Popular Penguins

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a profound philosophical work that transcends time and remains incredibly relevant today. Comprising the innermost thoughts and reflections of Aurelius, who was Emperor of Rome from AD 161 to 180, this book provides timeless wisdom and guidance. Rather than a narrative-driven plot, it consists of personal notes kept by Aurelius, intended as a source of...

Metamorphosis: Popular Penguins by Franz Kafka is a compelling collection that showcases a selection of Kafka's works which he considered significant and worthy of publication. This volume promises to take readers on a journey through Kafka’s unique literary landscape, marked by his distinct style and profound thematic concerns. The collection opens with Metamorphosis, Kafka's most celebrated work. It narrates the...

In the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to appease the needs of the Party. Inwardly, he rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the watchful eye of Big Brother. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair...

When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds The Pearl of the World, he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Written with lyrical simplicity The...

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is a profoundly provocative and masterfully written novel that explores themes of obsession, passion, and moral ambiguity. The narrative follows Humbert Humbert, a sophisticated and erudite European émigré, who becomes infatuated with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter, Dolores Haze, whom he affectionately nicknames "Lolita." Their illicit and tumultuous relationship drives Humbert into a labyrinth of deception, manipulation, and...

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton is a profound exploration that seeks to bring the wisdom of ancient philosophical traditions into the modern world. Using an accessible and engaging style, de Botton delves into the teachings of six great philosophers - Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Each philosopher's life and work is presented as a source...

Nausea is both the story of the troubled life of a young writer, Antoine Roquentin, and an exposition of one of the most influential and significant philosophical attitudes of modern times – existentialism. The book chronicles his struggle with the realisation that he is an entirely free agent in a world devoid of meaning; a world in which he must...

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a horrifying death. Fear, isolation, and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine, each responding in their own way to the lethal bacillus – some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror. An...

The Thirty-Nine Steps follows the thrilling story of Richard Hannay, who finds his return to England from years in South Africa to be dreadfully monotonous. This uneventful existence in London takes a dramatic turn when a murder occurs in his flat. Just days earlier, Hannay had a chance encounter with an American who revealed an assassination plot with the potential...

In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere... As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy—how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous...

In America at the turn of the twentieth century, when society abounds with movers and shakers such as Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, and Emma Goldman, and the sultry rhythms of ragtime permeate the city, ex-chorus girl Evelyn Nesbitt inspires a mad millionaire to murder architect Stanford White. In this stunning kaleidoscopic chronicle of an age, Doctorow juxtaposes patriotism with...

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school headmaster and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and his family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from young adult minds. As a consequence, his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman and 'bully of humanity' Mr Bounderby, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled...

In the din and stink that is Cannery Row, a colourful blend of misfits—gamblers, whores, drunks, bums, and artists—survive side by side in a jumble of adventure and mischief. Doc, who owns the laboratory, is the fount of all generosity and wisdom. Everybody wants to do something nice for Doc—the trouble is, he always ends up paying. Packed with invention...

Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where Jose Arcadio Buendia and his strong-willed wife, Úrsula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquiades excites Aureliano Buendia's father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy...

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is one of the best-loved novellas of all time. Two drifters - small, shrewd George and huge, simple-minded Lennie - get work on a ranch, planning to raise enough money to get a place of their own and live off the land, if George can save his childlike, bull-strong friend from getting into trouble....

In Cat's Cradle: Popular Penguins by Kurt Vonnegut, the seemingly innocuous endeavours of Dr Felix Hoenikker have left a deadly legacy for humanity. As the ingenious inventor behind ice-nine, a chemical compound with the terrifying capability to freeze water instantly, Hoenikker's discovery holds the potential to annihilate all life on Earth. The novel unfolds through the eyes of writer Jonah,...

In 1929, Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing 'never to make England my home again'. This is his superb account of his life, from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War. Containing memorable encounters with fellow writers and poets, Goodbye to All That is a...

Patricia Grace's classic novel is a work of spellbinding power in which the myths of older times are inextricably woven into the political realities of today. This classic has been released in the Popular Penguin format to mark 50 years of publishing in New Zealand. The format reaches further back to 1935, when Allen Lane founded Penguin Books with a...

