Thom Rivera has narrated 46 audiobooks on Listento.it by 58 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 205 ratings. The most-rated is The House of the Spirits.
The House of the Spirits
Summary
The unforgettable first novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world's most gifted and imaginative storytellers. The House of the Spirits brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife, Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter, Blanca, embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter, Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future. One of the most important novels of the 20th century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.
©1982 Isabel Allende (P)2016 Simon & Schuster
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Summary
Winner, The Man Booker Prize, 2015 On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years. Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters - assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts - A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s. Brilliantly inventive and stunningly ambitious, this novel is a revealing modern epic that will secure Marlon James' place among the great literary talents of his generation.
©2014 Marlon James. Recorded by arrangement with Penguin Books. (P)2014 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
All the Crooked Saints
Summary
From best-selling author Maggie Stiefvater, a gripping tale of darkness, miracles, and family. Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars. At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo. They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.
©2017 Maggie Stiefvater (P)2017 Scholastic, Inc.
Learned Optimism
Summary
You can acquire optimism and significantly improve your life! Are you an optimist or a pessimist? How often do you take on exciting new projects or celebrate your successes? Now psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, one of the world's experts on motivation, shows you how to chart a new approach to living with "flexible optimism." Dr. Seligman's principles of reasoned, flexible optimism will help you rise above pessimism and the depression that accompanies negative thoughts. Learned Optimism shows you how to: Attain maximum personal achievement Boost your mood - and your immune system - with healthful thoughts Help your children by practicing the patterns of thought that encourage optimism at an early age Change your interior dialogue and experience the astonishing positive results
©1991 Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved (P)1991 Simon & Schuster Audio, All Rights Reserved
Christodora
Summary
In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan's East Village, the Christodora. The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, Milly and Jared's adopted son Mateo grows to see the opportunity for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers. As the junkies and protesters of the 1980s give way to the hipsters of the 2000s and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020s, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them. Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.
©2016 Tim Murphy (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
Summary
New York Times Best Seller! Fans of dark fairy tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing audiobook based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie. Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro’s hit movie Pan’s Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for listeners of all ages, with enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world. This spellbinding tale takes listeners to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family. A brilliant collaboration between masterful storytellers that’s not to be missed. “Perfectly unsettling and deeply felt, this reminded me of the best kind of fairytales wherein each chapter is a jewel that, when held up to the light, reframes how we see the world around us.” (Roshani Chokshi, New York Times best-selling author of The Star-Touched Queen and Aru Shah and the End of Time) “A fearless and moving adaption of the film, and a gorgeously written, emotional, frightening parable about the courage of young women amid the brutality of war.” (Michael Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Gone)
©2019 Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers
A Manual for Cleaning Women
Summary
"I have always had faith that the best writers will rise to the top, like cream, sooner or later, and will become exactly as well-known as they should be - their work talked about, quoted, taught, performed, filmed, set to music, anthologized. Perhaps, with the present collection, Lucia Berlin will begin to gain the attention she deserves." - Lydia Davis, from the foreword A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers, and bad Christians. Listeners will revel in this remarkable collection from a master of the form and wonder how they'd ever overlooked her in the first place.
©2015 Lucia Berlin (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Luna
Summary
The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family's status in the moon's vicious political atmosphere. The moon wants to kill you - whether it's being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air or just getting caught up in a fight between the moon's ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the moon's near-feudal society. And that is just what Adriana Corta did. As the leader of the moon's newest "dragon", Adriana has wrested control of the moon's helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal Corporation and fought to earn her family's new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana's five children must defend their mother's empire from her many enemies - and each other.
