The Greatest Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
5040 Black Hawk Down Mark Bowden 1999 American English
5044 Chickamauga Ambrose Bierce 1889 American English
5044 Peter Ibbetson Daphne du Maurier 1891 British Unknown
5044 The Death Of Halpin Frayser Ambrose Bierce 1891 American English
5044 The White Old Maid Nathaniel Hawthorne 1837 American English
5044 Selected Poems Of George Sterling George Sterling 1923 American English
5044 The Sandman E. T. A. Hoffmann 1816 German German
5044 The Supernatural In English Romantic Poetry, 1780 1830 Sukumar Dutt 1932 Unknown English
5044 A Predicament Edgar Allan Poe 1838 American English
5044 The Minister's Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne 1836 American English
5044 The Wolf Leader Alexandre Dumas 1857 French French
5044 For The Blood Is The Life F. Marion Crawford 1905 American English
5044 Flower Phantoms Ronald Fraser 1926 British English
5044 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5044 Typewriter In The Sky & Fear L. Ron Hubbard 1940 American English
5044 Still She Wished For Company Margaret Irwin 1924 British English
5044 Devil's Tor David Lindsay 1932 British English
5044 The Face In The Abyss A. Merritt 1931 American English
5044 By Firelight Edith Pargeter 1948 British English
5044 The Girl And The Faun Eden Phillpotts 1917 British English
5044 Pan And The Twins Eden Phillpotts 1906 British English
5044 The Wonderful Visit H. G. Wells 1895 British English
5044 The Two Thieves T. F. Powys 1932 British English
5044 The Stray Lamb Thorne Smith 1929 American English
5044 A Man Made Of Money Douglas Jerrold 1849 British English
5044 My First Two Thousand Years George Vierick 1928 American English
5044 Salome the Wandering Jewess George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1930 American English
5044 The Invincible Adam George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1932 American English
5044 Essays And Tales John Sterling 1848 British English
5044 Who Wants A Green Bottle? Tod Robbins 1926 American English
5044 The Well Of St. Clare Anatole France 1895 French French
5044 Maker Of Shadows Jack Mann 1939 British English
5044 Grey Shapes Jack Mann 1937 British English
5044 In Brief Authority F. Anstey 1896 British English
5044 The Lord Of The Dark Red Star Eugene Lee-Hamilton 1903 British English
5044 Lieut. Gullivar Jones Edwin Lester Arnold 1905 British English
5044 Tongues Of Conscience Robert Hichens 1893 British English
5044 Living Alone Stella Benson 1919 British English
5044 The Charwoman's Shadow Lord Dunsany 1926 British English
5040 Woman Natalie Angier 1999 American English
5040 The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out Richard P. Feynman 1999 American English
5082 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5083 Ernest And Celestine Gabrielle Vincent 1981 French French
5085 Short Friday Isaac Bashevis Singer 1964 Polish Yiddish
5084 Nowhere In Africa Stefanie Zweig 1995 German German
5086 The Horsemen Joseph Kessel 1967 French French
5087 Imperial Life in the Emerald City Rajiv Chandrasekaran 2006 American English
5088 The Butterfly Lovers Unknown -389 Chinese Chinese
5089 On Food and Cooking Harold McGee 1984 American English
5090 Past Caring Robert Goddard 1986 British English
5091 Fireflies Shiva Naipaul 1970 Trinidadian English
5091 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5093 Amity and Prosperity Eliza Griswold 2018 American English
5094 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5095 Sartoris William Faulkner 1929 American English
5096 Where Do We Go From Here Martin Luther King 1967 American English
5097 The Disappearance Philip Wylie 1951 American English
5098 A Hunger Like No Other Kresley Cole 2006 American English
5099 Three To Kill Jean-Patrick Manchette 1976 French French
5100 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English
5102 Where Angels Fear to Tread E. M. Forster 1905 British English
5101 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5103 Антихрист Emilian Stanev 1939 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5104 Abel Sánchez Miguel de Unamuno 1917 Spanish Spanish
5105 Saving The Appearances Owen Barfield 1957 British English
5105 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones Paul Reps, Nyogen Senzaki 1957 Multiple English
5107 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Omar Khayyam 1859 Persian Persian
5108 Brother Of The More Famous Jack Barbara Trapido 1982 British English
5109 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5109 Dancing In Odessa Ilya Kaminsky 2004 Ukrainian English
5111 The Winter Of Our Discontent John Steinbeck 1961 American English
5113 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5112 The War Of Art Steven Pressfield 2002 American English
5115 Дъщерята на Калояна Fani Popova-Mutafova 1943 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5114 Le Lion Joseph Kessel 1958 French French
5116 The Boat Who Wouldn't Float Farley Mowat 1969 Canadian English
5117 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
5118 North Toward Home Willie Morris 1967 American English
5119 Нощем с белите коне Pavel Vezhinov 1957 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5120 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5122 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5121 In The Night Of Time Antonio Muñoz Molina 2012 Spanish Spanish
5123 Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns 1984 American English
5124 Thus Was Adonis Murdered Sarah Caudwell 1981 British English
5125 Killing The Black Body Dorothy E. Roberts 1997 American English
5126 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
5126 Αντιποίησις Αρχής Alexandros Kotzias 1979 Greek Greek
5126 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5126 Wasted Morning Gabriela Adameșteanu 1984 Romanian Romanian
5130 The Influence Ramsey Campbell 1988 British English
5131 All But My Life Gerda Weissmann Klein 1957 American English
5132 The Snows Of Yesteryear Gregor von Rezzori 1989 Austrian German
5132 Hitler Joachim Fest 1973 German German
5132 Das Boot Lothar-Günther Buchheim 1973 German German
5132 Die Vollidioten Eckhard Henscheid 1973 German German
5132 Triptych Claude Simon 1973 French English
5143 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 American English
5144 The Nine Mile Walk Harry Kemelman 1967 American English
5137 Before The Law Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
5137 Kebra Nagast Unknown 1350 Multiple Ge'ez
5137 The Story Of The Rainbow Serpent Unknown -2000 Australian Unknown
5137 The Eloquent Peasant Unknown -1850 Egyptian Ancient egyptian
5137 Poems Of Wine And Revelry Abu Nuwas 800 Multiple Arabic
5137 Toba Tek Singh Saadat Hasan Manto 1955 Pakistani Urdu
5145 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5146 Six Records Of A Floating Life Shen Fu 1809 Chinese Chinese
5147 Dawn Elie Wiesel 1961 Romanian French
5148 Before We Were Free Julia Alvarez 2002 American English
5149 Clouds Of Witness Dorothy L. Sayers 1926 British English
5151 The Copenhagen Trilogy Tiina Nunnally, Michael Favala Goldman, Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
5150 Ilinden Dimitar Talev 1951 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5152 Midnight In Peking Paul French 2012 British English
5153 Quarantine Jim Crace 1997 British English
5154 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5156 The Gadfly Ethel Lilian Voynich 1897 British English
5155 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
5157 Coleridge Richard Holmes 1989 British English
5158 With Love And Irony Lin Yutang 1934 Chinese English
5159 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5160 Самуил Dimitar Talev 1956 Bulgarian Bulgarian