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is an extraordinary fusion of journalism and gripping crime thriller. This remarkable work is drawn from an impactful 300-word article in The New York Times, which caught Capote's eye and spurred an intense six-year investigation and writing journey. The book meticulously reconstructs the tragic events surrounding Kansas farmer Herb Clutter, his wife, and their...

A classic novel that became a classic film. This classic has been released in the Popular Penguin format to mark 50 years of publishing in New Zealand. The format reaches further back to 1935, when Allen Lane founded Penguin Books with a clear vision: 'We believed in the existence of a vast reading public for intelligent books at a low...

In On Natural Selection, Charles Darwin presents a groundbreaking examination of the process by which species evolve and adapt over time. With meticulous research and keen observation, Darwin explains how natural selection drives the diversity and complexity of life on Earth. Through detailed arguments and abundant examples from nature, he demonstrates how traits that confer survival advantages are passed down...

The seminal work Notes from Underground: Popular Penguins by Fyodor Dostoyevsky delves deeply into the human psyche. This profound narrative introduces us to an anonymous narrator, a retired civil servant, deeply alienated from society. Feeling perpetually at odds with the world around him, he retreats to his "underground" existence, shunning social norms and despising the banalities of everyday life. The...

The Jungle Book: Popular Penguins by Rudyard Kipling introduces us to Mowgli, the man-cub brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India. Mowgli is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades, Mowgli encounters unforgettable creatures like Bagheera, the graceful black panther, and Shere Khan, the tiger with blazing...

E. H. Carr's What Is History? is the classic introduction to the theory of history. Exploding the Victorian myth of history as a simple record of fact, Carr draws on sources from Nietzsche to Herodotus to argue for a more subtle definition of history as 'an unending dialogue between the present and the past'. Lively, scholarly and challenging, this book...

The Mind of God by Paul Davies is a scientific search for the meaning of the universe. Ranging across the cosmos, Davies explores the origin of the universe, the laws of nature, mathematics, and the beginning and end of everything. Ultimately, he seeks to provide a glimpse of the meaning of it all. This is a book no inquisitive mind...

Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl is a delightfully dark collection of sixteen stories, each with a startling end. Among the unforgettable characters lurk the homicidal wife and her deadly leg of lamb, a conniving and lecherous wine connoisseur, and the one-eyed brain at the mercy of his vengeful spouse. Tales of the Unexpected is an astonishing assortment of...

John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders sees our eponymous hero tackle his first ever case. It is just after the war and two RAF heroes are found shot dead. Simon Jerold, the son of one of the victims, is the only suspect and young Rumpole is given the hopeless task of defending him. But Rumpole is determined to...

John Updike's Rabbit, Run is a classic story of dissatisfaction and restlessness. Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school. Now twenty-six, his life seems full of traps, the biggest being his pregnant wife and two-year-old son. He sets out to escape, but it's not clear if Rabbit is really following his heart or only chasing his...

Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson is a hymn to the English language. In examining how a second-rate, mongrel tongue came to be the undisputed language of the globe, Bryson explores English from America to Australia and looks at, among other things, swearing, spelling, spoonerisms, and Scrabble. No self-respecting English speaker should open his mouth without reading it.

Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate is a wickedly funny satire, brilliantly lampooning upper-class society. When Polly, a beautiful aristocrat, declares her love for her married, lecherous uncle—who also happens to be her mother's former lover—she sparks off a scandal that has both disastrous and delicious consequences. Love in a Cold Climate is an unforgettable tale of the absurdities...

Hunter S. Thompson's Kingdom of Fear is the wild and outrageous autobiography from the world's most notorious journalist. It's an unrestrained and uncensored account of fast living, hard drinking, sharp writing and unimaginable drug taking; of road trips, girls, guns, bikes and being accused of trying to kill Jack Nicholson. Kingdom of Fear is both personal and political; an explosive...

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre to this day entrances readers with its passionate portrayal of a woman struggling to make a life for herself in a cruel and indifferent world. As orphan Jane becomes governess at Thornfield Hall, she falls in love with her employer, Mr Rochester, only to discover that he has a terrible secret, one which may jeopardise their...

How Language Works by David Crystal is a fascinating tour through the world of language from one of today's most renowned experts. This book ranges over everything from how children learn to read to what makes words rude or polite, from eyebrow flashes to whistling languages. Unlocking the secrets of communication in an accessible, entertaining way, this exhilarating book sheds...

