The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle, Arthur Conan (384 pages, ISBN: 9780141045160)
Out of his smoke-filled rooms in Baker Street stalks a figure to cause the criminal classes to quake in their boots and rush from their dens of iniquity . . .

The twelve mysteries gathered in this first collection of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson's adventures reveal the brilliant consulting detective at the height of his powers. Problems involving a man with a twisted lip, a fabulous blue carbuncle and five orange pips tax Sherlock Holmes's intellect alongside some of his most famous cases.

The Age of Reason
Satre, Jean-Paul (324 pages, ISBN: 9780141045573)
Set in the volatile Paris summer of 1938, The Age of Reason follows two days in the life of Mathieu Delarue, a philosophy teacher, and his circle in the cafes and bars of Montparnasse. Mathieu has so far managed to contain sex and personal freedom in conveniently separate compartments. But now he is in trouble, urgently trying to raise 4,000 francs to procure a safe abortion for his mistress, Marcelle. Beyond all this, filtering an uneasy light on his predicament, rises the distant threat of the coming of the Second World War.

And the Ass Saw the Angel
Cave, Nick (324 pages, ISBN: 9780141045610)
Outcast and mute, Euchrid Eucrow of Ukulore inhabits a nightmarish Southern valley of preachers, incest and ignorance. When the God-fearing folk of the town declare a foundling child to be chosen by the Almighty, Euchrid is disturbed. He sees her very differently, and his conviction, and increasing isolation and insanity, may have terrible consequences for them both . . .

Compelling and astonishing, Nick Cave's acclaimed first novel is a fantastic journey into a world of Gothic tragedy.

The Art of War
Tzu, Sun (108 pages, ISBN: 9780141045276)
Offering ancient wisdom on how to use skill, cunning, tactics and discipline to outwit your opponent, this bestselling 2000-year-old military manual is still worshipped by soldiers on the battlefield and managers in the boardroom as the ultimate guide to winning.

The Beach
Garland, Alex (456 pages, ISBN: 9780141037585)
Alex Garland's The Beach was published to immediate acclaim, and has since become a bestselling cult classic and a Hollywood blockbuster. Richard, a gap-year student, is introduced to a beautiful island by the mysterious Daffy. But with drugs and the glamorized violence of Vietnam War films haunting his perception of his Thai paradise, Richard soon finds the hideaway becomes a nightmare. A compulsive adrenaline rush, The Beach is an adventure you'll never forget.
The Big Sleep
Chandler, Raymond (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141037592)
Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep is the definitive hardboiled detective story and Philip Marlowe the perfect expression of the cynical, world-weary gumshoe. Hired by the crippled General Sternwood to shake off a blackmailer, Marlowe also has to deal with the general's two rebellious daughters, the gamblers and pornographers they run with and, soon enough, some inconvenient murders. Chandler's LA and the gutter-life that populate it made crime fiction what it is today and remain unmatched.
The Bodysurfers
Drewe, Robert (168 pages, ISBN: 9780143180241)
Set among the surf and sandhills of the Australian beach – and the tidal changes of three generations of the Lang family – The Bodysurfers is an Australian classic. A short-story collection which has become a bestseller and been adapted for film, television, radio and the theatre, The Bodysurfers on its first publication marked a major change in Australian literature.

Breakfast at Tiffany's
Capote, Truman (168 pages, ISBN: 9780141037264)
Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's is a brilliant glimmer of the excitement of 40's New York. Holly Golightly - brashly beautiful with a slim black dress, a mysterious past and dark glasses over varicoloured eyes - entrances all the men she meets, including the young writer living above her, though her recklessness may yet catch up with her. Also containing three short stories, this edition shows the elegance and warmth of Capote's writing at its most flawless.
Brideshead Revisited
Waugh, Evelyn (336 pages, ISBN: 9780141045627)
Charles Ryder, a lonely student at Oxford, is captivated by the outrageous and decadent Sebastian Flyte. Invited to Brideshead, Sebastian's magnificent family home, Charles welcomes the attentions of its eccentric, aristocratic inhabitants, gradually becoming infatuated with them and the life of privilege they inhabit – in particular, with Sebastian's remote sister, Julia. But he gradually comes to recognize his spiritual and social distance from them, eventually discovering a world where duty and desire, faith and happiness are in conflict.

Cannery Row
Steinbeck, John (180 pages, ISBN: 9780141045399)
In the din and stink that is Cannery Row a colourful blend of misfits – gamblers, whores, drunks, bums, and artists – survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Doc, who owns the laboratory, is the fount of all generosity and wisdom. Everybody wants to do something nice for Doc: the trouble is, he always ends up paying. Packed with invention and joie de vivre, Cannery Row is Steinbeck's high-spirited tribute to his native California.

