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
3481 Consider Phlebas Iain Banks 1987 Scottish English
3482 The Scorpion Fish Nicolas Bouvier 1982 French French
3483 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
3484 Descent Into Hell Charles Williams 1937 British English
3485 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
3486 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
3487 Seminario Sulla Gioventù Aldo Busi 1984 Italian Italian
3488 Democracy and Leadership Irving Babbitt 1924 American English
3489 The Claw Of The Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981 American English
3490 Selected Poems Pierre Ronsard 1501 French French
3492 Eating Animals Jonathan Safran Foer 2009 American English
3491 Laura Vera Caspary 1943 American English
3493 The Return Of Martin Guerre Natalie Zemon Davis 1983 Unknown English
3494 Institutes of the Christian Religion John Calvin 1536 French Latin
3494 Devil's Cub Georgette Heyer 1932 British English
3494 The Thin Red Line James Jones 1962 American English
3497 Reflections of a Russian Statesman Konstantin P. Pobedonostsev 1898 Russian Russian
3498 Family Matters Rohinton Mistry 2002 Canadian English
3499 Borges Adolfo Bioy Casares 2006 Argentine Spanish
3500 The Works of Max Beerbohm Max Beerbohm 1902 British English
3501 The Big Blowdown George P. Pelecanos 1996 American English
3502 Heavy Wings Jie Zhang 1981 Chinese Chinese
3503 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
3504 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2021 Senegalese French
3505 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3506 Joe Cinque's Consolation Helen Garner 2004 Australian English
3507 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3508 Alone With The Horrors Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
3509 Scrutiny F. R. Leavis 1932 British English
3510 Mary Chesnut's Civil War Mary Boykin Chesnut 1981 American English
3511 Poems, 1913 1956 Bertolt Brecht 1976 German German
3512 Rhinoceros and Other Plays Eugène Ionesco 1959 Romanian French
3513 In the American Grain William Carlos Williams 1925 American English
3514 The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life Erving Goffman 1959 American English
3515 Bureaucracy Ludwig von Mises 1944 Austrian English
3516 Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin Friedrich Holderlin 1800 German German
3517 Sidetracked Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
3518 Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick 2009 American English
3519 Balzac Stefan Zweig 1946 Austrian German
3520 Bad Blood John Carreyrou 2018 American English
3521 The Good Society Walter Lippmann 1937 American English
3522 Strange Defeat Marc Bloch 1946 French French
3523 Looking Back Norman Douglas 1933 British English
3524 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews 2014 Canadian English
3525 Poetry and the Age Randall Jarrell 1953 American English
3526 Love in the Western World Denis de Rougemont 1939 Swiss French
3528 Behemoth Franz Neumann 1942 German English
3527 Uit Hoofts Lyriek P. C. Hooft 1636 Dutch Dutch
3529 An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine 2013 Lebanese English
3530 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3531 The Birthday Party Harold Pinter 1958 British English
3532 The Obscene Madame D Hilda Hilst 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
3533 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
3534 The Death of Woman Wang MMP Jonathan Spence 1978 American English
3535 Amelia Henry Fielding 1751 British English
3536 Fire And Sleet And Candlelight August Derleth 1961 American English
3537 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3538 May Herman Gorter 1889 Dutch Dutch
3539 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3540 The Dragon And The George Gordon R. Dickson 1976 American English
3541 The Good Women Of China Xinran 2002 Chinese Chinese
3542 Daphnis and Chloe Longus -200 Greek Ancient greek
3544 Samuel Johnson Walter Jackson Bate 1977 American English
3543 Five Children And It Edith Nesbit 1902 British English
3545 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
3546 Gloriana Michael Moorcock 1978 British English
3547 The Improvement of Human Reason Ibn Tufayl 1170 Arabic Arabic
3548 The Cloven Viscount Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
3549 Divorcing Susan Taubes 1969 American English
3549 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3549 The Revolt Of The Cockroach People Oscar Zeta Acosta 1973 American English
3552 Tragedy At Law Cyril Hare 1942 British English
3553 The Black Jacobins C. L. R. James 1938 British English
3554 Magician Raymond E. Feist 1982 American English
3555 Faces In The Water Janet Frame 1961 New Zealander English
3555 Memoirs of a Peasant Boy Xosé Neira Vilas 1961 Spanish Galician
3557 Insight Bernard Lonergan 1957 Canadian English
3558 The History Of Miss Sara Burgerhart Betje Wolff, Aagje Deken 1782 Dutch Dutch
3559 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3561 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
3560 The Beggars' Strike Aminata Sow Fall 1979 Senegalese French
3562 Sultana's Dream Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain 1905 Bangladeshi Bengali
3563 Mystery and Manners Flannery O'Connor 1969 American English
3564 The Return Of The Caravels António Lobo Antunes 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
3565 Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng 2017 American English
3566 My City Xi Xi 1975 Chinese Chinese
3567 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3568 The Day After Judgement James Blish 1971 American English
3570 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3569 Youth Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
3572 Carrie's War Nina Bawden 1973 British English
3571 Horcynus Orca Stefano D'Arrigo 1975 Italian Italian
3573 The Possessed Elif Batuman 2010 Turkish English
3574 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3575 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3576 Flowering Judas and Other Stories Katherine Anne Porter 1930 American English
3578 Selected Poems Andrew Marvell 1681 British English
3577 Call Me By Your Name André Aciman 2007 Italian English
3579 Two Sought Adventure Fritz Leiber 1957 American English
3580 Married Life David Vogel 1986 Jewish English
3581 The Would-Be Gentleman Molière 1670 French French
3582 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3583 The Complete Writings of Alfred de Musset Alfred de Musset 1907 French French
3584 Collected Poems H. P. Lovecraft 1963 American English
3585 The First Man Albert Camus 1994 French French
3587 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
3586 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
3588 Legends of The Fall Jim Harrison 1979 American English
3589 The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson 1999 British English
3591 Thick Tressie McMillan Cottom 2019 American English
3590 The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years Chinghiz Aitmatov 1980 Kyrgyz Russian
3592 Les Destinées Alfred de Vigny 1864 French French
3593 Time of Silence Luis Martín-Santos 1962 Spanish Spanish
3593 The Third Wedding Kōstas Tachtsēs 1962 Greek Greek
3595 The Wedding Date Jasmine Guillory 2018 American English
3596 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
3597 Debt David Graeber 2011 American English
3599 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3598 Celtic Tales Hugo Pratt 1980 Italian Italian
3600 Limonov Emmanuel Carrère 2011 French French