©2015 Ian McDonald (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
I Had to Survive
Summary
On October 13, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying members of the Old Christians rugby team - and many of their friends and family members - crashed into the Andes Mountains. I Had to Survive offers a gripping and heartrending recollection of the harrowing, brink-of-death experience that propelled survivor Roberto Canessa to become one of the world's leading pediatric cardiologists. As he tended to his wounded teammates amid the devastating carnage of the wreck, rugby player Roberto Canessa, a second-year medical student at the time, realized that no one on Earth was luckier: He was alive - and for that, he should be eternally grateful. As the starving group struggled beyond the limits of what seemed possible, Canessa played a key role in safeguarding his fellow survivors, eventually trekking with a companion across the hostile mountain range for help. This fine line between life and death became the catalyst for the rest of his life. This uplifting tale of hope and determination, solidarity and ingenuity, gives vivid insight into a world-famous story. Canessa also draws a unique and fascinating parallel between his work as a doctor performing arduous heart surgeries on infants and unborn babies and the difficult life-changing decisions he was forced to make in the Andes. With grace and humanity, Canessa prompts us to ask ourselves, what do you do when all the odds are stacked against you?
©2016 Dr. Roberto Canessa (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Rescue
Summary
An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller. For fans of Tom Clancy and Lee Child, a heart-pumping thriller of betrayal, revenge, and conspiracy by USA Today bestselling author Steven Konkoly. Former CIA operative turned mercenary for hire Ryan Decker’s specialty is rescuing kidnap victims. Hired by an influential US senator to liberate her daughter from a human-trafficking ring, Decker never anticipated sabotage or that the assault could go so disastrously wrong. The hostage is dead. His team is wiped out, and so are their families, including Decker’s own wife and son - eliminated one by one by the Russian mafia. And he’s survived to take the fall. When he’s inexplicably freed soon into a ten-year sentence in federal prison, Decker suspects another setup. And private investigator Harlow Mackenzie knows he’s right. She has evidence that a power greater than the Russian mob was behind the raid that ruined Decker’s life. The next move in a nationwide cat-and-mouse game of high-level sedition is up to them. Fueled by revenge and an obsession to clear his name, Decker has only one mission: to destroy a growing conspiracy before it’s too late.
©2019 Steven Konkoly (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Super Extra Grande
Summary
With the playfulness and ingenuity of Douglas Adams, the Cuban science-fiction master Yoss delivers a space opera of intergalactic proportions with Super Extra Grande, the winner of the 20th annual UPC Science Fiction Award in 2011. In a distant future in which Latin Americans have pioneered faster-than-light space travel, Dr. Jan Amos Sangan Dongo has a job with large and unusual responsibilities: He’s a veterinarian who specializes in treating enormous alien animals. Mountain-sized amoebas, multisex species with bizarre reproductive processes, razor-nailed, carnivorous humanoid hunters: Dr. Sangan has seen it all. When a colonial conflict threatens the fragile peace between the galaxy’s seven intelligent species, he must embark on a daring mission through the insides of a gigantic creature and find two swallowed ambassadors - who also happen to be his competing love interests. Funny, witty, raunchy, and irrepressibly vivacious, Super Extra Grande is a rare specimen in the richly parodic tradition of Cuban science fiction, and could only have been written by a Cuban heavy-metal rock star with a biology degree: the inimitable Yoss.
©2012, 2016 José Miguel Sánchez Gómez, Translation copyright 2016 David Frye (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Goosebumps Slappyworld #8
Summary
Cathy O’Connor has seen it all. Her dad owns the local Haunted Horror Museum, a popular location filled with spooky items. The museum has been trying to get its hands on a real mummy for a long time. And this year, a mysterious mummy, Arragotus, has arrived. But when Slappy is dropped at the museum’s doorstep the night before Cathy’s class is coming, scary things start to happen. The dummy meets the mummy, and nobody is safe. Will it be a wrap for Cathy’s friends and family?
©2019 Scholastic Inc. (P)2019 Scholastic Inc.
No One Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories
Summary
From the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, a series of short stories told in "spare, unpretentious…picturesque prose" (Library Journal). Written with compassionate realism and wit, the stories in this mesmerizing collection depict the disparities of town and village life in South America, of the frightfully poor and outrageously rich, of memories and illusions, and of lost opportunities and present joys. Stories include "No One Writes to the Colonel", "Tuesday Siesta", "One of These Days", "There Are No Thieves in This Town", "Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon", "Montiel's Widow", "One Day After Saturday", "Artificial Roses", and "Big Mama's Funeral".