Casino Royale
Fleming, Ian (192 pages, ISBN: 9780141045429)
Bond is sent to a casino in Royal-les-Eaux to disgrace the lethal Russian agent 'Le Chiffre' by ruining him at baccarat and forcing his Soviet spymasters to 'retire' him, but he soon finds that his quarry is not content to go without a fight. Preferring to work alone, 007 is annoyed to be assigned a female assistant, but his compelling attraction to the enigmatic Vesper Lynd only leads him into further danger . . .

Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141045443)
Dr Felix Hoenikker, has left a deadly legacy to humanity. He is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. Writer Jonah's search for its whereabouts leads him to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to an island republic in the Caribbean where the religion of Bokononism is practised, to love and to insanity. Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction is a funny and frightening satire on the end of the world and the madness of mankind.

The Chimney Sweeper's Boy
Vine, Barbara (456 pages, ISBN: 9780141037608)
Barbara Vine's The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is one of the finest, most accomplished and chilling tales of psychological suspense ever written. When a sudden heart attack kills author Gerald Candless, his adoring daughter Sarah embarks on a memoir of her beloved father. But Sarah's investigations turn up someone very different from the man she had known - proof that he wasn't Gerald Candless at all. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is a troubling tale of taboo, family guilt and personal identity.

The Chrysalids
Wyndham, John (204 pages, ISBN: 9780141045436)
As David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal the differences which would label them as mutants from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery, or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badlands . . .

The Chrysalids is a post-nuclear apocalypse story of genetic mutation in a devastated world and explores the lengths the intolerant will go to to keep themselves pure.

The Classical World
Fox, Robin Lane (720 pages, ISBN: 9780141037615)
Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World brings together the epic histories of Greece and Rome. His panoramic account spans centuries of change, from the foundation of the world's first democracy to the expansion of the Roman Empire, and brings to life such great figures as Homer, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus. Spellbinding and stimulating, it illuminates two civilizations that dominated the ancient world and still inspire and enlighten us today.
Clockwork Orange
Burgess, Anthony (168 pages, ISBN: 9780141037226)
Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange is the shocking seminal novel that spawned one of the most notorious films ever made. Fifteen-year-old Alex and his thrill-seeking gang regularly indulge in ultra-violence, rape and drugs, but when he is caught and brainwashed by a government psychologist Alex finds his new law-abiding life unbearable. Set in a terrifying dystopian future, A Clockwork Orange is a disturbing exploration of morality and free will.
Cold Comfort Farm
Gibbons, Stella (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141045481)
When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders, an eccentric group of relatives suffering from a wide variety of ailments. But Flora loves nothing better than to organize other people. Armed with common sense and a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in hand. A hilarious and merciless parody of rural melodramas, Cold Comfort Farm is one of the best-loved comic novels of all time.

A Confederacy of Dunces
Toole, John Kennedy (444 pages, ISBN: 9780141045641)
Meet Ignatius J. Reilly: flatulent, eloquent and pretty much unemployable . . .

The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged as well. Ignatius ignores them as he heaves his vast bulk through the city's fleshpots in a noble crusade against vice, modernity and ignorance. But his momma has a nasty surprise in store for him. Ignatius must get a job. Undaunted, he uses his new-found employment to further his mission – and now he has a pirate costume and a hot-dog cart to do it with . . .

Congo Journey
O'Hanlon, Redmond (480 pages, ISBN: 9780141037271)
Redmond O'Hanlon's Congo Journey is a hilarious and daring trip into the heart of darkness. Striking out for the Marxist-Leninist People's Republic of Congo, O'Hanlon takes an unsuspecting friend to hidden Lake Télé in search of Mohélé-mbembe, the rarely seen Congo dinosaur. But what they find is not quite what they went looking for, making Congo Journey a brilliant tale of a naturalist utterly out of his depth.
The Consolations of Philosophy
De Botton, Alain (276 pages, ISBN: 9780141038377)
Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy takes the discipline of logic and the mind back to its roots. Drawing inspiration from six of the finest minds in history - Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche - he addresses lack of money, the pain of love, inadequacy, anxiety and conformity. De Botton's book led one critic to call philosophy 'the new rock and roll'.
Crimes Against Humanity
Robertson, Geoffrey (804 pages, ISBN: 9780141037288)
Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity is a superb and highly influential account of the history of the human rights movement up to the present day. From the French Revolution and the Nuremberg trials to 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, Robertson traces the developing concept of human rights and shows how far we still have to go. His inspiring narrative is both a masterly history and a clarion call to the global justice movement.
Dark Star Safari
Theroux, Paul (516 pages, ISBN: 9780141037295)
Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari is a journey overland from Cairo to Cape Town. He travels
across bush and desert, down rivers and across lakes, through Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Encompassing some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth - and some of the most dangerous - Dark Star Safari is a powerful love letter to the continent of Africa.

