2012 January

Few books can boast the impact of Charles Darwin’s 1859 work, which set out his theory of evolution through natural selection. The groundbreaking ideas formed the basis of evolutionary biology and changed not just scientific understanding but how mankind viewed its place on Earth.

After following a white rabbit in a waistcoat down a hole, Alice enters the absurd and fantastical world of Wonderland – a place where meeting hookah-smoking caterpillars and joining a crazed tea party is as normal as it gets.

One of the most popular books of all time. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet explores the issues of life from good versus evil to freedom, religion, love, passion and death.

Illustrated with Kahlil Gibran’s original artwork.

Based on Henry David Thoreau’s own journal, Walden tells of the author’s search for a simpler, self-sufficient life while living a solitary life in Massachusetts

A band of pilgrims are heading from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St Thomas Becket and decide to pass the time by recounting amazing stories of love, adventure, crime and religion that have enchanted people for centuries.

Alice sets out on a new adventure after travelling through a mirror to enter a disorientating and bizarre world filled with memorable characters such as Humpty Dumpty, the Red Queen and the confusing duo of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

In this classic science fiction tale, an unnamed inventor creates a machine that can travel in time and sets out to see what the future will bring. His amazing journeys take him to a dystopian future where peaceful humanoids are terrorised at night by an underground race of monsters and onto the last days of Earth.

Since his 1887 debut, the super sleuth of 221B Baker Street created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has become one of fiction’s most enduring creations.

This collection brings together the most beloved of adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. There’s the chilling The Hound of the Baskervilles, the mystery of A Study in Scarlet and the clash between Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty in The Valley of Fear.

Includes more than 50 stories drawn from these Sherlock Holmes collections and novels:

A Study in Scarlet
The Sign of Four
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of Baskervilles
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
His Last Bow
The Valley of Fear

When a Trojan kidnaps the Greek princess Helen, war breaks out between Greece and Troy. The Iliad, a landmark of western literature, recounts that 10-year war in all its drama, misery, death and heroism.

The Trojan War is over but Odysseus’ 10-year journey home is fraught with danger. Along the way he encounters a six-headed monster, giant cannibals and the evil Sirens. Meanwhile his loyal wife Penelope fears the worst…