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Always eclectic, always interesting (well, we always try!)

How to be Topp, cover How to be Topp, with cartoons by Ronald Searle

Penguin has republished the classic Molesworth books from the 1950s. This new review asks: do they stand the test of time? Are they of another time and place, now past? As they say "the past is another country".

The Canterbury Tales, cover Canterbury Tales Retold, Still Classically Pious, Bawdy & Ribald

Peter Ackroyd has produced an excellent new translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He retains the classic medieval charm whilst making it easier for modern readers

Notwithstanding , book cover Notwithstanding, Nostalgic Tales of Rural Idyll

The author Louis de Bernières grew up in a Surrey village and the short stories in Notwithstanding reflect memories of rural idyllic childhood and English eccentricity.

Picture of Dorian Grey, book cover Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's Only Novel

Debauchery, Vanity, Pleasure and Cruelty in a Life of Eternal Youth. A century old yet this book echoes today's "Me" generation with its pursuit of perpetual beauty and self fulfilment without facing realities of life or accepting ageing.

The Uncommon Reader, book review The Uncommon Reader, Majestic Alan Bennett Tale

The Uncommon Reader/em> is a gentle, wry, story in the established Bennett mould with an underlying comment on literacy and the British attitude to intellectual pursuits.