Delta of Venus
Nin, Anais (240 pages, ISBN: 9780141037301)
Anais Nin's Delta of Venus is a stunning collection of sexual encounters from the queen of literary erotica. From Mathilde's lust-filled Peruvian opium den to the Hungarian baron driven insane by his insatiable desire, the passions and obsessions of this dazzling cast of characters are vivid and unforgettable. Delta of Venus is a deep and sensual world that evokes the very essence of sexuality.
Dracula
Stoker, Bram (408 pages, ISBN: 9780141045221)
Count Dracula's castle is a hellish world where night is day, pleasure is pain and the blood of the innocent prized above all. Young Jonathan Harker approaches the gloomy gates with no idea what he is about to face . . .

And back in England eerie incidents are unfolding as strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck . . . But can Harker's fiancé be saved? And where is the evil Dracula?

Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
Ferguson, Niall (456 pages, ISBN: 9780141037318)
Niall Ferguson's Empire is one of the most successful and controversial history books of recent years. Brilliantly re-telling the story of Britain's imperial past, it shows how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers from a rainy island in the North Atlantic came to build the most powerful empire in all history, how it ended, and how - for better or worse - it made our world what it is today.
Eva Luna
Allende, Isabel (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141045559)
In her opulent novel, Eva Luna, Isabel Allende uses exquisite prose to describe the survival of a young Latin American woman whose powers as a storyteller bring her friendship and love, during a time of political unrest in South America.

Born in the back room of the mansion where her mother is a servant, the enchanting Eva Luna defies oppression by telling stories to a series of vibrant characters.

Everything is Illuminated
Foer, Jonathan Safran (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141037325)
Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated won the Guardian First Book Award in 2002. It tells the story of a young man who goes to the Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is aided in his quest by a blind old man, a randy guide dog and a very, very bad translator. It is funny, moving and gripping and we guarantee you won't have read anything quite like it before.
The Fabric of the Cosmos
Greene, Brian (588 pages, ISBN: 9780141037622)
Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos is an astonishing grand tour of the universe and the best layman's guide to current thinking on 'how everything works'. This rollercoaster ride explores the mysteries of space and time; asks questions about the nature of reality, dark matter, space warps and wiggles; and will fundamentally alter the perceptions of anyone that's looked up at the stars and asked themselves: what's it all about?
Farewell My Lovely
Chandler, Raymond (324 pages, ISBN: 9780141045597)
Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married – until someone framed Malloy for armed robbery. Now his stretch is up and he wants Velma back. PI Philip Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help him. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe's search for Velma turns up plenty of dangerous gangsters with a nasty habit of shooting first and talking later. And soon what started as a search for a missing person becomes a matter of life and death . . .

Fever Pitch
Hornby, Nick (252 pages, ISBN: 9780141045498)
For many people watching football is mere entertainment; to some it's more like a ritual; but to others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself. For Nick Hornby's devotion to the game has provided one of the few constants in a life where the meaningful things – like growing up, leaving home and forming relationships– have rarely been as simple or as uncomplicated as his love for Arsenal.

For the Term of His Natural Life
Clarke, Marcus (456 pages, ISBN: 9780143202691)
Scarcely out of print since the early 1870s, For the Term of His Natural Life has provided successive generations with a vivid account of a brutal phase of colonial life. The main focus of this great convict novel is the complex interaction between those in power and those who suffer, made meaningful because of its hero's struggle against his wrongful imprisonment. Elements of romance, incidents of family life and passages of scenic description both relieve and give emphasis to the tragedy that forms its heart.

Frankenstein
Shelley, Mary (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141045115)
Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with the secret of resurrecting the dead. But when he makes a new 'man' out of plundered corpses, his hideous creation fills him disgust.

Rejected by all humanity, the creature sets out to destroy Frankenstein and everyone he loves. And as the monster gets ever closer to his maker, hunter becomes prey in a lethal chase that carries them to the very end of the earth.

The Getting of Wisdom
Richardson, Henry Handel (264 pages, ISBN: 9780143202707)
Henry Handel Richardson's The Getting of Wisdom is the coming-of-age story of a spontaneous heroine who finds herself ensconced in the rigidity of a turn-of-the-century boarding school. The clever and highly imaginative Laura has difficulty fitting in with her wealthy classmates and begins to compromise her ideals in her search for popularity and acceptance.

Going Solo
Dahl, Roald (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141037332)
Roald Dahl's Going Solo is the marvellous account of his life as a young man. He describes getting his first job in Africa and his wartime exploits as an RAF fighter pilot, where he was shot down in the Libyan desert. Continuing the story he began in Boy, the first part of his memoir, the master storyteller conjures up a real-life world as magical and unnerving as any he writes about in his fiction.
Goodbye To All That
Graves, Robert (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141045542)
In 1929 Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This is his superb account of his life from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War.

Containing memorable encounters with fellow writers and poets, Goodbye to All That, is a classic war document, and also has immense value as one of the most candid self-portraits of an artist ever written.

