The Greatest Books Since 1990

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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
6325 The New Kings Of Nonfiction Ira Glass 2007 American English
6328 No Good Men Among The Living Anand Gopal 2014 American English
6332 Devotions Mary Oliver 2017 American English
6333 The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich 2020 American English
6338 Centesimus Annus Pope John Paul II 1991 Vatican City Latin
6339 China Pop Jianying Zha 1995 Unknown English
6340 No No Boy John Okada 2024 American English
6341 Nothing Holds Back The Night Delphine de Vigan 2011 French French
6342 The Lost Country Luminița Cioabă 2002 Romanian Unknown
6352 The Shallows Nicolas Carr 2010 American English
6357 At Twilight They Return Zyranna Zateli 1993 Greek Greek
6357 Heroes' Shrine For Sale or The Elegant Toilet Marios Hakkas 1993 Greek Greek
6357 The Time Of Our Lives Annie Bentoiu 1998 Unknown Romanian
6360 The Library Book Susan Orlean 2018 American English
6362 Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge 1998 British English
6361 Во сне ты горько плакал Yuri Kazakov 1995 Russian Russian
6362 The Restraint Of Beasts Magnus Mills 1998 British English
6362 Girlfriend In A Coma Douglas Coupland 1998 Canadian English
6368 The Safekeep Yael van der Wouden 2024 Unknown Unknown
6369 All Aunt Hagar’s Children Edward P. Jones 2006 American English
6374 The Feeling Of What Happens Antonio Damasio 1999 Portuguese English
6375 The Priory Of The Orange Tree Samantha Shannon 2019 British English
6376 Beartown Fredrik Backman 2016 Swedish Swedish
6377 Asterios Polyp David Mazzucchelli 2009 American English
6378 Leonardo Da Vinci Walter Isaacson 2017 American English
6399 La Grande Juan José Saer 2012 Argentinian Spanish
6403 Crossing The Threshold Of Hope Pope John Paul II 1994 Italian Italian
6404 Dark Prince Christine Feehan 1999 American English
6410 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6413 All Systems Red Martha Wells 2017 American English
6415 My Forbidden Face Latifa 2001 Afghan French
6417 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6421 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6421 Astradeni Eugenia Fakinou 1991 Greek Greek
6421 Typical Padgett Powell 1991 American English
6419 Collected Poems Dalia Rabikovitch 2009 Israeli Hebrew
6427 Theory And History Of Ideological Production Juan Carlos Rodríguez 1993 Spanish Spanish
6434 On Immunity Eula Biss 2014 American English
6439 The Snowman Jo Nesbø 2007 Norwegian Norwegian
6440 Who Will Run The Frog Hospital Lorrie Moore 1994 American English
6442 Tomb Of Sand Geetanjali Shree 2018 Indian Hindi
6444 Eaarth Bill McKibben 2010 American English
6450 The Half Brother Lars Saabye Christensen 2001 Norwegian Norwegian
6451 Orthokostá Thanassis Valtinos 1994 Greek Greek
6454 Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 Cho Nam-Joo 2016 Korean Korean
6460 A Gate at the Stairs Lorrie Moore 2009 American English
6462 Air Geoff Ryman 2005 British English
6461 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6463 Things We Lost In The Fire Mariana Enríquez 2016 Argentinian Spanish
6465 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6469 The Lion and the Mouse Jerry Pinkney 2009 American English
6470 The Spinning Heart Donal Ryan 2012 Irish English
6476 War & War László Krasznahorkai 1999 Hungarian Hungarian
6477 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
6481 I'm Not Scared Niccolò Ammaniti 2001 Italian Italian
6482 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
6483 The Dictionary Of New Zealand English Harry Orsman 1997 New Zealand English
6490 Happy Are The Happy Yasmina Reza 2013 French French
6500 The Black Count Tom Reiss 2012 French English
6507 Wild Houses Colin Barrett 2024 Irish English
6508 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6508 Memories of Rain Sunetra Gupta 1992 Indian English
6508 Indigo Marina Warner 1992 British English
6508 The Triple Mirror of the Self Zulfikar Ghose 1992 Pakistani English
6508 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
6513 Incest Christine Angot 1999 French French
6522 City of the Beasts Isabel Allende 2002 Chilean Spanish
6522 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
6525 The Mars Room Rachel Kushner 2018 American English
6526 The Private Life of Chairman Mao Li Zhi-Sui 1994 Chinese English
6531 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
6530 The Hating Game Sally Thorne 2016 Australian English
6528 The Painter Of Battles Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2006 Spanish Spanish
6532 Kit's Law Donna Morrissey 1999 Canadian English
6533 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
6537 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6537 Hunger Roxane Gay 2017 American English
6539 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6540 Black Feminist Thought Patricia Hill Collins 1990 American English
6541 Hold Still Sally Mann 2015 American English
6542 F Dumitru Radu Popescu 2000 Romanian Unknown
6544 Collected Poems Les A. Murray 1991 Australian English
6548 Heirs To The Great Sinner Sheikh San’on Erkin A’zam 2004 Unknown Unknown
6553 The Quilts Of Gee's Bend William Arnett, Alvia Wardlaw, Jane Livingston, John Beardsley 2002 American English
6559 Prep Curtis Sittenfeld 2005 American English
6561 The Tortilla Curtain T. Coraghessan Boyle 1995 American English
6565 Candy Mian Mian 2000 Chinese Chinese
6567 Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming László Krasznahorkai 2016 Hungarian Hungarian
6568 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
6576 Ingrid Caven Jean-Jacques Schuhl 2000 French French
6577 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
6578 Indian Horse Richard Wagamese 2012 Canadian English
6582 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi 2018 Nigerian English
6583 Hardball Sara Paretsky 2009 American English
6590 American Shaolin Matthew Polly 2007 American English
6595 The Rape Of Nanking Iris Chang 1997 American English
6596 The Invention Of Nature Andrea Wulf 2015 German English
6598 Long Island Colm Toibin 2024 Irish Unknown
6605 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
6607 Still Life Louise Penny 2005 Canadian English
6608 The Anomaly Hervé Le Tellier 2020 French French
6609 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
6610 The Collected Strange Stories Of Robert Aickman Robert Aickman 1999 British English
6611 The Russian Revolution Richard Pipes 1990 American English
6612 Hidden Valley Road Robert Kolker 2020 American English
6617 Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds 2000 British English
6618 Redeeming Love Francine Rivers 1991 American English
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6622 Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2003 Nigerian English
6623 Looking For The Possible Dance A. L. Kennedy 1993 British English
6623 Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light Ivan Klima 1993 Czech Czech
6623 The Invention of Curried Sausage Uwe Timm 1993 German German
6623 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
6623 The Life of Insects Victor Pelevin 1993 Russian Russian
6623 A General Theory Of Love Thomas Lewis 2000 American English
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6632 Confessions Jaume Cabré 2011 Spanish Catalan
6645 It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want To Be Paul Arden 2003 British English
6646 Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 1996 American English
6647 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek