Towards the end of the year, many people like to stay at home, relax, and do a bit of soul-searching. Get some inspiration with 10 gems from our catalog.

“I think, therefore I am” is probably the best starting point for deep thoughts. A good portion of scepticism will also be useful. Read René Descartes’ famous work Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth.

Monday or Tuesday is a collection of eight short stories by Virginia Woolf. They are an example of her stream-of-consciousness writings and centre around what people may or may not think.

Also Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician, has his thoughts – or Penseés – about things. His contemplations about philosophical paradoxes ultimately led him to the formulation of Pascal’s wager.

The Death of Ivan Ilyitch is imminent, and the judge has but a short time to look back at his life. He wondes whether it was truly a moral one. Read Leo Tolstoy’s novella to find out to what conclusion he is coming.

Probably nobody has a completely Untroubled Mind. In the book by Herbert J. Hall, part self-help, part religion, the physician tries to treat the mind of his patients in order to heal their bodies as well.

It would be interesting to know whether that book would have helped the protagonist of Notes From the Underground. In the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a civil servant writes his ranting memoirs in a poor part of St. Petersburg. This book is also available in the original Russian.

Maybe it would have been good for him to talk to somebody. After all, Everybody’s Lonesome, as Mary Alice discovers when sent to her godmother in New York. The book by Clara E. Laughlin describes what the old lady has to tell.

Maybe the secret is love? At a drinking party, each of the illustrious guests are invited to give speeches in praise of that highest of all emotions. Read our dramatic version of The Syposium by Plato.

Love and destiny, life, death, and God are only some of the feelings and thoughts that Omar Khayyam poured into his Rubaiyat. This is a bilingual Persian-English recording of the famous ancient poem from the Middle East.

What is the secret of The Little Gray Lady? For the last 20 years she has spent Christmas alone in front of a candle, thinking about the one huge mistake she has made. But, this year is different… Find out why, in the short story by Francis Hopkinson Smith.

Enjoy – and have peaceful holidays!

November is Native American Heritage Month, so why not delve into human heritage of cultures from all over the world with 10 gems from our catalog.

Let’s start at the beginning of Western civilisation. Troy has fallen, its men are dead, and even the noblest of The Trojan Women will have to spend the rest of their lives in slavery. Hear their plight in the ancient drama by Euripides.

A similar story, but from the victor’s viewpoint, is chronicled by Frederick A. Ober. His biography Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru tells how it took only 168 Spanish men to destroy the great kingdom of the Inca.

Less violent, but equally destructive was the meeting between the beautiful Indian Iracema, the Honey Lips and the Spaniard Martim in the Brazilian forest. Had she not saved his life, not fallen in love with him, maybe there had been a happy ending in José de Alencar’s novel?

Many meetings between whites and natives of other races ended with the natives being forced to adapt to a new life. In The Indian To-day, Ohiyesa presents the 1915 status of the American Natives, and talks about their past and future and what he sees as the Indian’s gift to the nation.

Charles Godfrey Leland went to the North American East Coast and there collected The Algonquin Legends of New England. The book contains more than 70 stories of the tribes called Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot.

These stories always have a strong environment-dependent character, but very often the morals behind them are the same. Compare the above to our 30 Australian Legendary Tales compiled by K. Langloh Parker from the stories of the Noongahburrah aborigines.

The Folklore of the Santal Parganas, an Indian district about 150 miles northwest of Kolkata, collects legends and stories about different aspects of life, infused with a lot of Eastern Wisdom as it is found in India.

While Isabella L. Bird was not in search for such wisdom, her time Among the Tibetans in 1890 – as one of the first Westerners – gives an insight into the daily lives and customs of a people that is still relatively unknown today.

Equally unknown at that time was the then called Hermit Kingdom. Henry Lee Mitchell Pike’s book tries to raise children’s interest for the lives of other people and does so by having them spend time with Our Little Korean Cousin.

Let’s close our tour by returning to the start of Western civilisation. Ovid describes in his poem The Fasti the numerous holidays and thus connected customs of the Romans. Unfortunately he could not finish the work, but at least the first 6 months have been handed down to us.

Enjoy – and celebrate your heritage!