The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald, F Scott (240 pages, ISBN: 9780141037639)
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby brilliantly captures the disillusion of a society obsessed with wealth and status. Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby appears to have it all, yet he yearns for the one thing that will always be out of his reach, the absence of which renders his life of glittering parties and bright young things ultimately hollow. Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream is often cited as the Great American Novel.
A Handful of Dust
Waugh, Evelyn (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141037233)
Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust is a satirical depiction of the 'sterile' generation between the wars. It tells the story of bored Lady Brenda Last, who abandons her husband's Gothic pile to conduct an affair with shallow socialite John Beaver of the Belgravia set. A Handful of Dust remains one of the finest tragedies and comedies of ill manners.
The Harp in the South
Park, Ruth (240 pages, ISBN: 9780143202752)
Ruth Park's classic novel The Harp in the South is one of Australia's greatest novels. Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops and run-down boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy.

Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail and great heart.

The Haunted Hotel
Wilkie, Collins (240 pages, ISBN: 9780141045108)
A sinister Countess is driven mad by a dark secret. An innocent woman is made the instrument of retribution. A murdered man's fury reaches beyond the grave.

When Countess Narona marries Agnes Lockwood's fiancé and takes him to live in a rundown Venetian palace, a servant mysteriously vanishes and the husband dies a recluse. But the dead won't rest. When the palace is transformed into a hotel the two women are drawn to its chambers, where a force stronger than death is waiting to wreak its vengeance. . .

Hell's Angels
Thompson, Hunter S (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141045566)
The Hell's Angels erupted into 1960s America, paralysing whole towns with fear. Determined to discover the truth behind the terrifying reputation of these marauding biker gangs, Hunter S. Thompson spent a year on the road with the Angels, documenting his hair-raising experiences with Charger Charley, Big Frank, Little Jesus and The Gimp. Hell's Angels was the result: a masterpiece of underground reportage whose free-wheeling, impressionistic style created the legend of Gonzo journalism, and made Thompson's name as the wild man of American writing.

High Fidelity
Hornby, Nick (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141037356)
Nick Hornby's High Fidelity is the brilliant story of one man's journey of self-discovery. When Rob - a thirty-five-year old record shop owner and music obsessive - is dumped by Laura he indulges in some casual sex, a little light stalking and some extreme soul-searching in the form of contacting every ex-girlfriend who ever broke his heart. An instant classic, High Fidelity is a hilarious exploration of love, life, music and the modern male.
The History of Sexuality: Volume 1
Foucault, Michel (180 pages, ISBN: 9780141037646)
Michel Foucault's The Will to Knowledge is the first part of his influential trilogy of books on
the history of sexuality. He argues that the recent explosion of discussion about sex in the West means that, far from being liberated, we are in the process of making a science of sexuality that is devoted to the analysis of desire rather than the increase of pleasure. This is a brilliant polemic from a groundbreaking radical intellectual.
Holding the Man
Conigrave, Timothy (300 pages, ISBN: 9780143202820)
The mid-seventies: at an all-boys Catholic school in Melbourne, Timothy Conigrave falls wildly and sweetly in love with the captain of the football team. So begins a relationship that weathers disapproval, separation and, ultimately death. With honesty and insight Holding the Man explores the highs and lows of any partnership, and the strength of heart both men have to find when they test positive to HIV. This is a book as refreshing and uplifting as it is moving; a funny and sad and celebratory account of growing up gay.

How I Live Now
Rosoff, Meg (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141045474)
Fifteen-year-old New Yorker Daisy thinks she knows all about love. Her mother died giving birth to her, and now her dad has sent her away for the summer, to live in the English countryside with cousins she's never even met.

There she'll discover what real love is: something violent, mysterious and wonderful. There her world will be turned upside down and a perfect summer will explode into a million bewildering pieces.

How will Daisy live then?

How Language Works
Crystal, David (516 pages, ISBN: 9780141037363)
David Crystal's How Language Works is a fascinating tour through the world of language from one of today's most renowned experts. It ranges over everything from how children learn to read to what makes words rude or polite, from eyebrow flashes to whistling languages. Unlocking the secrets of communication in an accessible, entertaining way, this exhilarating book sheds light on the endless mysteries of the language we speak, write and read every day.
In Cold Blood
Capote, Truman (348 pages, ISBN: 9780141038391)
Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is both a masterpiece of journalism and a powerful crime thriller. Inspired by a 300-word article in The New York Times, Capote spent six years exploring and writing the story of Kansas farmer Herb Clutter, his family and the two young killers who brutally murdered them. In Cold Blood created a genre of novelistic non-fiction and made Capote's name with its unflinching portrayal of a comprehensible and thoroughly human evil.
Jane Eyre
Bronte, Charlotte (600 pages, ISBN: 9780141037370)
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre to this day entrances readers with its passionate portrayal of a woman struggling to make a life for herself in a cruel and indifferent world. As orphan Jane becomes governess at Thornfield Hall, she falls in love with her employer, Mr Rochester, only to discover that he has a terrible secret, one which may jeopardize their future happiness. Jane Eyre's struggle for independence has echoed with readers ever since.
Journey from Venice
Cracknell, Ruth (288 pages, ISBN: 9780143202738)
The Serene City beckons, promising Paradise regained for Ruth Cracknell and her husband, Eric, as they set forth on a carefully planned holiday.

