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Compiled in Middle Welsh during the 12th and 13th centuries, The Mabinogion is a mesmerizing panorama of fantasy, romance, tragedy and humor. Blending Arthurian romance, Welsh legend and mythology, it tells tales of heroic knights, fair maidens, dramatic battles and magical beasts across 12 fantastical stories.

Here is a grotesque and carnivalesque collection of exuberant, fantastical stories that takes us from the ancient world through to the European Renaissance. At the heart of these tall tales are the giant Gargantua and his equally seismic son, Pantagruel. Containing magical adventures, maniacal punning, slapstick humor, erudite allusions, and just about any bodily function one can think of, here is quite possibly the zaniest, most risqué book ever written.

Frugal and fearsome, Horace Lamb rules his household with whimsical tirades and oppressive sarcasm. While his wife and five children shiver through the cold months and live in quiet dread, the shrewd Bullivant maintains a sharp servant’s grip on all situations. When Horace transforms overnight to be considerate and caring, chaos ensues–and at the heart of the turmoil are the servants, who watch, scheme and survive as the family’s grievances spill out.

Bach ist ein Zentralgestirn der Musikgeschichte. Manche verehren ihn gar als den "Lieben Gott der Musik". Aber auch der Schöpfer der Matthäus-Passion war ein Mensch wie jeder andere, und sein Leben verlief nicht immer harmonisch. Die neue Hörbiografie erzählt seine ganze Geschichte.

A story of spiritual awakening, St. Augustine's Confessions is a fascinating look at the life of an eminent Christian thinker. Widely seen as one of the first Western autobiographies ever written, it chronicles the life and religious struggles of Augustine of Hippo, from his days as a self-confessed sinner to his acceptance of Christianity as an older adult.

Felix Grandet, having married well and become a wealthy landowner and wine-grower, is a miser who watches like a hawk the sugar lumps and the bread slices. The question of who will marry his daughter and inherit his fortune fuels endless speculation in the town of Saumur. The arrival of Eugénie’s cousin sparks feelings and a resolve that puts her on a collision course with her father’s control. As the years pass and she must navigate the self-interest of potential suitors, we see how habits manifest themselves in a new generation.

Jane Austen’s most popular novel, originally published in 1813, some 17 years after it was first written, presents the Bennet family of Longbourn. Against the background of gossipy Mrs. Bennet and the detached Mr. Bennet, the quest is on for husbands for the five daughters. The spotlight falls on Elizabeth, second eldest, who is courted by Mr. Darcy, though initially she is more concerned with the fate of her other sisters. This marvelous account of family life in Regency England is read with customary panache by Juliet Stevenson.

The Roman poet Juvenal was the greatest satirist of Imperial Rome. His 16 satires encompass attacks on the immorality, abuses and hypocrisy of the Romans of his day. The last of the great Roman poets, he wrote between CE 110 and 130, his approach to satire coming close to modern expectations of the genre.

Orphaned John Trenchard lives in the little coastal town of Moonfleet, entranced by the local legend of Blackbeard, whose ghost is said to rise each winter night in search for his lost diamond. While hunting for the treasure one night, John collides with a band of smugglers who take him under their wing.

Old Michael Snowdon returns to London with an inheritance that he determines should go towards helping the poor—but goodness and charity are not to play a part here. Everyone has an agenda, and scheming spreads through the story like a disease. Gissing’s own experience of London as an outsider in a vast city that both fascinated and appalled him gave him the tools and the drive to create a visceral sense of place. Life is unremittingly grim for just about everyone, from the weak and well-intentioned Jane to the coarse, cunning Clem Peckover and her feckless rival Pennyloaf Candy.

The Roman historian Tacitus was a successful politician who eventually became governor of the province of Asia. He is thought to have died around AD 120 and benefitted from the patronage of the Flavian emperors. The Histories, of which only just over four out of 14 books survive, covers the years following the assassination of the Emperor Nero: Rome was plunged into further civil war with the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69), which culminated in the accession of Vespasian, the first of the Flavians.

Forced by her parents to take holy orders, 16-year-old Suzanne is trapped in a monastic life and endures harrowing physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The depiction of her struggle for autonomy is coated in the mysticism and madness of her environment, as the overwhelming effects of power are laid bare. Diderot, a key figure of the Enlightenment, uses the novel to question the moral authority of the Church and pour scorn on its complicity in oppression and intolerance.

Also sprach Zarathustra was conceived and written by Friedrich Nietzsche during the years 1881-1885; the first three Parts were published in 1883 and 1884. The book formed part of his "campaign against morality", in which Nietzsche explored the ethical consequences of the "death of God".

Plagued with doubt and uncertainty in sensory knowledge, Descartes is struck with the idea that everything he knows is false. He considers the possibility that he has been deceived by an 'evil demon' and is left with nothing to lean on, until he arrives at the phrase 'cogito ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am'). Among the most quoted philosophical works in history, Meditations on First Philosophy and Discourse on the Method together display the full workings of Descartes' skeptical method and the formation of his famous phrase.

Lewis Romayne returns to the family home, Vange Abbey, after a fatal duel in France–the memory of which still haunts him. In an attempt to put the experience behind him, he visits London where he meets Stella Eynecourt, who will become his wife. However, Romayne also comes across the cunning Father Benwell, who is determined to convert him to Catholicism and to regain Vange Abbey for the Church.

A gripping tale of espionage that influenced Graham Greene, Somerset Maugham and John le Carré, Under Western Eyes follows the story of Kyrilo Sidorovitch Razumov, an apolitical student who becomes a Czarist spy. Following a political assassination, he returns to his room to discover the culprit, Victor Haldin, who asks for help in making his escape.

This is a story from the Grimms' Fairy Tales 2 collection.

Completed six years after Dostoyevsky's own term as a convict, The House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical account of life in a Siberian prison camp, and the physical and mental effects it has on those who are sentenced to inhabit it. Alexandr Petrovitch Goryanchikov, a gentleman of the noble class, has been condemned to 10 years of hard labor for murdering his wife.

Seeking to depose his brother Artaxerxes and take his place upon the Persian throne, Cyrus the Younger leads the 10,000 mercenaries on a dangerous campaign deep into the heart of Persia. There, Cyrus is killed and his generals overthrown, leaving a young Xenophon to lead the army on its treacherous journey home. Snowy mountains, wide rivers, violent blizzards, and hostile tribes obstruct their way, testing Xenophon's leadership and his soldiers' perseverance to the extreme.

Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West to the present day, and surveys the difficulties Italy has faced during the last two centuries in creating a unified country. Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist and idealist programs for forging a nation-state.