Edgar Allen Poe: Complete Tales & Poems, by Edgar Allen Poe This collection of 73 short stories and 48 poems includes such masterpieces as "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Purloined Letter", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Raven", and "Murders in the Rue Morgue". (UK )

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu Widely acknowledged as the world's first novel, this astonishingly lovely book was written by a court lady in Heian Japan and offers a window into that formal, mannered world. (UK )

War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded as one of the world's greatest novels. (UK )

The Complete Works of Shakespeare, by William Shakespeare The Complete Works of Shakespeare, now in its updated fourth edition, continues to present the text of Shakespeare as an enjoyable and fruitful experience for students and teachers alike. (UK )

Bleak House, by Charles Dickens Considered by some critics to be the author's best work, Bleak House is the story of several generations of the Jarndyce family who wait in vain to inherit money from a disputed fortune in the settlement of the lawsuit of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. (UK )

The Odyssey, by Homer Homer's classic tale of the voyage of Odysseus as he tries to return home after the Trojan War. (UK )