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
3319 The Guiltless Hermann Broch 1950 Austrian German
3319 A Day in Spring Ciril Kosmač 1953 Slovenian Slovene
3319 The Sound of Waves Yukio Mishima 1954 Japanese Japanese
3319 Asphodel Hilda Doolittle 1921 American English
3319 Forever a Stranger Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
3366 Fable Of Polyphemus And Galatea Luis de Góngora 1627 Spanish Spanish
3367 The Nazi And The Barber Edgar Hilsenrath 1971 German German
3368 The Green Child Herbert Read 1935 British English
3370 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
3369 A Man's Place Annie Ernaux 1983 French French
3371 Le Cid Pierre Corneille 1637 French French
3373 Black Easter James Blish 1968 American English
3372 Ordinary People Judith Guest 1976 American English
3375 The Shadow Line Joseph Conrad 1917 British English
3374 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
3376 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
3377 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3378 Poems Miguel de Unamuno 1907 Spanish Spanish
3379 The Plague-Sower Gesualdo Bufalino 1981 Italian Italian
3380 Wandering On The Way Zhuangzi, Victor H. Mair -369 Chinese Classical chinese
3381 The Shadow Lines Amitav Ghosh 1988 Indian English
3382 Human Poems César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
3383 Bomber Len Deighton 1970 British English
3384 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3385 La Realidad Y El Deseo Luis Cernuda 1936 Spanish Spanish
3386 Napoleon Emil Ludwig 1926 German German
3386 Selected Poetry Of Francisco De Quevedo Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3386 Los Gozos Y Las Sombras Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1957 Spanish Spanish
3386 Bomarzo Manuel Mujica Lainez 1962 Argentinian Spanish
3386 Crónica Del Alba Ramón J. Sender 1942 Spanish Spanish
3391 Cities of the Red Night William S. Burroughs 1981 American English
3392 King Rat James Clavell 1962 British English
3393 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
3394 Portrait Of A Marriage Nigel Nicolson 1973 British English
3395 Great Plains Ian Frazier 1989 American English
3396 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3397 Shadow Over Mars Leigh Brackett 1944 American English
3398 Nine Princes In Amber Roger Zelazny 1970 American English
3399 Wobble To Death Peter Lovesey 1970 British English
3400 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3401 Fifty Shades of Grey: E. L. James 2011 British English
3402 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3403 All Heads Turn When The Hunt Goes By John Farris 1977 American English
3403 In A Lonely Place Karl Edward Wagner 1977 American English
3405 The Glass Bees Ernst Jünger 1957 German German
3405 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3405 The deadbeats Ward Ruyslinck 1957 Belgian Dutch
3405 The Birds Tarjei Vesaas 1957 Norwegian Norwegian
3409 A Biographical Dictionary Of Film David Thomson 1975 British English
3410 Night's Black Agents Fritz Leiber 1961 American English
3411 Hanna's Daughters Marianne Fredriksson 1994 Swedish Swedish
3412 Bécon Les Bruyères Emmanuel Bove 1927 French French
3413 The Housekeeper And The Professor Yōko Ogawa 2003 Japanese Japanese
3414 Plays Pierre Corneille 1641 French French
3416 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
3415 Taipei People Pai Hsien-yung 1971 Chinese Chinese
3417 The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein 2007 Canadian English
3419 The Back Room Carmen Martín Gaite 1978 Spanish Spanish
3418 Daylight Czesław Miłosz 1975 Polish Polish
3420 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 British English
3422 The Violent Bear It Away Flannery O'Connor 1960 American English
3421 Cinderella Unknown 23 Multiple French
3424 Count Julian Juan Goytisolo 1970 Spanish Spanish
3423 The Great Transformation Karl Polanyi 1944 Canadian English
3424 Short Letter, Long Farewell Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
3426 Get A Life, Chloe Brown Talia Hibbert 2019 British English
3427 The Stories of Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury 1980 American English
3428 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
3430 Horseman, Pass By Larry McMurtry 1961 American English
3429 The Meeting At Telgte Günter Grass 1979 German German
3431 On Wings Of Song Thomas M. Disch 1979 American English
3432 The Broken Earth Trilogy N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
3433 So Far From God Ana Castillo 1993 American English
3434 The Needle's Eye Fanny Howe 1970 American English
3435 The House Next Door Anne Rivers Siddons 1978 American English
3436 Ideas Have Consequences Richard M. Weaver 1948 American English
3437 In Search Of The Castaways Jules Verne 1867 French French
3438 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay 1984 Canadian English
3439 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3440 The Bitter Glass Eilís Dillon 1958 Irish English
3440 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3440 The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby Tom Wolfe 1965 American English
3443 Look At Me Anita Brookner 1983 British English
3444 Falling Angel William Hjortsberg 1978 American English
3445 The Satin Slipper Paul Claudel 1929 French French
3446 Mistborn Brandon Sanderson 2006 American English
3447 The Elegant Universe Brian Greene 1999 American English
3448 The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom 1987 American English
3449 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3450 The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone 1961 American English
3452 Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy 1956 American English
3451 Ян Бибиян Elin Pelin 1923 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3453 Glory Road Robert A. Heinlein 1963 American English
3454 Hamlet, Revenge! Michael Innes 1937 British English
3455 Dictionary of the Khazars Milorad Pavic 1984 Serbian Serbian
3456 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
3458 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3457 Captain Pantoja And The Special Service Mario Vargas Llosa 1973 Peruvian Spanish
3459 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
3460 To The Is Land Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
3461 The Raven Edgar Allan Poe 1845 American English
3463 Murgunstrumm And Others Hugh B. Cave 1977 American English
3463 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
3465 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3462 The Emperor's New Clothes Hans Christian Andersen 1837 Danish Danish
3466 The Story Of English Robert McCrum 1986 British English
3467 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3468 Little Caesar W. R. Burnett 1929 American English
3469 The Armada Garrett Mattingly 1959 American English
3470 We Do Not Part Han Kang 2021 Korean Korean
3471 Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee 1995 American English
3472 Патиланско царство Ran Bosilek 1923 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3473 The Campaign of the Marne Sewell Tyng 1927 American English
3474 The Black Obelisk Erich Maria Remarque 1956 German German
3475 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3476 The Use Of Man Aleksandar Tišma 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3477 The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Seierstad 2002 Norwegian Norwegian
3478 The King Of Elfland's Daughter Lord Dunsany 1924 British English
3479 The Trusting And The Maimed James Plunkett 1959 Irish English
3480 The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. Robert Coover 1968 American English