The Greatest Books Since 1950

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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
687 The Time of the Hero Mario Vargas Llosa 1963 Peruvian Spanish
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
695 Boys Alive Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Italian
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
701 The Feast of the Goat Mario Vargas Llosa 2000 Peruvian Spanish
704 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 1958 American English
709 The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan 1963 American English
711 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes 1959 American English
713 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara 1974 American English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
722 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
726 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk 1951 American English
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
733 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English
735 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
740 Silence Shūsaku Endō 1966 Japanese Japanese
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
744 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
745 Memed, My Hawk Yashar Kemal 1955 Turkish Turkish
746 Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga 1988 Zimbabwean English
747 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
748 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
749 The Fire Next Time James Baldwin 1963 American English
750 Money Martin Amis 1984 British English
751 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1992 American English
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
756 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
765 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
767 The Tree of Man Patrick White 1955 Australian English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
772 The Group Mary McCarthy 1963 American English
777 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 American English
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
779 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
784 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
786 The Far Pavilions Mary Margaret Kaye 1978 British English
787 Quotations from Chairman Mao Mao 1964 Chinese Chinese
788 Roots Alex Haley 1976 American English
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
793 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
796 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
806 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
818 The African Child Camara Laye 1953 Guinean French
820 The Captive Mind Czesław Miłosz 1953 Polish Polish
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
826 Voss Patrick White 1957 Australian English
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
832 The Last Of The Just André Schwarz-Bart 1959 French French
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
841 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
849 Regeneration Pat Barker 1991 British English
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
859 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutola 1952 Nigerian English
861 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
879 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
885 A Tale of Love and Darkness Amos Oz 2002 Israeli Hebrew
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
894 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
897 The Darkroom Of Damocles W.F. Hermans 1958 Dutch Dutch
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
902 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
903 Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991 Chinese English
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
915 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
917 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951 British English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
921 Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian 1969 British English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
925 Deliverance James Dickey 1970 American English
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
933 Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro 1971 Canadian English
936 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
941 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
961 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English