What they are seeking is time. Time to think, time to gaze, time for each other. But from the moment the holiday becomes an uncharted journey, their time is measured.

Journey From Venice is confronting yet deeply comforting – an acknowledgement of the miracle that is unconditional love.

Junky
Burroughs, William S (192 pages, ISBN: 9780141045405)
'Junk is not, like alcohol or weed, a means to increased enjoyment in life. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of life.'

Burrough's cult classic is a raw, semi-autobiographical account of drug addiction, which outraged America and influenced generations of writers to come. He relates with unflinching realism the highs and lows of dependency: euphoria, hallucinations, ghostly nocturnal wanderings and strange sexual encounters. Junky is a dark, powerful and mesmerizing account of one man's challenge to turn self-destruction into art.

Kingdom of Fear
Thompson, Hunter S (384 pages, ISBN: 9780141037417)
Hunter S. Thompson's Kingdom of Fear is the wild and outrageous autobiography from the world's most notorious journalist. It's an unrestrained and uncensored account of fast living, hard drinking, sharp writing and unimaginable drug taking; of road trips, girls, guns, bikes and being accused of trying to kill Jack Nicholson. Kingdom of Fear is both personal and political; an explosive life story and a no-holds-barred assassination of contemporary America.
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Lawrence, D H (324 pages, ISBN: 9780141037424)
D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover scandalized the world when it was first published in paperback, and helped put Penguin Books on trial. The powerful depiction of the sexual liaison of Constance Chatterley with the gamekeeper Mellors, while her invalid husband quietly seethes, brilliantly captures the perennial struggle between the classes and the sexes.
The Language Instinct
Pinker, Steven (504 pages, ISBN: 9780141037653)
Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct propelled him to worldwide fame in 1994. His groundbreaking book's premise - that language is instinctual rather than acquired - so shook the foundations of biological science that the reverberations are still being felt today.
Lolita
Nabokov, Vladimir (372 pages, ISBN: 9780141037431)
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is a dark and daring story of obsessive love and transgression. Humbert Humbert's lust for his pubescent step-daughter, Lolita, shocked readers when it was first published in the 1950s; yet the novel was also celebrated for its beautifully lyrical writing. Almost fifty years after its first publication, Lolita remains a powerful tale of perversion and love gone wrong.
Love in a Cold Climate
Mitford, Nancy (252 pages, ISBN: 9780141037448)
Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate is a wickedly funny satire, brilliantly lampooning upper-class society. When Polly, a beautiful aristocrat, declares her love for her married, lecherous uncle - who also happens to be her mother's former lover - she sparks off a scandal that has both disastrous and delicious consequences. Love in a Cold Climate is an unforgettable tale of the absurdities and obsessions of the elite.
Love in the Time of Cholera
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia (432 pages, ISBN: 9780141037455)
Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera is a brilliantly crafted, beautifully written story of love and the love-sick. Spurned as a young man, Florentino Ariza has a half century of waiting to fill before a chance to redeclare his love for Fermina Daze comes, when her husband is killed retrieving a parrot from a mango tree. Funny, poignant and heartfelt - enduring and unrequited love have rarely been more movingly expressed.
The Lucky Country
Horne, Donald (288 pages, ISBN: 9780143202813)
'Australia is a lucky country, run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck.'

First published in 1964 The Lucky Country caused a sensation. The book was a wake-up call to an unimaginative nation, an indictment of a country mired in mediocrity and manacled to its past.

Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave (360 pages, ISBN: 9780141045153)
Emma Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment and the consequences are devastating.

Flaubert's erotically charged novel caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857.

The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hardy, Thomas (384 pages, ISBN: 9780141045177)
Can you run away from who you are?

Years ago Michael Henchard committed a terrible act in a fit of drunken rage. Now he has put his past behind him and become a respected member of the town of Casterbridge, but behind his success lies his shameful secret and his self-destructive temper.

As Henchard's deeds gradually catch up with him, he is forced to face up to his true nature – and risks losing everything he has ever had.

The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea
Stow, Randolph (408 pages, ISBN: 9780143202745)
In 1941, Rob Coram is six. The war feels far removed from Geraldton in Western Australia. But when his favourite older cousin Rick leaves to join the army, the war takes a step closer.

When Rick returns several years later, he has changed and the old merry-go-round that represents Rob's dream of utopia begins to disintegrate before his eyes.

The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea allows us a precious glimpse into a simpler kind of childhood in a country that no longer exists.

The Mind of God
Davies, Paul (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141037660)
Paul Davies' The Mind of God is a scientific search for the meaning of the universe. Ranging
across the cosmos, Davies explores the origin of the universe, the laws of nature, mathematics, the beginning and end of everything. Ultimately, he seeks to provide a glimpse the meaning of it all. This is a book no inquisitive mind can do without.
Monkey Grip
Garner, Helen (246 pages, ISBN: 9780143202714)
In this acclaimed first novel, Helen Garner captures the fluid relationships of a community of friends who are living and loving in new ways.

