Build A Complete Library

Amazon.com is offering a pretty good bundle for any person or institution looking to create a sizeable corpus of fine writing in English. The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection, exclusive at Amazon.com includes 1082 titles ranging from Homer's Odyssey to Bellow's Herzog, and much, much more. (Complete list by title)

This is a huge stack - laid end to end they would top 52 miles in length, and weigh 700 pounds, so look for a hefty shipping charge (not covered by Amazon Prime, malheuresement). At the same time, they are discounting the list price by about 40%, and you get a great collection of books for about $7 per book.

Much of my childhood reading, and introduction to fine English writing was via Penguin books - they are major publishers in India, and I can remember many fond visits to their central bookstore in Bangalore on M.G. Road.

The children's imprints like Puffin provided introductions to great books like the Narnia series, Watership Down, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and more.

Even today the Penguin and Puffin colophons are enough to bring a smile to my lips and a wistful look to my eyes.

If only this gargantuan collection were covered by Amazon Prime!