Martin Jarvis reads the unabridged text of a Victorian classic: Charles Pooter's comic diary records his life in north London, grappling with the minutiae of suburban existence, and as a senior clerk in the City, waging ceaseless war against junior office boys. 4 CDs 4hrs 52mins.

Ford Madox Ford’s narrator, John Dowell, tells the story of the relationships that began in 1904 when he and his wife Florence met Edward and Leonora Ashburnham. Published in 1915, the novel is intriguing for its shifts in time and its unreliable narrator who haphazardly reveals the secrets behind the two couples’ well-ordered Edwardian facades. Read, unabridged, by Kerry Shale. 7 CDs; total time 7hrs 59mins.

‘A Book of Job transferred to 18th-century bourgeois England’, Goldsmith's tale begins with Charles Primrose, his wife and four children in their tranquil rural parish: an idyll to be shattered by bankruptcy, seduction and prison. Whether a story of suffering and fortitude or a satire of 18th-century life, the novel's appeal has never faltered. Read, unabridged, by Nicholas Farrell. 6 CDs; total time 7hrs 01min.

Although a celebration of Irish life, language and humour, Synge’s comic masterpiece was seen as morally offensive and patronizing towards the Irish peasantry when it was premiered in 1907: it provoked not only controversy but actual rioting. This recording is of a classic production, with a cast led by the Irish actors Siobhan McKenna and Cyril Cusack. 2 CDs; total time 1hr 27mins.

During the Siege of Sarajevo, a cellist plays at a site where many have died, while enemy snipers besieging the city try to kill him. Galloway’s bestselling novel revolves around the cellist, following three citizens as they go about their lives, risking death with every simple journey. Read by Gareth Armstrong. 6 CDs; total time 5hrs 28mins.

In Mary Shelley’s powerful Promethean fable, Dr Frankenstein’s experiment and its terrible outcome is told through the letters of an English explorer who met the doomed scientist as he pursued his monster into the Arctic wilderness. Read by Daniel Philpott, Roger May and Jonathan Oliver. 7 CDs; total time 9hrs 08mins.

This selection of six adventures from the last Sherlock Holmes collection, The Case-Book (1927), covers some of Conan Doyle’s darkest themes, including suicide, a desperate quest for rejuvenation and a supposed vampire in Sussex. The stories are read, unabridged, by David Timson. 4 CDs; total running time 4hrs 41mins.

Written in Reading Gaol, De Profundis is Oscar Wilde's letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, whose relationship with Wilde had led to the writer’s trial and imprisonment for ‘gross indecency’. In the first part, Wilde reflects on Douglas’s vanity and his own weakness, but goes on to describe how his ordeal has brought a deeper wisdom. The work is read here by Simon Russell Beale. 5 CDs; total running time 4hrs 54mins.

Poets of the Caribbean diaspora, such as E A Markham, Grace Nichols and Benjamin Zephaniah, have contributed powerfully to the poetry scene in Britain since the latter part of the 20th century, their work often responding to the harsh realities of the immigrant experience. This 2-CD anthology collects studio recordings from the British Library archive, including previously unissued live performances by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jean 'Binta' Breeze and Michael Smith.

Dissolute and disenchanted, Dmitri Olenin is an army cadet dispatched to the Caucasus, where he is transformed - as was Tolstoy - by the encounter with indigenous people living in harmony with nature. Jonathan Oliver reads this semi-autobiographical novella. 6 CDs: duration 7 hrs 02 mins.

The Four Just Men, in this second of Wallace's series of ingenious thrillers, pit themselves against The Red Hundred, an organization dedicated to international anarchy and led by the charismatic Woman of Gratz. Read by Bill Homewood. 4 CDs: duration 5 hrs 16 mins.

WH Hudson (1841-1922) was a founder member of the RSPB whose books helped to popularize birdwatching as a pastime. This set of six CDs presents an unabridged reading by Neville Jason of one of Hudson's charming accounts of the hours he spent absorbed in studying birds' behaviour and listening to their songs; he also observes the actions of predators and appeals for his Edwardian contemporaries to pay greater attention to conservation. 6 CDs 7hrs 23mins

Ken Follett's epic The Century Trilogy follows the experiences of families across the globe during the 20th century's most tumultuous events, and this final novel explores the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights movement and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Read by John Lee. Abridged. 10 CDs 13hrs

Having lost his job, his cat and his wife, been disturbed by strange phone calls and befriended by strange women, Toru Okada sought solace in a disused well behind his house. Then the boundaries of past and present, reality and unreality began to blur. The complete text of Murakami's masterpiece is read here by Rupert Degas. 21 CDs, running time 26 hrs 06 mins.