Everything is Illuminated won the Guardian First Book Award in 2002. It tells the story of a young man who goes to Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is aided in his quest by a blind old man, a randy guide dog and a very, very bad translator.

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin is a stunning collection of sexual encounters from the queen of literary erotica. From Mathilde's lust-filled Peruvian opium den to the Hungarian baron driven insane by his insatiable desire, the passions and obsessions of this dazzling cast of characters are vivid and unforgettable. Delta of Venus is a deep and sensual world that evokes...

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh is a satirical depiction of the 'sterile' generation between the wars. It tells the story of bored Lady Brenda Last, who abandons her husband's Gothic pile to conduct an affair with shallow socialite John Beaver of the Belgravia set. A Handful of Dust remains one of the finest tragedies and comedies of ill...

Nearly 420,000 Australians enlisted during the First World War, and more than half were killed, wounded or captured. The conflict was the most costly in Australia's history. In the fates of his protagonists in his acclaimed Flesh in Armour - one dies valiantly, one dies in an abject and mentally unhinged state, one survives - Mann pays tribute to the...

The Serene City beckons, promising Paradise regained for Ruth Cracknell and her husband, Eric, as they set forth on a carefully planned holiday. What they are seeking is time. Time to think, time to gaze, time for each other. But from the moment the holiday becomes an uncharted journey, their time is measured. Journey from Venice is confronting yet deeply...

This selection of poems covers the period 1972 to 2002. This beautifully elegant volume excludes the cartoon element, focusing on Leunig's brilliant texts, with all their absurdity, hilarity, poignancy, and joyfulness. Michael Leunig pokes fun at human folly and pretentiousness, deplores the idiocy of war, and revels in the redeeming power of love. Curly Verse: Selected Poems stands out as...

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera is a brilliantly crafted, beautifully written story of love and the love-sick. Spurned as a young man, Florentino Ariza has a half century of waiting to fill before a chance to redeclare his love for Fermina Daze comes, when her husband is killed retrieving a parrot from a mango tree. Funny,...

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is the shocking seminal novel that spawned one of the most notorious films ever made. Fifteen-year-old Alex and his thrill-seeking gang regularly indulge in ultra-violence, rape, and drugs. However, when he is caught and brainwashed by a government psychologist, Alex finds his new law-abiding life unbearable. Set in a terrifying dystopian future, A Clockwork...

In these three tales from the first major translation into English of The Arabian Nights in more than 100 years, the endless inventiveness of the vizier's daughter Shahrazad is revealed. She spins stories of greed, lust, riches, and wonder to delay her death at the hands of a brutal king.

In the sixteenth century, Zen monks in Japan developed the haiku, an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines. Now, in One Hundred Great Books in Haiku, David Bader has applied this ancient poetic form to the classics. From Homer to Milton to Dostoevsky, the great books are finally within reach of even the shortest attention...

Driving one night along the deserted track that leads to the farm, Miss Hester Harper and Katherine run into a mysterious creature. They dump the body into the farm's deep well, but the voice of the injured intruder will not be stilled. The closer Katherine is drawn to the edge of the well, the farther away she gets from Hester....

In 1941, Rob Coram is six. The war feels far removed from Geraldton in Western Australia. But when his favourite older cousin Rick leaves to join the army, the war takes a step closer. When Rick returns several years later, he has changed and the old merry-go-round that represents Rob's dream of utopia begins to disintegrate before his eyes. The...

Set among the surf and sandhills of the Australian beach—and the tidal changes of three generations of the Lang family—The Bodysurfers is an Australian classic. A short-story collection which has become a bestseller and been adapted for film, television, radio, and the theatre, The Bodysurfers on its first publication marked a major change in Australian literature.

Our Sunshine is the tale of a man whose story outgrew his life. Robert Drewe's strikingly imaginative re-creation of the inner life of Ned Kelly is written with a brilliant clarity and impressionistic economy. It carries the reader into a dreamworld of astonishing and violent revelation, an entrancing and frightening landscape of murder, sexuality, persecution, robbery, vanity, politics, and corruption....

