Summer Reads

“The surprise ‘must-read’ for people facing the Covid-19 epidemic.” —The TelegraphIn 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Defoe was just five at the time of the plague, but he later called on his own memories, as well...

Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year is an extraordinary account of the devastation and human suffering inflicted on the city of London by the Great Plague of 1665. Purporting to be an eye-witness, Defoe's fictional narrator recounts in vivid detail the...

The haunting cry of "Bring out your dead!" by a bell-ringing collector of 17th-century plague victims has filled readers across the centuries with cold terror. The chilling cry survives in historical consciousness largely as a result of this classic 1722...

The literary career of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) spanned less than twenty years, but no area of intellectual inquiry was left untouched by his iconoclastic genius. The philosopher who announced the death of God in The Gay Science (1882) and went on...

(Available after 3-20 days)Do you want to ask smart questions like Socrates, be an out-of-the-box thinker like John Stuart Mill, and rational like Descartes? These people have at least one thing in common; they were great critical thinkers of their time...

(Available after 3-20 days) ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE is a moral essay written by Seneca the Younger, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to his father-in-law Paulinus. ★ Seneca brings up many Stoic principles on the nature of time, namely that men waste much of...

Alain de Botton's bestselling The Consolations of Philosophy—later made into a six-part TV series—has helped popularize ancient philosophy and especially the work of Seneca. This superb volume offers the finest translation of Seneca's dialogues and...

(Available after 3-20 days) THE ENCHIRIDION  ★ The Enchiridion or Manual of Epictetus (Enchiridion is Greek for "that which is held in the hand") is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice. ★ This manual has been carefully adapted in to Modern English to...

(Available after 3-20 days) Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. ★ Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of...

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius are treasured today—as they have been over the centuries—as an inexhaustible source of wisdom. And as one of the three most important expressions of Stoicism, this is an essential text for everyone interested in ancient...

After the execution of Socrates in 399 BC, a number of his followers wrote dialogues featuring him as the protagonist and, in so doing, transformed the great philosopher into a legendary figure. Xenophon's portrait is the only one other than Plato's to...

The Chaos of Longing is a brutally honest exploration of desire—physical, emotional, and spiritual. This revised and expanded edition contains over 50 pages of all-new material.Organized in four sections – Inception, Longing, Chaos, and Epiphany – K.Y...

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION*'A raw, tender, potent collection' - JESSICA ANDREWS'Gorgeous poems - profound, exploratory, wild, playful - and completely now' - RUTH PADELThe brilliant new collection from T.S. Eliot Prize...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life comes “a hilarious tale . . . hijinks worthy of classic I Love Lucy episodes . . . too good to pass up.” (USA Today)“Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life returns with another laugh-out-loud Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adventure: a hilarious road trip through the American West to Las Vegas. “Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life returns with a festive Shopaholic adventure filled with holiday cheer and unexpected gifts.“Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy...

For Rebecca Bloomwood, life is peachy. She has a job on morning TV, her bank manager is actually being nice to her, and when it comes to spending money, her new motto is Buy Only What You Need - and she's really (sort of) sticking to it. The icing on the...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life . . .“Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy with laughter.”—Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars and The Last Letter from...

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life returns with her trademark blend of sparkling wit and playful romance in this page-turning story of a wedding to remember—and a honeymoon to forget. “Sophie Kinsella keeps...

A ZOELLA Book Club Pick!   From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.Audrey wears dark glasses all...