This is an ideal Christmas present, to give or receive.

Beowulf, a young warrior of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, in his time of need.

Yet I mean to give the truth of the thing, spite of this." Moby-Dick has a monumental reputation. Less well known are the novel's unexpectedly weird, funny, tantalizing, messy, and wondrous moments.

Written between 1919 and 1926, this text tells of the campaign aganist the Turks in the Middle East, encompassing gross acts of cruelty and revenge, ending in a welter of stink and corpses in a Damascus hospital.

A young seaman joins the crew of the whaling ship Pequod, led by the fanatical Captain Ahab in pursuit of the white whale Moby Dick in this children's version of Melville's Moby Dick.

Dating for around 300 BC, this is an early work of the Chinese school of philosophy called Taoism.

Exciting tale about the naughty puppet that turns into a loving and obedient little boy after a series of harrowing experiences. 30 new illustrations. Abridged. This is a new translation of Collodi's original made by Ann Lawson Lucas.

Exciting tale about the naughty puppet that turns into a loving and obedient little boy after a series of harrowing experiences. 30 new illustrations. Abridged. This is a new translation of Collodi's original made by Ann Lawson Lucas.

' The Monk (1796) is a sensational story of temptation and depravity, a masterpiece of Gothic fiction and the first horror novel in English literature.

Proclaimed as one of the finest Icelandic sagas, this text was written in about 1280 and refers to events a couple of centuries earlier.