25 Books to Read Before You Die: World Edition

This is one of the 743 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 about 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1157 Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2006 Nigerian English
1233 Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories Ryunosuke Akutagawa 1915 Japanese Japanese
1390 Voices from Chernobyl Svetlana Alexievich 1997 Belarusian Russian
1026 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
1564 Love In A Fallen City Eileen Chang 1943 Chinese Chinese
1741 Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee 1983 South African English
353 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
407 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
8004 Mirrors Eduardo Galeano 2008 Uruguayan Spanish
1129 Too Loud A Solitude Bohumil Hrabal 1976 Czech Czech
1144 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1888 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
286 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
2689 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
451 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
557 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
9230 Cities Of Salt Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984 Arabic Arabic
6338 A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami 1982 Japanese Japanese
274 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
993 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
725 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
696 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German