.
©1951 Giulio Einaudi Editiore, S.p.A.; Translation: 1962 William Collns Sons & Company Limited and Random House Inc. (P)2017 Recorded Books
Six Memos for the Next Millennium
Summary
At the time of his death, Italo Calvino was at work on six lectures setting forth the qualities in writing he most valued and which he believed would define literature in the century to come. Here, in Six Memos for the Next Millennium, are the five lectures he completed, forming not only a stirring defense of literature but also an indispensable guide to the writings of Calvino himself. He devotes one "memo" each to the concepts of lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity, drawing examples from his vast knowledge of myth, folklore, and works both ancient and modern.
©1988 The Estate of Italo Calvino; Translation: 2016 Geoffrey Brock (P)2017 Recorded Books
Marcovaldo
Summary
Marcovaldo is an unskilled worker in a drab industrial city in northern Italy. He is an irrepressible dreamer and an inveterate schemer. Much to the puzzlement of his wife, his children, his boss, and his neighbors, he chases his dreams - but the results are never the expected ones. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.
©1963 Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.A; Translation: 1983 Harcourt, Inc. and Martin Secker & Warburg Limited (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Complete Cosmicomics
Summary
Italo Calvino's beloved cosmicomics cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of an ageless guide named Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Poignant, fantastical, and wise, these 34 dazzling stories - collected here in one definitive anthology - relate complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world. They are an indelible (and unfailingly delightful) literary achievement. Translation of "The Distance of the Moon", "At Daybreak", "A Sign in Space", "All at One Point", "Without Colours", "Games Without End", "The Aquatic Uncle", "How Much Shall We Bet?", "The Dinosaurs", "The Form of Space", "The Light-Years", and "The Spiral" copyright © Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. and Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1968 Translation of "The Soft Moon", "The Origin of the Birds", "Crystals", "Blood, Sea", "Mitosis", "Meiosis", "Death", "t zero", "The Chase", "The Night Driver", and "The Count of Monte Cristo" copyright © Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. and Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1969 Translation of "World Memory", "Nothing and Not Much", "Implosion", and "The Other Eurydice" copyright © Tim Parks, 1995 Introduction and translations of "The Mushroom Moon", "The Daughters of the Moon", "The Meterorites", "The Stone Sky", "As Long as the Sun Lasts", "Solar Storm", and "Shells and Time" copyright © Martin McLaughlin, 2009 All rights reserved.
©2002 The Estate of Italo Calvino (P)2017 Recorded Books
Claim the Dragon
Summary
To save her, he'll sacrifice everything. Born a dream reaper, Steele Ezo, a powerful half-dragon, half-human, is struggling to find his place in the Drakon hierarchy. He is ready to accept his fate until he realizes the next victim on the Reaper's hit list is the sexy thief that's caught his eye. She's supposed to die. He's forbidden stop it. But their inexplicable connection makes it impossible to step aside. Abandoned by her family and abused by local enforcers, Ravyn Walsh lives life on her own terms. She's created an underground sanctuary for the oppressed citizens of Burgess, and she needs funds to keep it running. When a lucrative job - stealing an ancient dagger - lands in her lap, she doesn't hesitate, not even when a smoldering tattooed stranger attempts to stop her. A dagger that can raise the dead is a powerful tool - one that could change the course of history. As they fight to keep the dagger out of the wrong hands, Ravyn will be forced to embrace the truth of her heritage, while Steele will find himself torn between saving a life that isn't meant to be saved and denouncing the power he was born to wield. Contains mature themes.
©2019 AC Arthur (P)2020 Tantor
The Nonexistent Knight
Summary
An empty suit of armor is the hero in this witty novella, a picaresque gem - now available in an independent volume for the first time - that brilliantly parodies medieval knighthood. Set in the time of Charlemagne and narrated by a nun with her own secrets to keep, The Nonexistent Knight tells the story of Agilulf, a gleaming white suit of armor with nothing inside it. A challenge to his honor sends Agilulf on a search through France, England, and North Africa to confirm the chastity of a virgin he saved from rape years earlier. In the end, after many surprising turns of plot, a closing confession draws this sparkling novella to a perfect finish.
©1959 Giulio Einaudi Editor, S.p.A. (P)2018 Recorded Books
Italian Folktales
Summary
Chosen as one of the New York Times's 10 best books in the year of its original publication, this collection immediately won a cherished place among lovers of the tale and vaulted Calvino into the ranks of the great folklorists. Introduction by the author. Translated by George Martin. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.
