A handy guide to Penguin's new Little Black Classics

What books include... a grizzled sea-captain, a crestfallen Alexander the Great, giant squid with a new taste for human flesh, a lorn milkmaid, ships of purple, a champion jumping frog, gyrovagues, an eldritch monkey, a floating kidney...

...five revolutionaries, a stealer of children’s eyes, a kidnapped spaniel, an amorous nun, Japanese tea- masters, a dashing duke, the devil, ancient Greek pirates, a Victorian clairvoyant, a Quangle-Wangle...

...a devious widow, a Tyger, an infuriating medieval visionary, a murderous thane, a self-congratulatory philosopher, a tortured father and daughter, a pithy playwright, a hallucinating doctor, a finally- defeated Napoleon, a shackled man, a hellish playing card, man born free yet everywhere in chains, a killer mummy...

...a poetic advisor on art and life, a time-travelling lazy-bones, simple tortoises and shrewd roosters, a Danger-light, odes to your one true love, unstoppable women, the clamour of frogs, blood, guts and elephants, a simple moment of bliss, a warrior’s fight with the sea, a Ghanaian prince betrayed into slavery, a beaver learning maths, a homicidal orangutan, a pedestrian poet?

… the new Little Black Classics!

Need some inspiration for your next Little Black Classic read? We’ve put together a handy list: 

If you like: Game of Thrones

"Winter is coming!" If you’re a hard-core fan of Game of Thrones (aren’t we all?), try Hannibal by Livy: a brilliant account of military genius Hannibal crossing the Alps with 21 elephants and winning the famed Battle of the Trebbia.

If you like: The Establishment

Inspired by The Establishment by Owen Jones or Russell Brand’s Revolution? Pick up The Body Politic by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: the pieces that inspired the French revolution. 

If you like: 12 Years a Slave

If you were moved by 12 Years a Slave, your next read should be Kidnapped by Olaudah Equiano: the autobiography of the African slave, sailor and finally free man who fuelled the abolitionist movement.

If you like: Fifty Shade of Grey

Need your next Fifty Shades of Grey hit? We understand. Why not try The Nun of Murano by Giacomo Casanova: memoirs from the world’s most infamous seducer.

If you like: Stephen King

If you love all books and films by Stephen King, you want to read Green Tea by Sheridan le Fanu: one of the greatest Victorian ghost stories from the pioneer of horror fiction.

If you like: Caitlin Moran

If you enjoyed How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, then you’ll love How to Be a Medieval Woman by Margery Kempe: the hilarious advice from the medieval pilgrim, visionary and creator of the first autobiography.

If you like: Marley and Me

Calling all Marley and Me fans! You must pick up the brilliant Flush by Virginia Woolf: the playful biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s pet spaniel!