Reading lists

Books to get you in the mood for Christmas

The Nutcracker

The most beautiful edition of the classic Christmas fairytale, cloth-bound and gorgeously illustrated in Sanna Annukka’s distinctive style.

Hoffmann's classic Christmas fairy tale, immortalised by Tchaikovsky's ballet, is brought to life by the gorgeous contemporary artwork of Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annuka. 
 
On Christmas Eve, Fritz and Marie excitedly await the arrival of Godfather Drosselmeier and the marvellous gifts he brings for them every year. When Marie discovers a curious nutcracker doll among the presents, she suddenly finds herself caught up in an age-old battle before being transported to a magical world of sugar-frosted castles, chocolate kings, and true love. 
 
Sanna Annukka is familiar to many from her collaborations with Marimekko and her artwork for Keane's album, Under the Iron Sea. The Nutcracker is her third book project. This cloth-bound edition combines the charm of Hoffmann's original nineteenth-century tale with the freshness of Sanna Annuka's gorgeous illustrations. 
 
A beautiful gift to give and receive.

The Sandman

"Strange man, how can you have eyes for sale? Eyes? Eyes?" ' 
 
The disturbing tale of a young man's obsession with the Sandman, stealer of eyes, which has inspired writers from Sigmund Freud to Neil Gaiman. 
 
One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). Hoffmann's works are available in Penguin Classics in Tales of the German Imagination from the Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann, Tales of Hoffmann and The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

Tony Robinson stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's renowned Christmas story, which inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker'

E.T.A. Hoffmann (Author) Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman (1776-1822) was one of the most important writers of German Romanticism. His novella The Sandman inspired Delibes' ballet Coppelia, whilst The Nutcracker and the Mouseking became the basis of Tchaikovsky's much-loved Christmas ballet. Brian Sibley (Author) Brian Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes. He is widely known as the author of many movie 'making of' books, including those for the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. Tony Robinson (Reader) Tony Robinson is best known as 'Baldrick' from the famous Blackadder series. On top of his acting credentials, Tony is also a successful TV presenter and is currently presenting Channel 4's Time Team. He has also written several children's non fiction books, notably for Hodder, and lives in west London.

Tony Robinson stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's renowned Christmas story, which inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker' 
 
It is Christmas Eve, and young Mary and Fred are opening presents from their godfather, Drosselmeier the toymaker. Mary’s favourite gift is a nutcracker soldier, and she is disappointed when his jaw breaks on a particularly hard nut. 
 
She puts him away carefully, promising that Drosselmeier will mend him – and at that moment he seems to come alive. Surely she is just imagining things? But as the grandfather clock begins to chime midnight, all her toys spring to life! Led by the Nutcracker, they rush into battle with an army of mice who emerge from beneath the floorboards – including the seven-headed Mouse King… 
 
Hoffmann's classic children’s tale is adapted by Brian Sibley (who also dramatised 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Chronicles of Narnia' for radio). Starring Tony Robinson as the Nutcracker, Edward de Souza as Drosselmeier, Eric Allen as the Mouse King and Angela Shaftoe as Mary, it is sure to delight fans of Tchaikovsy's famous ballet - and anyone who loves the magic of a good fairy tale.

The story that inspired the legendary ballet, presented in a beautiful hardcover edition perfect for giving as a gift. 
 
Written in 1816 by the German Romantic E. T. A. Hoffmann for his children, nephews and nieces, The Nutcracker captures better than any other story a child's wonder at Christmas. Since its publication, it has inspired hundreds of artists and adaptations, most notably the legendary ballet, scored by Russian composer Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Today, the story - and its enchanting images of sugar plums and nutcrackers, mistletoe and the Kingdom of the Dolls - continues to cast its fantastical spell on readers of all ages. 
 
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was one of the major figures of European Romanticism, specializing in tales of the fantastical and uncanny. He was also a music critic, jurist, composer and caricaturist. His Tales of Hoffmann, available in Penguin Classics, includes such masterpieces as 'Mademoiselle de Scudery', one of the earliest example of crime fiction, and Hoffmann's terrifying version of 'The Sandman'. 
 
Joachim Neugroschel won three PEN translation awards and the French-American Foundation Translation Prize. He translated Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs, among other works, for Penguin Classics.

