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
4155 Asymmetry Lisa Halliday 2018 American English
4157 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4161 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4162 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
4171 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4187 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
4188 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
4189 The Bridges Of Madison County Robert James Waller 1992 American English
4189 Flowers From The Storm Laura Kinsale 1992 American English
4193 The Celestine Prophecy James Redfield 1993 American English
4202 Darwin's Radio Greg Bear 1999 American English
4231 Mariette In Ecstasy Ron Hansen 1991 American English
4284 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4290 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4292 What Belongs to You Garth Greenwell 2016 American English
4294 Bird By Bird Anne Lamott 1994 American English
4295 The Emperor's Babe Bernardine Evaristo 2001 British English
4298 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4304 A Court Of Thorns And Roses Sarah J. Maas 2015 American English
4306 It Ends With Us Colleen Hoover 2016 American English
4363 The Anatomy Of A Moment Javier Cercas 2009 Spanish Spanish
4365 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
4367 The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie 1995 British English
4369 Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan 2013 American English
4376 The Diversity of Life E. O. Wilson 1992 American English
4381 How To End A Story Helen Garner 2021 Australian English
4387 Novecento Alessandro Baricco 1994 Italian Italian
4390 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
4392 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4394 We The Animals Justin Torres 2011 American English
4407 The Essential Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1995 Persian Persian
4415 Detransition, Baby Torrey Peters 2021 American English
4418 The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt 2011 American English
4441 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4442 A Long Long Way Sebastian Barry 2005 Irish English
4447 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4449 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
4454 Mountains Beyond Mountains Tracy Kidder 2003 American English
4458 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4459 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender 2010 American English
4461 The Royal Physician's Visit Per Olov Enquist 1999 Swedish Swedish
4468 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4470 Intermezzo Sally Rooney 2024 Irish English
4472 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood 1996 Canadian English
4498 Mister Pip Lloyd Jones 2006 New Zealand English
4500 How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti 2010 Canadian English
4501 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4505 North Woods Daniel Mason 2023 American English
4506 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
4507 The Book about Blanche and Marie Per Olov Enquist 2004 Swedish Swedish
4520 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
4532 Mend The Living Maylis de Kerangal 2014 French French
4533 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
4536 Special Topics In Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl 2006 American English
4537 Stiff Mary Roach 2003 American English
4539 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
4540 The Stone Of Laughter Hoda Barakat 1990 Lebanese Arabic
4542 Ingenious Pain Andrew Miller 1997 British English
4558 Star Of The Sea Joseph O'Connor 2003 Irish English
4566 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4576 No Ordinary Time Doris Kearns Goodwin 1994 American English
4577 Time Shelter Georgi Gospodinov 2020 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4587 Columbine Dave Cullen 2009 American English
4588 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4590 Vurt Jeff Noon 1993 British English
4591 Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney 2017 Irish English
4593 Last Night James Salter 2005 American English
4595 Nora Webster Colm Toibin 2014 Irish English
4603 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
4608 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4613 Gulag Anne Applebaum 2003 American English
4614 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4617 Deacon King Kong James McBride 2020 American English
4619 Rising Tide John Barry 1997 American English
4622 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
4623 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4626 The Opium War Julia Lovell 2011 British English
4630 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
4632 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle 1993 Irish English
4631 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4636 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4637 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse Louise Erdrich 2001 American English
4638 The Vintner's Luck Elizabeth Knox 1998 New Zealand English
4651 The Forever War Dexter Filkins 2008 American English
4654 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
4653 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4658 The 13 1/2 Lives Of Captain Bluebear Walter Moers 1999 German German
4660 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4661 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
4664 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4665 Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson 1992 American English
4667 Allah Is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma 2000 French French
4674 The Time of Our Singing Richard Powers 2003 American English
4677 Of Love And Other Demons Gabriel García Márquez 1994 Colombian Spanish
4679 Skippy Dies Pauli Murray 2010 Irish English
4681 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4685 The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht 2011 Serbian English
4706 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
4707 Six Of Crows Leigh Bardugo 2015 American English
4716 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
4732 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
4737 When A Scot Ties The Knot Tessa Dare 2015 American English
4739 Tell Me How It Ends Valeria Luiselli 2017 Mexican English
4750 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4753 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4754 Home Fire Kamila Shamsie 2017 British English
4761 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4766 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4805 Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay Elena Ferrante 2013 Italian Italian
4811 Slave Old Man Patrick Chamoiseau 1997 French French
4812 Happy Moscow Andrey Platonov 1991 Russian Russian
4813 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4822 He, She and It Marge Piercy 1991 American English
4823 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4826 The Prestige Christopher Priest 1995 British English
4827 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4844 The Last Quarter Of The Moon Chi Zijian 2005 Chinese English
4845 The World's Wife Carol Ann Duffy 1999 British English
4850 Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, And Wear Cows Melanie Joy 2010 American English
4854 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English