The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory; his best friend is Clinton Tull. He loves to draw and he wants a dog; he's afraid of quicksand and self-combustion. Adrian watches his suburban world, but there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children...

Wresting his family from the easy living of 19th-century Sydney, Cornelius Laffey takes them to northern Queensland where thousands of hopefuls are digging for gold in the mud. They confront the horror of Aboriginal dispossession, and Cornelius is sacked for reporting the slaughter. It's Raining in Mango: Popular Penguins is an unforgettable tale of the other side of Australia's heritage....

In these three unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the problems of personal and social morality that he perceived in the world around him and, in particular, the complex nature of truth. Hedda Gabler and Other Plays: Popular Penguins offers readers an insight into the intricate dynamics of human relationships and the moral dilemmas of society. Ibsen's compelling storytelling and...

Drawing on his experiences in the First World War, Charles Yale Harrison tells a stark and poignant story of a young man sent to fight on the Western Front. It is an unimaginably harrowing journey, especially for one not yet old enough to vote. In sparse but gripping prose, Harrison conveys a sense of the horrors of life in the...

Edgar Allan Poe is not only the finest, most terrifying writer of Gothic horror tales ever to have lived, he also wrote extraordinary poems. Here, Poe writes of the torments of ingenious, malevolent persecutors and of a mind's own sickening madness. The Pit and the Pendulum is a collection of works from a dark and brilliant genius.

As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief 20 years that have been clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small town and distant parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog Surrender, and the unruly wild boy Finnigan, with whom he...

Judy's father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible—but seven children were really too much for him, and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule. Step inside and meet them all—dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby, and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter,...

The game is called Beatie Bow, and the children play it for the thrill of scaring themselves. But when Abigail is drawn in, the game is quickly transformed into an extraordinary, sometimes horrifying, adventure as she finds herself transported to a place that is foreign yet strangely familiar... Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park offers a mesmerising journey that combines...

How the Light Gets In: Popular Penguins by M.J. Hyland tells the story of Lou Connor, who desires to break free from her emotionally crass family and life of poverty. To achieve this, Lou embarks on a journey from Sydney to the United States as an exchange student. Upon her arrival, she is placed with the Hardings, a host family...

Beat movement icon and visionary poet, Allen Ginsberg broke boundaries with his fearless, pyrotechnic verse. This volume brings together the poems that made his name as a defining figure of the counter-culture. The apocalyptic Howl became the subject of an obscenity trial when it was first published in 1956. Dark, ecstatic and rhapsodic, it shows why Ginsberg was one of...

Over the course of his short life, John Keats (1795-1821) honed a raw talent into a brilliant poetic maturity. This wide-ranging selection of Keats's poetry contains youthful verse, such as his earliest known poem Imitation of Spenser; poems from his celebrated collection of 1820 - including Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, Ode to a Nightingale and Hyperion -...

Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops, and rundown boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy. Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with...

First published in the 1920s, The Prophet, Gibran's hugely popular guide to living, has sold millions of copies worldwide and is the most famous work of religious fiction of the twentieth century. The Prophet became the bible of 1960s culture and was credited with founding the New Age movement, yet it still continues to inspire people around the world today....

A woman has been reported missing to detective Marlowe and a corpse is found in the lake. Yet it is not the body of the missing person, but that of one of her neighbours. Now Marlowe's on the trail of a killer, who leads him out of smoggy LA all the way to a murky mountain lake... The Lady in...

When the services of famed detective Sherlock Holmes are engaged to ensure the safety of Baskerville heir Sir Henry—recently arrived from America—Dr Watson is surprised to find his friend dismissive of the matter. In fact, Watson is dispatched alone to accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall in Devon while Holmes deals with another case. Yet Watson finds the wild moors...

The High Window by Raymond Chandler introduces us to Philip Marlowe, a private investigator entangled in a seemingly straightforward case. His client, a dried-up husk of a woman, has tasked him with retrieving a rare gold coin, the Brasher Doubloon, that has disappeared from her late husband's collection. It sounds simple enough. Maybe too simple. However, with every reappearance of...

In this haunting, magical fairy-tale collection, Oscar Wilde beautifully evokes (among others) the Happy Prince who was not so happy after all, the Selfish Giant who learned to love little children and the Star Child who did not love his parents as much as he should. Each of the stories shines with poetry and magic and will be enjoyed by...

