War and Peace is the critically acclaimed epic novel by Leo Tolstoy. Set between 1805 - 1813, it tells of the Napoleonic wars and in particular Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Against this backdrop, Tolstoy tells the story of various Russian aristocratic families - their personal lives, fortunes, loves and dramas. Ranked No.3 on Time magazine's list of the "10 Greatest Books of all time", January 2007.

Anna Karenina moves in the esteemed circles of St. Petersburg society. She appears to have all the trappings of wealth, a high-ranking husband and a lovely son. Yet, this is not enough for Anna. An affair with Count Vronsky brings excitement for Anna but in its wake follows scandal, jealousy, bitterness and destruction. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Anna Karenina has been listed the "Greatest Book of all Time" in Time Magazine, January 2007.

This is one of the most colorful and fascinating autobiographies and what a wild, wild ride it is. Benvenuto Cellini the untameable goldsmith, sculptor, musician, artilleryman, sharpshooter, wheedler, and brute gives us the story of his life in his own words. Although esteemed for his art, when push came to shove he could as effectively dispatch an enemy with his words as with his sword. Cellini lived as the Italian renaissance was peaking where he was able to create masterpieces for his patrons - kings, popes, and leaders of sometimes waring Italian city-states.

Shakespeare's best known play and the most quoted work of the English language.

Hamlet's father is dead and he struggles with the desire for revenge. The play uses this backdrop to explore intrigue, incest, desire, and what is important in life.

Regularly included in lists of the greatest works of all time.

Chekhov is now the most popular playwright in the English-speaking world after Shakespeare, but many think that his short stories are his greatest achievement. Raymond Carver said: 'Chekhov's stories are as wonderful (and necessary) now as when they first appeared. ...he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.' Chekhov's stories are ranked No.9 on Time magazine's list of the "10 Greatest Books of all time", January 2007.

A seminal work of Realism, and one of the most influential novels ever written.

"What is remarkable in Madame Bovary is that its mediocre beings, with their earthbound ambitions and pedestrian problems, impress us, by virtue of the structure and the writing that create them, as beings who are out of the ordinary within their ordinary manner of being." - Mario Vargas Llosa, in The Perpetual Orgy

The novel focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, as she spirals out of control trying to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life.

Set in the mid 1800s before the Civil War, Huckleberry Finn and Jim, a runaway slave, drift on their raft down the Mississippi River. As they journey, adventure beckons bringing them closer whilst exposing entrenched values and attitudes as large blemishes on the Southern landscape. Controversial when first published. Paradigm shifting. Regarded as a masterpiece of American Literature. Listed as No.5 by Time magazine in its list of "10 Greatest Books of All Time", January 2007.