The Lady Elizabeth is the daughter of Henry VIII, but disinherited and declared a bastard after the execution of her mother. How the young Elizabeth survives the savage world of Tudor politics, inherits the throne and becomes queen is the subject of Alison Weir's novel. It is read here by Emma Fielding. Abridged. 5 CDs total duration 6 hours.

Following Charles Ryder, from student days at Oxford, where he was befriended by the aristocratic Sebastian Flyte, through to the end of the inter-war years, Evelyn Waugh's famous story of forbidden love and loss of innocence, is read here by Jeremy Northam. 4 CDs, running time approx 5 hours.

First published in 1932, Herbert and Eleanor Farjeon's book of poems tells the story of English monarchs, since William the Conqueror, with a poem devoted to each king or queen. This children's classic, along with a selection of the Farjeons' Heroes and Heroines (from Alexander the Great to Emmeline Pankhurst), is read by actors Isla Blair and Julian Glover.

This collection of short fiction includes some of the real classics of horror writing. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs, Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest and A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins are among the 14 stories read by Patrick Malahide, Robin Bailey, Richard Pasco and Barbara Leigh-Hunt. Unabridged. Five audio CDs, running time 6 hours.

When a surgeon decides to transplant human body parts into a stray dog he creates a drunken, aggressive and selfish monster. Bulgakov's wild and comic novel is read by Roy McMillan. Unabridged. 3 CDs total duration 3 hrs 45 min.

Maggie Tulliver had two lovers: Philip Watson, son of her father's enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she valued most was that of her brother Tom. In telling their tragic story, Eliot vividly evoked the rural setting of Maggie and Tom's childhood at Dorlcote Mill and created one of her most enduring heroines. The unabridged novel is read here by Laura Paton. 16 CDs; total time 20 hrs 39 min.

The Pac Britannica trilogy is Jan Morris's accessible and entertaining narrative history of the British Empire from the accession of Queen Victoria to the death of Winston Churchill. A snapshot of the Empire at the Diamond Jubilee, this second volume looks at what it comprised - from adventurers and politicians to communications and infrastructure - but also examines the jumble of ideologies within it and how they affected its 370 million people. Read by Roy McMillan. Unabridged. 13 CDs; running time 17hr 5min.

The famous soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses in which Leopold Bloom's passionate wife meditates on love and life is read here by the Irish actress Marcella Riordan. A Naxos Audiobook: 2 CDs, duration 2hrs 24 min.

DH Lawrence's reflection on mankind's relation to nature, expressed through the story of Lady Chatterley's sexual involvement with her gamekeeper, is read by Maxine Peake. 11 CDs; running time 13hrs 21 mins.

Written in 1791 in defence of the Revolution in France, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man is a seminal work on human freedom and equality, arguing that government must respect the welfare rights of all its citizens. It is read here by David Rintoul. 4 CDs; running time 4hrs 37min.

In 1629 a young lutenist arrives at the Danish court to join the king's orchestra, only to fall in love and find himself torn between duty and passion. Abridged version, read by Michael Praed. 6 CDs; total duration 7 hrs 54 min.

This collection contains 36 poems spanning Mansfield's entire career from 1902 to 1967. It includes extracts from the narrative poems The Everlasting Mercy, Dauber and Reynaud the Fox, as well as sonnets, poems on the Romans and some rarities. 1 CD; running time 67 min.

Although set in India at the time of the British Raj and first published in 1924, EM Forster's novel poses serious questions about preconceptions of race, religion, truth and sex that are equally relevant today. An abridged version of the novel is read here by the actress Meera Syal. 4 CDs, duration 5 hours.

Set in the 1840s, as the railways were bringing rural communities into contact with a wider world, Gaskell's novel tells the story of a naive country girl, Phillis, as she encounters love for the first time. Read by Joe Marsh. 3 CDs: duration 3 hrs 57 mins.

Wilfred Owen's poetry has come to define the experience of the First World War for the generations that followed. This anthology contains 48 poems, read by the classical actor Anton Lesser. 1 CD 79mins

Written as a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, Milton's 'dramatic poem' tells the story of blind Samson's revenge on his captors, the Philistines. Performed by Iain Glen and cast, directed by John Tydeman. 2 CDs: duration 1 hr 51 mins.

This famous tale by Washington Irving (1783-1859) is set before and after the American Revolutionary War and tells of a Dutch villager who went wandering in the Catskill Mountains, fell asleep and awoke 20 years later - after the Revolution - to find the world much changed. Rip van Winkle and two more short stories are read here by Adam Sims. Unabridged. 2 CDs 2hrs 27mins

The actor Rory Kinnear reads a selection of war poetry ranging from the early patriotic optimism of John Galsworthy to the suffering and disillusion of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. The CD features works by 24 poets, both soldiers and civilians, including Robert Graves, Ivor Gurney, Rudyard Kipling and Edith Nesbit.1 CD duration 76 min.