Written in 1816 by the German Romantic E. T. A. Hoffmann for his children, nephews and nieces, The Nutcracker captures better than any other story a child's wonder at Christmas. Since its publication, it has inspired hundreds of artists and adaptations, most notably the legendary ballet scored by Tchaikovsky. Today, the story - and its enchanting images of sugar plums and nutcrackers, mistletoe and the Kingdom of the Dolls - continues to cast its fantastical spell on readers of all ages.

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr

E T A Hoffmann (1776 - 1822) was born in Konigsberg and became one of the best known and influential authors of his time. He exploited the grotesque and the bizarre in a manner unmatched by any other Romantic writer. 
 
Jeremy Adler is Professor of German at King's College London. 
 
Anthea Bell has received many awards for her translations including the Mildred L. Batchelder Award in 1979, 1990 and 1995.

Tomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer's error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliantly evokes the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime within the humdrum bustle of daily life, making The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-22) one of the funniest and strangest novels of the nineteenth century.

Tales of Hoffmann

A collection of Hoffmann's tales, which are at the forefront of surrealism and horror writing

E.T.A. Hoffman's wildly original fictions are some of the most unusual examples of German Romanticism's dark passions, and the stories in Tales of Hoffman are selected and translated from the German with an introduction by R.J. Hollingdale in Penguin Classics. 
 
This selection of Hoffmann's finest short stories vividly demonstrates his intense imagination and preoccupation with the supernatural, placing him at the forefront of both surrealism and the modern horror genre. Suspense dominates tales such as Mademoiselle de Scudery, in which an apprentice goldsmith and a female novelist find themselves caught up in a series of jewel thefts and murders. In the sinister The Sandman, famously used by Sigmund Freud to illustrate both his concept of the unheimlich, or 'uncanny', and of Oedipal guilt, a young man's sanity is tormented by fears about a mysterious chemist; while in The Choosing of a Bride a greedy father preys on the weaknesses of his daughter's suitors. Master of the bizarre, Hoffman creates a sinister and unsettling world combining love and madness, black humour and bewildering illusion. 
 
This edition contains authoritative translations of Hoffman's best stories. In his introduction, R.J. Hollingdale explores the background of these works and examines the duality of Hoffman's life - a lawyer by day and creator of a world of fantasy by night. 
 
E.T.A Hoffmann (1776-1822) studied law and entered the Prussian civil service, but his over-riding ambition was to become a graphic artist and painter. He turned to fiction only in his thirties, living a Jekyll-and-Hyde existence as lawyer by day, author by night - and became one of the most influential authors of his time. 
 
If you enjoyed Tales of Hoffman, you might also like Jorge Luis Borges's Fictions, available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Hoffmann (1776 - 1822) studied law and entered the Prussian civil service, but his over-riding ambition was to beomce a graphic artist and painter. He turned to fiction only in his thirties and became one of the most influential authors of his time. 
 
 
R.J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietschze'sbooks and published two books about him. He has also translated works by Schopenhauer, Goethe and Fontane.

This selection of Hoffmann's finest short stories vividly demonstrates his intense imagination and preoccupation with the supernatural, placing him at the forefront of both surrealism and the modern horror genre. Suspense dominates tales such as Mademoiselle de Scudery, in which an apprentice goldsmith and a female novelist find themselves caught up in a series of jewel thefts and murders. In the sinister Sandman, a young man's sanity is tormented by fears about a mysterious chemist, while in The Choosing of a Bride a greedy father preys on the weaknesses of his daughter's suitors. Master of the bizarre, Hoffman creates a sinister and unsettling world combining love and madness, black humour and bewildering illusion.

E.T.A. Hoffmann

Joachim Neugroschel

R. J. Hollingdale

Sally Hayward

The gift of a handsomely decorated, enigmatic nutcracker sets the stage for a Christmas like no other: there will be legends of ancient curses, battles with the dreaded Mouse King, and a visit to the wonderful Kingdom of Dolls. The inspiration for the classic ballet, E. T. A. Hoffmann's irresistible tale of magic and mystery continues to be the perfect encapsulation of a child's wonder at Christmas.

E.T.A. Hoffmann

The Nutcracker

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

More books from this author