The Greatest Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 743 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3241 A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder James De Mille 1888 Canadian English
3242 Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz Cardinal de Retz 1717 French French
3243 A Distant Mirror Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1978 American English
3244 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
3245 Lost in the Cosmos Walker Percy 1983 American English
3246 Endless Love Scott Spencer 1979 American English
3247 Dwellers In The Mirage A. Merritt 1932 American English
3248 All Hallows' Eve Charles Williams 1945 British English
3249 The Book Of Three Lloyd Alexander 1964 American English
3250 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
3251 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
3252 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
3253 A Fine And Private Place Peter S. Beagle 1960 American English
3254 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3255 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
3256 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
3257 Chronicle In Stone Ismail Kadare 1971 Albanian Albanian
3258 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3259 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
3261 Old Mortality Sir Walter Scott 1816 Scottish English
3260 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3262 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
3263 Sóngoro cosongo Nicolás Guillén 1931 Cuban Spanish
3264 The Girl, The Gold Watch And Everything John D. MacDonald 1962 American English
3265 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3266 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3267 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3268 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3269 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
3270 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3271 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3272 The Polish Rider Antonio Muñoz Molina 1991 Spanish Spanish
3273 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3274 Holy Week Louis Aragon 1958 French French
3275 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3276 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3277 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
3278 The Blank Slate Steven Pinker 2002 American English
3279 What Is Life? Erwin Schrödinger 1944 Austrian English
3280 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3282 Stories of Washington Irving Washington Irving 1820 American English
3282 Savushun Simin Daneshvar 1969 Iranian Persian
3281 The Aspern Papers Henry James 1888 American English
3284 Candida George Bernard Shaw 1898 Irish English
3285 On Being And Essence Thomas Aquinas 1256 Italian Latin
3286 Bérénice Jean Racine 1670 French French
3287 The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
3288 Looking Backward, 2000 1887 Edward Bellamy 1888 American English
3289 Sonnets Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3290 Cyropaedia Xenophon -370 Greek Ancient greek
3291 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3293 The Gallic War And Other Writings Gaius Julius Caesar -58 Roman Latin
3292 The Dead Sea Scrolls Unknown -150 Multiple Hebrew, aramaic, greek
3294 The Works Of Philodemus Philodemus -50 Greek Greek
3295 The Red Record Ida B. Wells 1895 American English
3295 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish
3297 The Cocktail Party T. S. Eliot 1950 British English
3298 Titus Andronicus William Shakespeare 1594 British English
3299 Personal Recollections Of Joan Of Arc Mark Twain 1896 American English
3300 The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkien 1977 British English
3301 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
3302 The Amber Witch Wilhelm Meinhold 1838 German German
3303 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch 1968 American English
3304 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3305 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1942 American English
3306 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
3307 Into The Heart Of Borneo Redmond O'Hanlon 1984 British English
3308 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
3309 Satires Juvenal 100 Roman Latin
3310 The Afternoon of Monsieur Andesmas Marguerite Duras 1962 French French
3311 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
3312 The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang 2018 Vietnamese English
3313 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3314 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
3315 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3316 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3318 Confusion Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
3317 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3319 Tirant Lo Blanc Joanot Martorell 1490 Spanish Catalan
3319 Thomas of Reading, Or, The Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West Thomas Deloney 1599 British English
3319 The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda Miguel de Cervantes 1617 Spanish Spanish
3319 Love in Excess; or, The Fatal Enquiry Eliza Haywood 1719 British English
3319 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Scriblerus Club 1741 British English
3319 The Female Quixote Charlotte Lennox 1752 British English
3319 Reveries of a Solitary Walker Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
3319 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
3319 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
3319 Torrents of Spring Ivan Turgenev 1872 Russian Russian
3319 Pepita Jimenez Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano 1874 Spanish Spanish
3319 By the Open Sea August Strindberg 1890 Swedish Swedish
3319 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3319 Sandokan Emilio Salgari 1883 Italian Italian
3319 None but the Brave Arthur Schnitzler 1895 Austrian German
3319 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3319 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
3319 Impressions of Africa Raymond Roussel 1910 French French
3319 Tarr Wyndham Lewis 1918 British English
3319 Life and Death of Harriett Frean May Sinclair 1922 British English
3319 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3319 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3319 I Thought of Daisy Edmund Wilson 1929 American English
3319 The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis 1930 British English
3319 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
3319 Insatiability Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 1930 Polish Polish
3319 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3319 The Return of Philip Latinowicz Miroslav Krleža 1932 Croatian Croatian
3319 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
3319 Eyeless in Gaza Aldous Huxley 1936 British English
3319 Summer Will Show Sylvia Townsend Warner 1936 British English
3319 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3319 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
3319 The Living and the Dead Patrick White 1941 Australian English
3319 The Harvesters Cesare Pavese 1941 Italian Unknown
3319 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
3319 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
3319 The Tin Flute Gabrielle Roy 1945 Canadian French
3319 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3319 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3319 Journey to the Alcarria Camilo José Cela 1948 Spanish Spanish
3319 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French