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 759 '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
4081 Diary Of A Madman Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
4082 Death And The King's Horsemen Wole Soyinka 1975 Nigerian English
4083 The Manor Isaac Bashevis Singer 1967 Polish Yiddish
4083 No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 1967 British English
4083 The Day of the Dolphin Robert Merle 1967 French French
4086 Verzamelde Gedichten J.J. Slauerhoff 1931 Dutch Dutch
4086 Verzamelde Gedichten Gerrit Achterberg 1950 Dutch Dutch
4088 Love and Rockets Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Mario Hernandez 1982 American English
4089 Silk Alessandro Baricco 1996 Italian Italian
4090 The Little Tragedies Alexander Pushkin 1832 Russian Russian
4091 The School For Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1777 British English
4092 The Debt To Pleasure John Lanchester 1996 British English
4093 Los Santos Inocentes Miguel Delibes 1981 Spanish Spanish
4094 The Flaw Antonis Samarakis 1965 Greek Greek
4094 Matei Iliescu Radu Petrescu 1970 Romanian Romanian
4094 Biserica Neagră A.E. Baconsky 1970 Romanian Romanian
4098 Le Mauvais Sang Feu De Brousse à Trisse Coeur Tchicaya U. Tam'si 1955 Tchadian French
4097 Boyfriend Material Alexis Hall 2020 British English
4099 Четвёртая проза Osip Mandelstam 1930 Russian Russian
4100 Aegypt John Crowley 1987 American English
4101 Life And Death In Shanghai Nien Cheng 1986 Chinese English
4102 Purge Sofi Oksanen 2008 Finnish Finnish
4103 Selected Poems Of Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith 1971 American English
4104 Poor Liza Nikolay Karamzin 1792 Russian Russian
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4105 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4105 Wolfskin Hans Lebert 1960 Austrian German
4105 Summerhill Alexander Sutherland Neill 1960 British English
4105 Renaissance And Renascences In Western Art Erwin Panofsky 1960 Unknown English
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4111 Brat Farrar Josephine Tey 1949 British English
4112 Art and Illusion Ernest H. Gombrich 1960 British English
4113 The Old Woman Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4114 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4115 For a New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet 1963 French French
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4117 Hekeldichten Joost van den Vondel 1625 Dutch Dutch
4123 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4118 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4120 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4120 Each Man In His Darkness Julien Green 1960 French French
4120 Life's Good, Brother Nâzim Hikmet 1962 Turkish Turkish
4119 Anton Wachter Series Simon Vestdijk 1934 Dutch Dutch
4125 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4124 A Very Long Engagement Sebastien Japrisot 1991 French French
4126 Le Parole Tra Noi Leggere Lalla Romano 1969 Italian Italian
4127 Ferdinand Huyck Jacob van Lennep 1840 Dutch Dutch
4127 Ideas Multatuli 1862 Dutch Dutch
4127 The Good Hope Herman Heijermans 1901 Dutch Dutch
4127 Het Uur U Martinus Nijhoff 1936 Dutch Dutch
4131 The Three-Arched Bridge Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
4132 Dark Avenues Ivan Bunin 1943 Russian Russian
4134 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4133 The Nonexistent Knight Italo Calvino 1959 Italian Italian
4135 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4137 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4138 Three plays Paul Claudel 1912 French French
4139 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
4140 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4140 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4140 Le Vieux Nègre Et La Médaille Ferdinand Oyono 1956 French French
4140 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4145 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4144 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
4146 Vineland Thomas Pynchon 1990 American English
4147 The Dark Descent David Hartwell 1987 American English
4148 Forever... Judy Blume 1975 American English
4149 The Tale Of Cross Eyed Lefty From Tula And The Steel Flea Nikolai Leskov 1881 Russian Russian
4150 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4151 Oxherding Tale Charles R. Johnson 1982 American English
4152 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4153 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4153 Ankunft Im Alltag Brigitte Reimann 1961 German German
4153 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German
4156 Asymmetry Lisa Halliday 2018 American English
4158 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4157 The Assemblywomen Aristophanes -391 Greek Ancient greek
4159 China To Me Emily Hahn 1944 American English
4160 The Burning Court John Dickson Carr 1937 American English
4160 Rockbound Frank Parker Day 1928 Canadian English
4162 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4163 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
4164 The Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp 1968 British English
4165 Confederates Thomas Keneally 1979 Australian English
4166 Vasili Tyorkin Alexander Tvardovsky 1943 Russian Russian
4167 Miss Julie August Strindberg 1888 Swedish Swedish
4168 The History of the Standard Oil Company Ida Tarbell 1904 American English
4168 Letters On England Voltaire 1734 French French
4170 Dissipatio H.G. Guido Morselli 1977 Italian Italian
4171 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4172 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4173 Sandro of Chegem Fazil Iskander 1966 Russian Russian
4175 Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen 1867 Norwegian Norwegian
4174 Replay Ken Grimwood 1986 American English
4176 The Mind of the South W. J. Cash 1941 American English
4177 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4178 Granida P. C. Hooft 1605 Dutch Dutch
4178 Geeraerdt Van Velsen P. C. Hooft 1613 Dutch Dutch
4178 Warenar P. C. Hooft 1617 Dutch Dutch
4178 Palamedes Joost van den Vondel 1625 Dutch Dutch
4178 Kleine Gedigten Voor Kinderen Hieronymus van Alphen 1778 Dutch Dutch
4178 De Roos Van Dekama Jacob van Lennep 1836 Dutch Dutch
4178 Cheops J.H. Leopold 1936 Dutch Dutch
4178 Prometheus Carry van Bruggen 1919 Dutch Dutch
4178 De Kellner En De Levenden Simon Vestdijk 1949 Dutch Dutch
4187 The Nymph And The Lamp Thomas H. Raddall 1950 Canadian English
4188 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
4189 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
4190 The Bridges Of Madison County Robert James Waller 1992 American English
4190 Flowers From The Storm Laura Kinsale 1992 American English
4192 Oriental Despotism Karl August Wittfogel 1957 German English
4193 The Three Robbers Tomi Ungerer 1961 French English
4194 The Celestine Prophecy James Redfield 1993 American English
4195 The Oppermanns Lion Feuchtwanger 1933 German German
4196 The Master Of Go Yasunari Kawabata 1951 Japanese Japanese
4197 Smith’s Dream C. K. Stead 1971 New Zealand English
4198 The Mysterious Portrait Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4199 The Elementals Michael McDowell 1981 American English
4200 Edisto Padgett Powell 1984 American English