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
2857 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
2867 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
2871 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
2873 Boyhood J. M. Coetzee 1997 South African English
2882 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
2883 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2887 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
2890 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2892 Distant Star Roberto Bolaño 1996 Chilean Spanish
2898 Indigo Beverly Jenkins 1996 American English
2899 Moneyball Michael M. Lewis 2003 American English
2902 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2904 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2908 Love Life Zeruya Shalev 2000 Israeli Hebrew
2912 Tu Patricia Grace 2004 New Zealand English
2919 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 British English
2927 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 Libyan English
2929 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2935 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
2936 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2951 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2957 Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels 1996 Canadian English
2958 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2967 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2970 The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman 2000 British English
2973 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
2974 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
2980 Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 American English
2987 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
2989 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
2992 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 American English
3007 Hideous Kinky Esther Freud 1992 British English
3012 By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño 2000 Chilean Spanish
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3049 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3053 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston 2019 American English
3060 Trust Hernan Díaz 2022 Argentinian English
3062 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3063 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3064 The Language Instinct Steven Pinker 1994 American English
3065 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3070 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3075 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3077 Once Were Warriors Alan Duff 1990 New Zealand English
3078 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3083 Under the Skin Michel Faber 2000 British English
3090 Factory Girls Leslie T. Chang 2008 American English
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3096 Dogeaters Jessica Hagedorn 1990 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3102 Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi 2003 Iranian English
3103 Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart 2010 American English
3112 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
3114 Foster Claire Keegan 2010 Irish English
3115 Affinity Sarah Waters 1999 British English
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3130 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
3132 The Man Who Loved Dogs Leonardo Padura 2009 Cuban Spanish
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3139 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
3146 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
3151 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
3162 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3164 Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 2014 American English
3165 Gender Trouble Judith Butler 1990 American English
3171 The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell 2000 American English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3178 Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood 2017 American English
3179 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3184 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3183 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3190 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
3199 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3204 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby 1992 British English
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3206 The Prize Daniel Yergin 1991 American English
3207 Submission Michel Houellebecq 2015 French French
3211 Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari 2015 Israeli Hebrew
3213 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3214 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See 2005 Chinese English
3217 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3223 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
3227 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3228 Ghachar Ghochar Vivek Shanbhag 2015 Indian Kannada
3234 Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner 2005 American English
3233 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3235 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
3257 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
3258 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
3261 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
3265 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3270 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3271 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3272 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3275 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3277 The Polish Rider Antonio Muñoz Molina 1991 Spanish Spanish
3278 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3280 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3281 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3282 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
3283 The Blank Slate Steven Pinker 2002 American English
3286 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3317 The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang 2018 Vietnamese English
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3320 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3382 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3398 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
3401 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3405 Fifty Shades of Grey: E. L. James 2011 British English
3415 Hanna's Daughters Marianne Fredriksson 1994 Swedish Swedish
3417 The Housekeeper And The Professor Yōko Ogawa 2003 Japanese Japanese
3421 The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein 2007 Canadian English
3430 Get A Life, Chloe Brown Talia Hibbert 2019 British English