The Iliad

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday.

The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty, and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. In this fresh, authoritative version - the first English translation of The Odyssey by a woman - this stirring tale of shipwrecks, monsters, and magic comes alive in an entirely new way. Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, this engrossing translation matches the number of lines in the Greek original, thus striding at Homer’s sprightly pace.

The Greek myths are amongst the greatest stories ever told, passed down through millennia and inspiring writers and artists as varied as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, James Joyce and Walt Disney. They are embedded deeply in the traditions, tales and cultural DNA of the West. You'll fall in love with Zeus, marvel at the birth of Athena, wince at Cronus and Gaia's revenge on Ouranos, weep with King Midas and hunt with the beautiful and ferocious Artemis.

Petruchio arrives in Padua determined to gain his fortune by marrying the volatile Katherina. Their tempestuous meeting and marriage leads to a great love affair. This is perhaps the most famous play ever written about the battle of the sexes. (A full-cast production.)

The vengeful King Schahriar agrees to stave off the execution of Queen Scheherazade until she finishes a particularly compelling story. Her plan? Bleed one tale into another. Through fanciful histories, romances, tragedies, comedies, poems, riddles, and songs, Scheherazade prolongs her life by holding the king’s rapt attention. With origins in Persian and Eastern Indian folklore, the stories of The Arabian Nights have been reworked, reshaped, revised, collected, and supplemented throughout the centuries by various authors and scholars.

"The Lost World" is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin in Brazil that encountered prehistoric animals. It has been the inspiration for subsequent fiction, including Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park".

Born in the Yukon, White Fang is a Wolf, or mostly Wolf - his father was a Wolf, his mother was half dog, but for all intents and purposes it was a Wolf. He looked like Wolf, fought like a Wolf, and thought like a Wolf. Early in his cubhood he was captured by an Indian, and raised as a sled dog, the Wolf nearly beaten out of him, but not quite. Subjected to human brutality and a very little human kindness he becomes a deadly fighter until rescued by a wise and kindly man. A heartwarming story.

A phantom has haunted the Paris Opera House for years. Now he is infatuated with singer Christine Daaé. Despite an astonishing debut performance, Christine fails to win the lead in Faust, and the Phantom’s cursed retaliation on the opera house is spectacularly fatal. As the chandelier falls, he kidnaps Christine, and through hidden passages and behind trapdoors, shares his life story with her. To secure her escape, Christine promises to stay true to him forever. But when the Phantom learns of the prima donna’s intention to flee, his passion turns terrifying. 

Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet is a novel for children by Carlo Collodi is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio, an animated marionette, and his poor father, woodcarver Geppetto. It is considered a classic of children's literature and has spawned many derivative works of art. This is not the story we've seen in film, but the original version - full of harrowing adventures faced by Pinocchio.

What would happen if Martians landed on Earth - and none of our weapons could stop them? H.G. Wells's timeless masterpiece - which spawned many movie adaptations - imagines this frightening scenario. The horrifying bug-like extraterrestrials, which can wipe out entire crowds with a single heat-ray and poisonous gas, first appear in the English countryside... and then wreak havoc.

Here are a dozen action-packed, interlinked jungle stories illustrating the early life of Tarzan of the Apes. The stories included are: "Tarzan's First Love", "The Capture of Tarzan", "The Fight for Balu", "The God of Tarzan", "Tarzan and the Black Boy", "The Witch Doctor Seeks Vengeance", "The End of Bukwai", "The Lion", "The Nightmare", "The Battle for Teeka", "A Jungle Joke", and "Tarzan Rescues the Moon".

This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.

This 1922 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald chronicles the life of Anthony Patch, the only heir of millionaire Adam Patch, his grandfather. Anthony is young, handsome and well-educated. He marries the ravishingly beautiful Gloria, and together they plan for the day that Anthony receives his inheritance.

Shakespeare's timeless sonnets, which describe love in all its aspects, represent one of the finest bodies of poetry ever penned. They include the star-struck Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"), the witty Sonnet 103 ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"), the despairing yet hopeful Sonnet 29 ("When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state"), and more. Read by the legendary Sir John Gielgud.

Actor David Ian Davies' telling of Poe's Gothic horror tale "The Tell-Tale Heart" captures this classic narrative of the unnamed murderer in all its exquisite vileness, its self-effacing insanity that poses rationality where none exists.