Nintendo has set the release date for its pipe-’n’-slippers friendly DS title that contains great works from Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare. Forsooth!

Wondering what to do with that shiny new DS and that handful of shop tokens from Grandma? Or, if you are Grandma and the kids have bought you the tokens, or…Look, there’s a new ‘game’ for Nintendo DS being released on Boxing Day, of all days, landing blokes with an extra errand to run on the way back from football (if playing at home) or just generally in order to earn extra sitting-on-my-backside waiting-to-be-served-more-food credits.

The “100 Classic Book Collection” is, as the name spells out, a ton of wholesome literary culture that you can read on Nintendo DS for just £19.99. Nintendo could just as easily have called this “Skool Library in UR Pocket” as it contains such staples as Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities and truckloads more from such scribes mentioned above plus others including Thomas Hardy and Jules Verne.

You read holding the DS as though it were a book (vertically, not upside down), using the stylus to turn the pages. The text can be magnified where needed, and unlimited pages bookmarked for reference. Books can be browsed by author, title, fact, fiction or subject matter or even length. So if you’re just looking for a short story including horses + romance on the ride to work, chances are you’ll find one quickly.

10 additional books are also available to download via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection with recommendations from the Book Guide to boot. You can’t really say fairer than this for less than 20p per classic book. It could get pretty rowdy at games retail on Boxing Day. Watch out for the lads wearing tweed jackets with elbow patches, they can turn nasty.