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
6917 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin, Janet Song 2009 Chinese English
6916 The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories Ken Liu 2016 American English
6920 The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid 2007 Pakistani English
6922 Necropolitics Achille Mbembe 2003 French French
6926 The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine Rashid Khalidi 2020 American English
6929 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
6930 Academy Street Mary Costello 2014 Irish English
6931 Duck, Death And The Tulip Wolf Erlbruch 2007 German German
6939 Summerhouse, Later Judith Hermann 1998 German German
6943 La Poupée Russe Gheorghe Crăciun 2004 Romanian Unknown
6945 A Cool Breeze On The Underground Don Winslow 1991 American English
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
6954 Kindly Inquisitors Jonathan Rauch 1993 American English
6957 There Will Be No Miracles Here Casey Gerald 2018 American English
6957 The Fifth Risk Michael M. Lewis 2018 American English
6957 The Field Of Blood Joanne B. Freeman 2018 American English
6965 Bowling Alone Robert D. Putnam 2000 American English
6967 The Boat Nam Le 2008 Australian English
6968 The Duchess Bertrice Small 2001 American English
6974 The Good Life Elsewhere Vladimir Lorchenkov 2008 Russian Russian
6974 Death At La Fenice Donna Leon 1992 American English
6974 Origins Reconsidered Roger Lewin, Richard Leakey 1992 Multiple English
6974 The Ice House Minette Walters 1992 British English
6980 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Joan Didion 2006 American English
6981 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6982 American Prison Shane Bauer 2018 American English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
6984 Fine Just the Way It Is Annie Proulx 2008 American English
6983 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
6986 The Testaments Margaret Atwood 2019 Canadian English
6987 Just Listen Sarah Dessen 2006 American English
6987 Lord Perfect Loretta Chase 2006 American English
6990 House Of Day, House Of Night Olga Tokarczuk 1998 Polish Polish
6989 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
6991 The Employees Olga Ravn 2018 Danish Danish
6992 Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker 1996 British English
6992 A Light Comedy Eduardo Mendoza 1996 Spanish Spanish
6994 Jdi Za Zeleným Světlem Edvard Valenta 1990 Czech Czech
7000 The Gray Man Mark Greaney 2009 American English
7001 Collected Poems Jack Gilbert 2012 American English
7005 The Girl With The Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier 1999 British English
7007 Tyll Daniel Kehlmann 2017 German German
7008 Gente Que Se Fue David Gistau 2010 Spanish Spanish
7009 The Trial Of The Cannibal Dog Anne Salmond 2003 New Zealand English
7010 Variable Cloud Carmen Martín Gaite 1993 Spanish Spanish
7011 Ancestral Shadows Russell Kirk 2004 American English
7011 The Free Sea Hugo Grotius 2004 Dutch Latin
7011 Green Tea Sheridan Le Fanu 2004 Irish English
7015 Trieste Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
7016 Original Bliss A. L. Kennedy 1997 British English
7016 Dukla Andrzej Stasiuk 1997 Polish Polish
7020 Albert Murray Albert Murray 2016 American Unknown
7022 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
7024 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers Robert Sapolsky 1994 American English
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7025 The Fabric Of The Cosmos Brian Greene 2004 American English
7027 In The Garden Of Beasts Erik Larson 2011 American English
7028 Going Clear Lawrence Wright 2013 American English
7037 Bright Shiny Morning James Frey 2008 American English
7038 The Afterlife Of George Cartwright John Steffler 1992 Canadian English
7042 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Simon Armitage 2007 British Middle english
7044 The Beothuk Way John Kitchen 1991 Canadian English
7046 The Children's Crusade Florina Ilis 2005 Romanian Romanian
7048 Personality Andrew O'Hagan 2003 Scottish English
7050 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
7048 The King Of Torts John Grisham 2003 American English
7051 The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt 2011 Canadian English
7052 A Summer To Remember Mary Balogh 2002 British English
7054 Chain Gang All Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2023 American English
7053 The Divine Ryans Wayne Johnston 1990 Canadian English
7055 Golden Age Wang Xiaobo 1997 Chinese Chinese
7056 The Diving Pool Yōko Ogawa 1990 Japanese Japanese
7056 Kaddish For An Unborn Child Imre Kertész 1990 Hungarian Hungarian
7056 A Passionate Apprentice Virginia Woolf 1990 British English
7056 Just The End Of The World Jean-Luc Lagarce 1990 French French
7056 Some Thing Black Jacques Roubaud 1990 French French
7056 Write To Kill Daniel Pennac 1990 French Unknown
7062 Then We Came To The End Joshua Ferris 2007 American English
7063 Nightcrawling Leila Mottley 2022 American English
7065 Point Of Impact Stephen Hunter 1993 American English
7070 Job Boj Bohumila Grögerová, Josef Hiršal 1991 Czech Czech
7071 E=Mc2 David Bodanis 2000 British English
7072 Palimpsest Gore Vidal 1995 American English
7075 The Glorious Heresies Lisa McInerney 2015 Irish English
7076 The Investigation Juan José Saer 1994 Argentinian Spanish
7077 Autumn In The Heavenly Kingdom Stephen R. Platt 2012 American English
7078 Aquamarine Carol Anshaw 1992 American English
7080 The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt 2014 American English
7079 A Court Of Mist And Fury Sarah J. Maas 2016 American English
7081 Hermina Sami Tchak 2003 French French
7084 Shape Shifter Hone Tuwhare 2003 New Zealand English
7086 Klotsvog Margarita Khemlin 2009 Russian Russian
7086 A Short Border Handbook Gazmend Kapllani 2009 Greek Albanian
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7086 La Verità Sul Caso D. Carlo Fruttero, Franco Lucentini 1993 Italian Italian
7086 The Virtuoso Margriet de Moor 1993 Dutch Dutch
7086 Lajja Taslima Nasrin 1993 Bangladeshi Bengali
7086 The Crocodile Bird Ruth Rendell 1993 British English
7093 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
7094 The Color Of Law Richard Rothstein 2017 American English
7096 Try Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7096 Guide Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7099 The Dutch House Ann Patchett 2019 American English
7102 Nevada Imogen Binnie 2013 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7104 Māori Michael King 2003 New Zealand English
7105 Brother, I'm Dying Edwidge Danticat 2007 Haitian English
7106 Technopoly Neil Postman 1992 American English
7107 Kiss The Girls James Patterson 1995 American English
7108 The Children Of The Dead Elfriede Jelinek 2024 Austrian German
7115 Seven Years Peter Stamm 2009 Swiss German
7119 The Optic Nerve Maria Gainza 2015 Argentinian Spanish
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7120 The Color Of Summer Reinaldo Arenas 1991 Cuban Spanish
7122 Margot en de engelen Kristien Hemmerechts 1997 Belgian Dutch
7122 Generation Kill Evan Wright 2004 American English
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English
7122 127 Hours Aaron Ralston 2004 American English
7127 Blanche Passes Go Barbara Neely 2000 American English
7127 The Redbreast Jo Nesbø 2000 Norwegian Norwegian