The Greatest Books Since 1952

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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
973 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
981 It Stephen King 1986 American English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
993 Essays of E. B. White E. B. White 1977 American English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1002 Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko 1977 American English
1003 A Dry White Season Andre Brink 1979 South African Afrikaans
1004 2001 Arthur C. Clarke 1968 British English
1005 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1007 The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs 1961 American English
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1011 Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1021 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English