25 Books to Read Before You Die: World Edition

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Powell's Books, 25 Books

This list, titled "25 Books to Read Before You Die: World Edition," is curated by Powell's Staff and aims to highlight literature that broadens readers' perspectives by exposing them to diverse cultures and ways of life. The selection criteria focus on books that encourage readers to step out of their comfort zones and explore different worldviews, emphasizing works that have a significant impact on a global scale. The list is part of Powell's Books annual series designed to inspire reading outside one's typical choices, aimed at enriching one's literary experience. The methodology for selection involves Powell's Staff's insights and expertise, and the list is presented on Powell's Books blog, which engages its audience through various social media platforms, evidenced by its significant engagement metrics, such as 14.1K Facebook shares.

This list was originally published in 2016 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1158 Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2006 Nigerian English
1236 Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories Ryunosuke Akutagawa 1915 Japanese Japanese
1315 Voices from Chernobyl Svetlana Alexievich 1997 Belarusian Russian
1029 Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon Jorge Amado 1958 Brazilian Portuguese
34 The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov 1967 Russian Russian
202 Invisible Cities Italo Calvino 1972 Italian Italian
1566 Love In A Fallen City Eileen Chang 1943 Chinese Chinese
1743 Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee 1983 South African English
354 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
8019 Mirrors Eduardo Galeano 2008 Uruguayan Spanish
1130 Too Loud A Solitude Bohumil Hrabal 1976 Czech Czech
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1889 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
288 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
2693 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
452 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
9248 Cities Of Salt Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984 Arabic Arabic
6349 A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami 1982 Japanese Japanese
276 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
727 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German