Great Books

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

February 6, 1985

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

February 6, 1985

The funniest book ever written about how little the universe cares. It began as a radio series nobody at the BBC expected anything from.

1Q84

February 5, 1985

1Q84

February 5, 1985

Over a thousand pages, two narrators, and a Tokyo that is very slightly not the Tokyo you know. Murakami's largest book, and the one his admirers argue about hardest.

Hamnet

February 4, 1985

Hamnet

February 4, 1985

A boy who left almost no trace in the record, and a wife whom history reduced to a line in a will. O'Farrell takes the silence and builds a household...

The Art of Happiness

February 3, 1985

The Art of Happiness

February 3, 1985

The philosopher whose name became a byword for luxury lived on bread and water and thought the highest good was a quiet mind. Almost everything you have been told about...

The House of Borgia

February 2, 1985

The House of Borgia

February 2, 1985

The most slandered family in European history, and one of the least innocent. Hibbert's last major book is an attempt to work out which charges actually stick.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

February 1, 1985

The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

February 1, 1985

A family of cloth merchants who ended up owning Florence and paying for the Renaissance. Hibbert's subject is what money does once it has bought everything money can buy.