©1968 Gabriel García Márquez (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
El Norte
Summary
Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today. El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present - from Ponce de Leon’s initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico. Interwoven in this stirring narrative of events and people are cultural issues that have been there from the start but which are unresolved to this day: language, belonging, community, race, and nationality. Seeing them play out over centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is urgently needed. In 1883, Walt Whitman meditated on his country’s Spanish past: “We Americans have yet to really learn our own antecedents, and sort them, to unify them”, predicting that “to that composite American identity of the future, Spanish character will supply some of the most needed parts.” That future is here, and El Norte, a stirring and eventful history in its own right, will make a powerful impact on our national understanding.
©2019 Carrie Gibson (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Carved in Bone
Summary
Was Bill Ryan's death an accident? Henry Rios has his doubts. The first new Henry Rios novel in 20 years from six-time Lambda Literary award winner Michael Nava is a brilliantly plotted mystery that weaves together the gripping story of two gay men against the backdrop of 1980s San Francisco as the tsunami of AIDS bears down upon the city. Kirkus Review says: "Delivering an unusual subject and structure, this tale offers refreshing emotional depth and a gay narrative seldom seen in thrillers."
©2019 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
The Raid
Summary
A Wall Street Journal bestseller. A Border Patrol murder exposes a high-level conspiracy in USA Today bestselling author Steven Konkoly’s explosive thriller. After exposing and dismantling a deep-state conspiracy that nearly destroyed his life, Ryan Decker finds his covert skills have put him on the radar of influential Senator Steele. Now Steele needs his help. Two patrol agents were killed in a bizarre explosion near the US-Mexico border - and the evidence doesn’t line up with the official story. Enlisted by Steele to run an undercover, off-the-books investigation, Decker and his partner, Harlow, head to the border town of Tecate. But when they’re caught in an ambush, Decker realizes they’ve stumbled onto something far more dangerous than any of them understood. The cover-up is rooted deep in the Department of Defense itself. Fearful for their own lives and unable to trust anyone outside their small circle of skilled associates, Decker and Harlow set in motion a risky plan to stop a criminal conspiracy.
©2019 Steven Konkoly (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 11
Summary
Jonathan Strahan, the award-winning and much lauded editor of many of genre's best known anthologies, is back with his 11th volume in this fascinating series, featuring the best science fiction and fantasy. With established names and new talent, this diverse and ground-breaking collection will take the listener to the outer reaches of space and the inner realms of humanity with stories of fantastical worlds and worlds that may still come to pass. Featuring: Catherynne M. Valente; Paolo Bacigalupi; Aliette de Bodard; Joe Abercrombie; Rich Larson; Naomi Novik; Alyssa Wong; Daryl Gregory; Alex Irvine; Sam J. Miller; Alice Sola Kim; Seth Dickinson; Carolyn Ives Gilman; Genevieve Valentine; Caitlin R. Kiernan; Amal El-Mohtar; Theodora Goss; Ian R. Macleod; Delia Sherman; Geoff Ryman; Nina Allan; N.K. Jemisin; Lavie Tidhar; Yoon Ha Lee; Paul Mcauley; Charles Yu; E. Lily Yu; Ken Liu Narrators include Michael Welch, Lisa Renee Pitts, Jay Aaseng, Mimi Chang, and more. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2016, 2017 Jonathan Strahan, Catherynne M. Valente, Paolo Bacigalupi, Aliette de Bodard, Joe Abercrombie, Rich Larson, Naomi Novik, Alyssa Wong, Daryl Gregory, Alex Irvine, Sam J. Miller, Alice Sola Kim, Seth Dickinson, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Genevieve Valentine, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Amal El-Mohtar, Theodora Goss, Ian R. Macleod, Delia Sherman, Geoff Ryman, Nina Allan, N.K. Jemisin, Lavie Tidhar, Yoon Ha Lee, Paul Mcauley, Charles Yu, E. Lily Yu, Ken Liu (P)2017 Recorded Books
Counterfeit
Summary
Rare antiquities, forgery, betrayal, and murder. It’s all part of the game.