Life is good for Buck in Santa Clara Valley, where he spends his days eating and sleeping in the golden sunshine. But one day, a treacherous act of betrayal leads to his kidnap, and he is forced into a life of toil and danger. Dragged away to be a sledge dog in the harsh and freezing cold Yukon, Buck must...

Sir Ernest Shackleton's South is one of the greatest survival stories of all time. In 1914, Shackleton led a party of men hoping to be the first to traverse the Antarctic, but when their ship became crushed by ice 350 miles from land, the expedition soon became a matter of life and death. This is the extraordinary account of treacherous...

William Shakespeare's sonnets are a beautiful expression of a range of human emotions—from love to grief, anger, jealousy, and lust. Including the instantly recognisable Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? as well as a range of other equally moving works, this compilation brings together the complete collection of all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets.

A barbed attack on the British class system, Pygmalion both delighted and scandalised its first audiences in 1914. Henry Higgins is the Pygmalion figure who believes he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl, into a duchess at ease in polite society. The one thing he overlooks is that his 'creation' has a mind of her own.

Perfume by Patrick Süskind follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, abandoned at birth in the slums of eighteenth-century Paris, but blessed with an outstanding sense of smell. This gift enables Jean-Baptiste to master the art of perfume making, but one scent evades him—the scent of a virgin, whom he must possess to ensure her innocence and beauty are preserved. Laced...

Enter Borges' timeless worlds, where the ideal and the abstract challenge reality; where philosophical paradoxes and endless possibilities abound, and wisps of dream and magic are layered in eternal reoccurrence. To read Labyrinths is to glide through time, space, mythology and philosophy, as Borges' characters struggle towards devastating discovery. His essays and brief tantalising parables explore the enigmas of time,...

Fifteen-year-old New Yorker Daisy thinks she knows all about love. Her mother died giving birth to her, and now her dad has sent her away for the summer, to live in the English countryside with cousins she's never even met. There she'll discover what real love is — something violent, mysterious and wonderful. There her world will be turned upside...

Arguably William Shakespeare's most influential play, Hamlet portrays a young Prince's dilemma in choosing between moral integrity and the need for revenge following the murder of his father. Dealing with themes of love, death, and revenge, Hamlet is a rich and complex tragedy that continues to entertain audiences around the world today.

Leonard Cohen made his name as a poet before he came to worldwide attention as a singer and songwriter. Book of Longing was twenty years in the making and written in Montreal, Mumbai, and during his retreat in Mt Baldy. These poems show the full range of one of the most influential and enigmatic writers of his generation.

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate...

In the years following the First World War, a new generation emerges, wistful and vulnerable beneath the glitter. The Bright Young Things of twenties Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their hedonistic whims and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade. In a quest for treasure, a favourite party occupation, a vivid assortment of characters...

To the Lighthouse is at once a vivid impressionist depiction of a family holiday, and a meditation on a marriage, on parenthood and childhood, on grief, tyranny and bitterness. Its use of stream of consciousness, reminiscence and shifting perspectives give the novel an intimate, poetic essence. At the time of publication in 1927, it represented an utter rejection of Victorian...

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts, and tins of pineapple chunks—not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s...

The air of Eastwick breeds witches — women whose powerful longings can stir up thunderstorms and fracture domestic peace. Jane, Alexandra, and Sukie, divorced and dangerous, have formed a coven. Into the void of Eastwick breezes Darryl Van Horne, a charismatic magus of a man who entrances the trio. This is Updike at his most mischievous. The Witches of Eastwick...

Romantic, heroic, comic, and tragic, unconventional schoolmistress Jean Brodie has become an iconic figure in post-war fiction. Her glamour, freethinking ideas, and manipulative charm hold dangerous sway over her girls at the Marcia Blaine Academy – the 'crème de la crème' – who become the Brodie Set, introduced to a world of adult games they will never forget. The Prime...

The Pigeon: Popular Penguins by Patrick Suskind tells the story of Jonathan Noel, a bank security guard, who has spent 30 years meticulously shielding himself from the chaos of people and unpredictable events. However, his carefully constructed world is shattered by an unexpected encounter with a glaring pigeon, plunging him into a state of fear and insecurity. This compelling narrative...