Nora falls in love with Javo the junkie, and together they try to make sense of their lives and the choices they have made. But caught in an increasingly ambiguous relationship, they are unable to let go - and the harder they pull away from each other, the tighter the monkey grip.

Mother Tongue
Bryson, Bill (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141037462)
Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue is a hymn to the English language. In examining how a second-rate, mongrel tongue came to be the undisputed language of the globe. Bryson explores English from America to Australia and looks at, among other things, swearing, spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble. No self-respecting English speaker should open his mouth without reading it.
My Family and Other Animals
Durrell, Gerald (396 pages, ISBN: 9780141037479)
Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals is a charming and comic autobiographical novel. Fleeing the gloomy British climate, the Durrell clan move to Corfu carrying the bare essentials of life: acne cures for Margo; revolvers for Leslie; books for Larry and a jam jar full of caterpillars for Gerry. Recounted with warmth and humour, it is a heart-warming portrait of an eccentric family surrounded by a wonderful cast of friends and fauna.
Of a Boy
Hartnett, Sonya (204 pages, ISBN: 9780143202615)
The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory; his best friend is Clinton Tull. He loves to draw and he wants a dog; he's afraid of quicksand and self-combustion. Adrian watches his suburban world, but there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream and never come back home . . .

Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck, John (132 pages, ISBN: 9780141038421)
John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is one of the best loved novellas of all time. Two drifters - small, shrewd George and huge, simple-minded Lennie - get work on a ranch, planning to raise enough money to get a place of their own and live off the land, if George can save his childlike, bull-strong friend from getting into trouble. A powerfully moving story of friendship, Of Mice and Men is a simply told masterpiece.
On The Road
Kerouac, Jack (300 pages, ISBN: 9780141037486)
Jack Kerouac's On the Road rocked the establishment with its seminal, stream-of-consciousness portrayal of 1950s underground America. Amidst a whirlwind of sex, drugs and jazz, writer Sal Paradise and his hero 'the holy con-man with the shining mind', Dean Moriarty traverse the country in search of life and experience. Wild and exuberant, this life-changing novel defined the Beat generation and inspired countless others.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (144 pages, ISBN: 9780141045351)
This brutal glimpse of Russia under Stalin shocked the world when it first appeared.

Discover the importance of a piece of bread or an extra bowl of soup, the incredible luxury of a book, the ingenious possibilities of a nail, a piece of string or a single match in a time where survival is all. Enter a world of incarceration– and participate in the struggle of men to survive both the terrible rigours of nature and the inhumanity of the system that defines their conditions of life.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kesey, Ken (312 pages, ISBN: 9780141037493)
Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest captured the radical anti-establishment mood of 1960s America. Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her psychiatric ward with an iron fist and a penchant for electric shock therapy, so when the boisterous McMurphy arrives - intent on disruption and showing the other patients a good time - a titanic battle of wills emerges. Kesey explores the shadowy boundaries between conformity and individuality, sanity and madness, with devastating effect.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia (432 pages, ISBN: 9780141045634)
Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where José Arcadio Buendía and his strong-willed wife, Úrsula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquíades excites Aureliano Buendía's father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Suskind, Patrick (276 pages, ISBN: 9780141037509)
Patrick Süskind's Perfume follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, abandoned at birth in the slums of eighteenth-century Paris, but blessed with an outstanding sense of smell. This gift enables Jean-Baptiste to master the art of perfume making, but one scent evades him: that of a virgin, whom he must possess to ensure her innocence and beauty are preserved. Laced with sense and suspense, this is a beguiling tale of lust, desire and deadly obsession.
Persuasion
Austen, Jane (312 pages, ISBN: 9780141045146)
Eight years ago, Anne rejected the man she loved because her friends and family persuaded her that he wasn't rich or important enough. In all that time, she's never found anyone to match Captain Wentworth.

With her snobbish father and spoiled sister always ready to embarrass her in polite society, Anne wonders if she'll ever find the courage to follow her heart again.

And if she does, what can she do to regain the affections of her Captain?

Picnic at Hanging Rock
Lindsay, Joan (192 pages, ISBN: 9780143202721)
While Joan Lindsay's haunting Australian classic Picnic at Hanging Rock is a work of fiction, the story is often considered one of Australia's greatest mysteries.

In 1900, a class of young women from an exclusive private school go on an excursion to the isolated Hanging Rock, deep in the Australian bush. The excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish after climbing the rock. Only one girl returns, with no memory of what has become of the others . . .