Antique salvager, counterfeiter, and former art forger Jota knows his newest commission pays suspiciously well, but it’s too easy to turn down. All he has to do is find an old clock that apparently has disappeared after being sold in the auction of a bankrupt estate. In Madrid’s El Rastro market, where whisper networks of shady and ambitious hustlers promise generous rewards for minimal favors, what sounds too good to be true usually is, but the last thing Jota is expecting to uncover is his own past.
His investigation draws him back into a circle of old acquaintances - including Diego, his former partner in crime, and Diego’s daughter, Laura. When Diego shows interest in the seemingly worthless clock, Laura’s curiosity is piqued, and when he’s killed in connection with the timepiece, she becomes obsessed with finding his murderers. Together Laura and Jota set out to hunt for the mysterious memento, but they have little idea just how much danger they’re in. The deeper they go, the darker, and bloodier, things get. In a world this deceptive and mazelike - a world Jota knows all too well - the only thing he and Laura can trust in is their instinct for survival.
©2015 by Guillermo Valcárcel. Translation © 2019 by Kit Maude. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Passion According to Carmela
Summary
From the prize-winning, internationally bestselling novelist Marcos Aguinis comes an epic love saga set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Cuban Revolution. It is a time for upheaval in Cuba: the time to build a new society. Even from her position of privilege, idealistic divorcée Carmela Vasconcelos sees the waves of uprising and is caught up in the excitement. Persuaded by her brother, Lucas, she flees her wealthy home to join Fidel Castro’s rebels. In the mountainous jungle of the Sierra Maestra, Carmela meets Ignacio Deheza, a charismatic Argentinian socialist fighting on behalf of the insurrection. On the training fields of a revolution, they bond in the cause - and in a blind passion that stirs their blood and soul. As Carmela, Ignacio, and Lucas navigate increasingly dangerous political waters, their personal fates become inexorably tied with that of their country. But when the rebellion succumbs to corruption and disillusionment, they’ll find their dedication to the movement tested. For Carmela and Ignacio, they’ll soon discover that it’s their commitment to each other - and the choices they must make to survive - that will be the greatest challenge of all.
©2011 Marcos Aguinis (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved; Translation 2018 © by Carolina De Robertis.
Mexico City Noir
Summary
Latin American noir at its finest. “[A] diverse collection of stories which reflect the harshness and also the brittle brilliance of life in Mexico City.” (MostlyFiction Book Reviews) Akashic Books’ acclaimed series of original noir anthologies has set a high standard for portraying cities and their neighborhoods in all their dark and violent splendor. Now, Mexico City Noir surpasses that standard with phantasmagorical tales of double-dealing, corruption, violence and self-delusion.... This collection is such a varied literary feast. Fans of Jorge Luis Borges will find surprises galore in the story "Violeta Isn’t Here Anymore". The noir-ish maze that Myriam Laurini constructs with her flair for the shifting realities of "magical realism" is dazzling enough, and then up pops Borges.... “Peel back one layer and find something totally unexpected, these tales tell us again and again. As Eduardo Monteverde writes, ‘the heart of Mexico City is made of mud and green rocks, and the God of Rain continues to cry over the whole country.’ And standing on that ground, the 12 writers here find inspiration to die for.” (Shelf Awareness) This anthology includes brand-new stories by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Eugenio Aguirre, Eduardo Antonio Parra, Bernardo Fernández Bef, Óscar de la Borbolla, Rolo Díez, Victor Luiz González, F.G. Haghenbeck, Juan Hernández Luna, Myriam Laurini, Eduardo Monteverde, and Julia Rodríguez.
©2010 Akashic Books (P)2020 Audible, Inc.