For a whole year on his train to work, Stig Abell read books from across genres and time periods. Then he wrote about them, and their impact on our culture and his own life. The result is a brisk guide to the canon of Western literature, an intimate engagement with writers from Shakespeare to JK Rowling, Marcel Proust to Zora Neale Hurston, a wise and funny celebration of the power of words and a meditation on mental unrest and how to tackle it. It will help you discover new books to love, give you the confidence to give up on those you don't, and remind you of ones you already do. Stig Abell is the breakfast presenter on Times Radio, a station he helped to launch, and a columnist for The Sunday Times. Previously he has been the editor and publisher of the Times Literary Supplement, a presenter on Radio 4's Front Row, and had a weekly radio programme on LBC.