In the early 1970s blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon (1920-1997) was touring with just a guitar player to back him when he agreed to let guitarist and saxophonist Robben Ford (b.1951) and his band join him for a gig in Palo Alto, California. The chemistry worked and the group became Witherspoon's permanent touring band, culminating in the classic 1972 performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival captured on this album. 1 CD duration 47 min.

Pam Ayres has been delighting the world with her very personal form of poetry since the mid-1970s. This set features some of her best-loved poems and stories, as performed in a one-woman show at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, including 'Yes I'll Marry You My Dear' and 'Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth'. 2 CDs total duration approx. 2 hours.

The witty observations of animal and human behaviour and the wise aphorisms of Aesop's tales have entertained children and adults over millennia. Here Anton Lesser, one of Britain's leading classical actors, reads 60 fables, against the music of Four Seasons and flute concerti by Vivaldi. A Naxos Junior Classic audiobook. 1 CD 78mins

Anne Bronte (1820-1849) became a governess of very unruly children in 1839; blamed for their misbehaviour, she was dismissed after a few months, but did find another, happier post. Published in 1847, Agnes Grey drew on Anne's experiences and explicitly criticized the treatment of governesses. The novel is read by Rachel Bavidge. Unabridged. 6 CDs 7hrs 34mins

In this first of Dickens's two historical novels, the mob violence of the Gordon Riots and the burning of Newgate prison in 1780 forms the backdrop to a story of warring fathers and sons, a thwarted love match and unsolved murder. The book is read, unabridged, by Sean Barrett. 22 CDs (in a plastic file) 25hrs 21mins

From Pip's first encounter with the escaped convict in a village churchyard, Dickens's penultimate novel holds us in thrall to the orphan's changing fortunes and the shifting sands on which he bases his own great expectations. This abridged edition is read by Anton Lesser. 4 CDs; running time 5 hrs 14 mins.

Thomas De Quincey's powerful autobiographical study describes the psychological effects of his addiction to opium: childhood experience turning into dreams, at first euphoric, but becoming horrific as dependence on the drug deepened. Published in 1822, the book brought De Quincey literary fame and was an important influence on later writers. It is read here by Gunnar Cauthery. Unabridged. 3 CDs, running time 3 hrs 41 mins.

'Of all my books,' wrote Charles Dickens, 'I like this the best.' The story of how the orphaned boy makes his way in the world, through trials and tribulations to ultimate happiness, shares much in common with Dickens's own life. A perennial favourite since it first appeared in 1849-50, David Copperfield is read here by Nicholas Boulton. Unabridged. 28 CDs 36hrs 10mins

Although stories such as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Murders in the Rue Morgue have remained popular to this day, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) felt that his vocation was poetry. This collection includes both stories and poems, plus a biography of Poe. The works are unabridged and read by Kerry Shale, William Roberts and John Chancer. 6 CDs 7hrs 30mins

Henry Fielding's bawdy and hilarious parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) transforms the eponymous innocent virgin into a shameless slut and predatory social climber intent on marrying Squire Booby. The unabridged novel is read here by a cast led by Clare Corbett as Shamela. 2 CDs 1hr 30mins

Set in London in the late 1950s, this novel by the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing (1919-2013) describes the challenges of life in the aftermath of war. It follows the psychological turmoil of Anna, a novelist and a single mother - as Lessing was - struggling to cope as her personal life and political certainties collapse around her. The Golden Notebook (1962) is read here by Juliet Stevenson. Unabridged. 21 CDs 29hrs 45mins

Joseph Conrad's dark and profoundly influential masterpiece, Heart of Darkness (1902) is narrated by Marlow, a mariner who recalls his journey up-river into the densely forested depths of Africa on a mission to find the enigmatic trading company agent, Kurtz. The story is read here by David Horovitch. Unabridged. 4 CDs 4hrs 38mins

Set in medieval England during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Scott's tale of the returning Crusader, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, his beloved Rowena and his Templar rival, Bois-Guilbert, is one of the great romantic novels, recreating the Age of Chivalry. This abridged version is read by the actor Jonathan Oliver. 2 Audio CDs; total running time 2hrs 38mins.

Written and read by Jeremy Siepmann (1942-2016), once the BBC World Service's Head of Music, with Anton Lesser as the composer, this audiobook covers Chopin's life in almost five hours of narrative featuring 34 extracts from his music. Beginning with his early years in Poland, it describes Chopin's work as teacher and performer, his development of the piano's expressive possibilities, his relationship with George Sand and the failing health that led to his death aged just 39. 4 CDs 4hrs 57mins

Against a background of social stagnation, apathy and outmoded institutions, Dickens uses a gallery of vivid characters to show that it is individuals and their acts of kindness, love and generosity that can revitalize society. This Complete Classics unabridged edition of Little Dorrit is read by Anton Lesser. 28 CDs 35hrs 15mins