©1956 Giulio Einaudi editore, s.p.a, Torino; English Translation 1980 Bargourt, Inc (P)2019 Recorded Books
Il barone rampante
Summary
Il narratore ripercorre la lunga vicenda del fratello, Cosimo di Rondò, vissuto nella seconda metà del XVIII secolo a Ombrosa, in Liguria. Cosimo, per sfuggire a una punizione inflittagli dai suoi educatori, decide di salire su un albero per non ridiscendere mai più. Cosimo si costruisce un mondo aereo dove diversi personaggi della cultura e della politica (Napoleone compreso) lo vanno a trovare, testimoniandogli la loro ammirazione. Vive anche una tormentata storia d'amore con la volubile Viola. Cosimo muore vecchio, senza mai discendere in terra: ammalato, in punto di morte, si aggrappa alla fune di una mongolfiera e scompare mentre attraversa, così appeso, il mare.
©1993 Mondadori (P)2020 Mondadori
Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno
Summary
La storia di Pin, bambino sbandato, passato come per caso dai giochi violenti dell'infanzia alla dura realtà della guerra partigiana. Il primo romanzo di Italo Calvino.
©2020 Mondadori (P)2020 Mondadori
Why Read the Classics?
Summary
Italo Calvino was not only a prolific master of fiction, he was also an uncanny reader of literature, a keen critic of astonishing range. Why Read the Classics? is the most comprehensive collection of Calvino's literary criticism available in English, accounting for the enduring importance to our lives of crucial writers of the Western canon. Here - spanning more than two millennia, from antiquity to postmodernism - are 36 immediately relevant, elegantly written, accessible ruminations on the writers, poets, and scientists who meant most to Calvino at different stages of his life. Following the title essay, which explores fourteen definitions of "the classic," Calvino offers writings that are at once critical appraisals and personal appreciations of, among others: Homer, Xenophon, Ovid, Pliny, Nezami, Ariosto, Cardano, Galileo, Defoe, Voltaire, Diderot, Ortes, Stendhal, Balzac, Dickens, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Twain, Henry James, Stevenson, Conrad, Pasternak, Gadda, Montale, Hemingway, Ponge, Borges, and Queneau. At a time when the Western canon and the very notion of "literary greatness" have come under increasing disparagement by the vanguard of so-called multiculturalism, Why Read the Classics? gives us an inspiriting corrective.
©1991 Palomar S.r.l.; Translation: 1999 Jonathan Cape (P)2018 Recorded Books
Difficult Loves
Summary
Intricate interior lives are brilliantly explored in these short stories, now presented in one definitive collection as Calvino intended them In Difficult Loves, Italy's master storyteller weaves tales in which cherished deceptions and illusions of love-including self-love-are swept away in magical instants of recognition. A soldier is reduced to quivering fear by the presence of a full-figured woman in his train compartment; a young clerk leaves a lady's bed at dawn; a young woman is isolated from bathers on a beach by the loss of her bikini bottom. Each of them discovers hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life.
©1970 Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.A., Torino; Translation: 1984, 1983 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (P)2017 Recorded Books
Mr. Palomar
Summary
Mr. Palomar, whose name purposely evokes that of the famous telescope, is a seeker after knowledge, a visionary in a world sublime and ridiculous. Whether contemplating a cheese, a woman's breasts, or a gorilla's behavior, he brings us a vision of a world familiar by consensus, fragmented by the burden of individual perception. Translated by William Weaver.
©1983 Italo Calvino (P)2019 Recorded Books
The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Summary
A group of travellers chance to meet, first in a castle, then a tavern. Their powers of speech are magically taken from them and instead they have only tarot cards with which to tell their stories. What follows is an exquisite interlinking of narratives, and a fantastic, surreal, and chaotic history of all human consciousness.
©1969, 1973 Franco Maria Ricci Editore, Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.a. (P)2019 Recorded Books
Fantastic Tales
Summary
"The true theme of the nineteenth-century fantastic tale is the reality of what we see: to believe or not to believe in phantasmagoric apparitions, to glimpse another world, enchanted or infernal, behind everyday appearances." (from Calvino's introduction to Fantastic Tales) Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of 19th-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a 20th-century master of the speculative. This posthumously published anthology of enchanting, uncanny, terrifying, and immortally entertaining short stories includes E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sandman", Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose", Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp", and many more, each with an introduction by Calvino. Fantastic Tales is a delight for the mind and a feast for the senses.
©1983 Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. , 1997 English translation Random House LLC (P)2019 Recorded Books