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wilde, Oscar (300 pages, ISBN: 9780141037684)
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a man who makes a devilish pact never to grow old. Dorian Gray remains forever young, indulging in unspeakable pleasures while his portrait bears the mark of his corrupt existence. A beautifully decadent tale of the destructive allure of perpetual youth, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterpiece of Victorian gothic horror.
The Pigeon
Suskind, Patrick (96 pages, ISBN: 9780141045269)
Jonathan Noel, bank security guard, has spent 30 years protecting himself from people and events. But an encounter with a glaring pigeon upsets his ordered life and flings him into a state of fear and insecurity. From the author of the international bestselling Perfume.

The Plague
Camus, Albert (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141045511)
The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine, each responding in their own way to the lethal bacillus: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.

An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, Camus's novel is a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.

Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane (432 pages, ISBN: 9780141037516)
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the original romantic comedy, brimful of wit and wisdom. When the haughty and aristocratic Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth Bennett, she instantly dislikes him, despite his reputation as a wealthy and eligible bachelor. Are her first impressions correct, or is there more to Darcy than meets the eye? Sharply observed and sparklingly funny, this is one of the most delightful love stories ever written.
Rabbit, Run
Updike, John (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141037523)
John Updike's Rabbit, Run is a classic story of dissatisfaction and restlessness. Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school. Now twenty-six, his life seems full of traps, the biggest being his pregnant wife and two-year-old son. He sets out to escape, but it's not clear if Rabbit is really following his heart or only chasing his tail. Powerfully written, Rabbit, Run gave American literature one of its most enduring characters.
Regeneration
Barker, Pat (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141045528)
'Pat Barker's novel is not only a vivid evocation of the agony of the First World War. It is a multi-layered exploration of all wars, challenging assumptions about the relationship between doctors and patients, between the classes, between men and women, and between men and men. A fine anthem for doomed youth.' — Time Out

A Room of One's Own
Woolf, Virginia (120 pages, ISBN: 9780141044880)
A Room of One's Own grew out of a lecture that Virginia Woolf had been invited to give at Girton College, Cambridge in 1928. Ranging over Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte and why neither of them could have written War and Peace, over the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted (and imaginary) sister, over the effects of poverty and chastity on female creativity, she gives us one of the greatest feminist polemics of the century.

Rumpole and Penge Bungalow Murders
Mortimer, John (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141037530)
John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders sees our eponymous hero tackle his first ever case. It is just after the war and two RAF heroes are found shot dead. Simon Jerold, the son of one of the victims, is the only suspect and young Rumpole is given the hopeless task of defending him. But Rumpole is determined to save his client from the gallows and make a name for himself. His bid to do so opens the first chapter in the story of the law's finest comic creation.
The Secret History
Tartt, Donna (648 pages, ISBN: 9780141037691)
Donna Tartt's The Secret History is the original American campus novel. When Richard Papen joins an elite group of clever misfits at his New England college, it seems he can finally become the person he wants to be. But the moral boundaries he will cross with his new friends - and the deaths they are responsible for - will change all of their lives forever. The Secret History recounts the terrible price we pay for mistakes made on the dark journey to adulthood.
The Shadow of the Sun
Kapuscinskui, Ryszard (336 pages, ISBN: 9780141037707)
Ryszard Kapuscinski's The Shadow of the Sun encompasses forty years of incisive and moving reportage about Africa by one of the world's greatest journalists. From newly independent Ghana to war-torn Rwanda, Kapuscinski captures the sights, sounds, smells and, above all, the real lives of this vast continent. Poetic and profound, this dazzling travelogue has been acclaimed as one of the most significant works on Africa and its people.
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare, William (168 pages, ISBN: 9780141045382)
William Shakespeare's sonnets are a beautiful expression of a range of human emotions – from love to grief, anger, jealousy and lust. Including the instantly recognisable 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' as well as a range of other equally moving works, this compilation brings together the complete collection of all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Six Easy Pieces
Feynman, Richard P (180 pages, ISBN: 9780141037547)
Richard Feynman's Six Easy Pieces is the perfect layman's introduction to the mindboggling universe of physics. In Feynman's safe hands, the reader is introduced to the very basics of atoms, energy, force, gravity and quantum behaviour. If the greatest physicist since the Second World War can't explain it to you, no one can.
Six Thinking Hats
De Bono, Edward (192 pages, ISBN: 9780141037554)
Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is the groundbreaking psychology manual that has inspired organisations and individuals all over the world. De Bono's innovative guide divides the process of thinking into six parts, symbolized by the six hats, and shows how the hats can dramatically transform the effectiveness of meetings and discussions. This is a book to open your mind, unleash your creativity and change the way you think about thinking.
South: The Endurance Expedition
Shackleton, Ernest (444 pages, ISBN: 9780141037561)
Sir Ernest Shackleton's South is one of the greatest survival stories of all time. In 1914, Shackleton led a party of men hoping to be the first to traverse the Antarctic, but when their ship became crushed by ice 350 miles from land, the expedition soon became a matter of life and death. This is the extraordinary account of treacherous seas, glaciers and relentless cold, and wonderfully encapsulates the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.
Steppenwolf
Hesse, Hermann (264 pages, ISBN: 9780141045535)
This Faust-like and magical story of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope was described in The New York Times as a 'savage indictment of bourgeois society'. But, as the author notes in this edition, Steppenwolf is a book that has been consistently misinterpreted. This self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of intellectual hypocrisy.

Summer Crossing
Capote, Truman (156 pages, ISBN: 9780141045375)
Flame-haired Grady McNeil is beautiful, rich and defiant. Her privileged society life leaves her wanting, and excitement comes in the form of the highly unsuitable Clyde, a Brooklyn-born, Jewish parking attendant. When Grady's mother and father leave her alone one summer in their New York penthouse, her secret affair intensifies and she is forced to make decisions that will alter her future indelibly. Truman Capote's recently discovered debut novel is a captivating portrayal of first love.

The Surgeon of Crowthorne
Winchester, Simon (228 pages, ISBN: 9780141037714)
Simon Winchester's The Surgeon of Crowthorne was an international bestseller and tells an extraordinary true story of murder, madness and an extraordinary friendship in the nineteenth century. It is the tale of James Murray, the compiler of the first Oxford English Dictionary, and his most valued helper: Dr Minor of Crowthorne, who was also a homicidal lunatic, confined to Broadmoor asylum for murder. This is an enthralling and beautifully written work of literary detection.
Tales of the Unexpected
Dahl, Roald (288 pages, ISBN: 9780141037578)
Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected is a delightfully dark collection of sixteen stories, each with a startling end. Among the unforgettable characters lurk the homicidal wife and her deadly leg of lamb, a conniving and lecherous wine connoisseur and the one-eyed brain at the mercy of his vengeful spouse. Tales of the Unexpected is an astonishing assortment of twisted treats from the master storyteller.
Tender is the Night
Fitzgerald, F Scott (408 pages, ISBN: 9780141045214)
Dick and Nicole Diver have turned the French Riviera into the playground of the rich and glamorous. Among their circle is Rosemary Hoyt, the beautiful starlet, who is unaware of the corruption and dark secrets that haunt their marriage. When Dick becomes entangled with Rosemary, he fractures the delicate structure of his relationship with Nicole and the lustre of their life together begins to tarnish.

Tender is the Night reflects not only Fitzgerald's own personal tragedy, but also the shattered idealism of the society in which he lived.

Usage and Abusage
Partridge, Eric (420 pages, ISBN: 9780141037721)
Usage and Abusage is Penguin's classic linguistic reference book that not only tells you how to use English correctly, but is also a declaration of war on its misuse. Covering grammatical problems, words that are commonly abused and confused, matters of style, as well as providing advice on how to communicate clearly and elegantly, it is the perfect reader for every writer.
The War of the Worlds
Wells, H G (192 pages, ISBN: 9780141045412)
The night after a shooting star is seen streaking across the sky, a cylinder is discovered near London. Armed with just a white flag, the locals approach the mysterious object – only to be burned alive by heat-rays as horrific, tentacled invaders emerge.

Soon, the whole of human civilization is under threat, as powerful Martians move across the land in massive killing machines, armed with black gas and burning rays. The aliens are determined to win the Earth for themselves.

The Well
Jolley, Elizabeth (252 pages, ISBN: 9780143202769)
Driving one night along the deserted track that leads to the farm, Miss Hester Harper and Katherine run into a mysterious creature. They dump the body into the farm's deep well but the voice of the injured intruder will not be stilled and the closer Katherine is drawn to the edge of the well, the farther away she gets from Hester.

A twentieth-century Australian classic, The Well is a haunting and wryly humorous tale of memory, desire and loneliness.

What is History?
Carr, E H (204 pages, ISBN: 9780141037738)
E. H. Carr's What Is History? is the classic introduction to the theory of history. Exploding the Victorian myth of history as a simple record of fact, Carr draws on sources from Nietzsche to Herodotus to argue for a more subtle definition of history as 'an unending dialogue between the present and the past'. Lively, scholarly and challenging, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the meaning of history and its role in society.
The Witches of Eastwick
Updike, John (324 pages, ISBN: 9780141045603)
The air of Eastwick breeds witches – women whose powerful longings can stir up thunderstorms and fracture domestic peace. Jane, Alexandra and Sukie, divorced and dangerous, have formed a coven. Into the void of Eastwick breezes Darryl Van Horne, a charismatic magus of a man who entrances the trio. This is Updike at his most mischievous.

Wuthering Heights
Bronte, Emily (408 pages, ISBN: 9780141045207)
In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere . . .

As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge – and continues to torment those in the present.

A year in Provence
Mayle, Peter (216 pages, ISBN: 9780141037257)
Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence is the much-loved account of an English couple living their dream abroad. When they buy a 200-year-old farmhouse in the South of France, Peter Mayle and his wife little expect the delights that await them - from six-course lunches and epic games of boule, to encounters with charming but unpredictable builders. Both witty and affectionate, this is an idyllic portrait of the pleasures of rural life.