The Greatest Absurdist Books of All Time

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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
17120 Take It Or Leave It Raymond Federman 1976 American English
17120 The Age of Wire and String Ben Marcus 1995 American English
17120 Up Ronald Sukenick 1968 American English
17120 Mulligan Stew Gilbert Sorrentino 1979 American English
17120 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
17120 Journey Beyond Tomorrow Robert Sheckley 1962 American English
17120 The Dada Painters and Poets Robert Motherwell 1978 American English
17120 Eunoia Christian Bök 2001 Canadian English
17120 Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist Emile Habibi 1974 Palestinian Arabic
17120 The Windy City Moussa Ould Ebnou 1998 Unknown Unknown
17120 Fup Jim Dodge 1983 American English
17120 Please Don’t Call Me Human Wang Shuo 1991 Chinese Chinese
17120 Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Judi Barrett 1978 American English
17120 A Short Stay In Hell Steven L. Peck 2012 American English
16752 Caligula Albert Camus 1944 French French
17120 The Annual Banquet Of The Gravediggers' Guild Mathias Enard 2023 French French
17120 The Drive In Joe R. Lansdale 1988 American English
17120 Omon Ra Victor Pelevin 1992 Russian Russian
17120 Le Avventure Di Guizzardi Gianni Celati 1973 Italian Italian
17120 Vilnius Poker Ričardas Gavelis 1989 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17120 The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul Douglas Adams 1988 British English
17120 The Illuminatus! Trilogy Robert Shea 1975 American English
16930 Singular Travels, Campaigns And Adventures Of Baron Munchausen R. E. Raspe 1785 German German
17120 Choke Chuck Palahniuk 2001 American English
17120 Timequake Kurt Vonnegut 1997 American English
17120 Still Life With Woodpecker Tom Robbins 1980 American English
17120 Jitterbug Perfume Tom Robbins 1984 American English
17120 The Alchemaster's Apprentice Walter Moers 2007 German German
17120 Rumo Walter Moers 2003 German German
17120 The Factory Hiroko Oyamada 2013 Japanese Japanese
17058 Life For Sale Yukio Mishima 1968 Japanese Japanese
17120 Doppler Erlend Loe 2004 Norwegian Norwegian
17120 This Book Is Full Of Spiders David Wong 2012 American English
17120 Sacré Bleu Christopher Moore 2012 American English
17120 The Serpent Of Venice Christopher Moore 2014 American English
17120 My Lesbian Novel Renee Gladman 2024 American English
17120 Some Strange Music Draws Me In Griffin Hansbury 2024 Unknown Unknown
17120 Banal Nightmare Halle Butler 2024 American English
17120 Quichotte Salman Rushdie 2019 British English
17120 Ghost Mountain Rónán Hession 2024 Unknown English
17120 Pitface Herman Brusselmans 1994 Belgian Dutch
17120 Reincarnation Blues Michael Poore 2017 American English
17120 The Stupidest Angel Christopher Moore 2004 American English
17120 The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists Gideon Defoe 2004 British English
17120 Forty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
17120 The Broom Of The System David Foster Wallace 1987 American English
17044 Понедельник начинается в субботу Arkady Strugatsky 1965 Russian Russian
17120 Shakespeare For Squirrels Christopher Moore 2020 American English
17120 Fool Christopher Moore 2009 American English
17120 Tales Of Falling And Flying Ben Loory 2017 American English
17055 Le Locataire Chimérique Roland Topor 1964 French French
17120 Harrow Joy Williams 2021 American English
17120 Franz Kafka's The Castle David Fishelson 1999 Unknown English
17120 The Ark Sakura Kobo Abé 1984 Japanese Japanese
17120 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
17120 The Disaster Tourist Yun Ko-eun 2013 Korean Korean
17038 The Great Wall Of China Franz Kafka 1931 Austrian German
17120 The Salmon Of Doubt Douglas Adams 2002 British English
17120 The Naked Nuns Colin Watson 1975 British English
16928 Trout Fishing In America / The Pill Vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster / In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
17120 Sombrero Fallout Richard Brautigan 1976 American English
17120 Pulp Charles Bukowski 1994 American English
17120 The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook Matt Dinniman 2020 Unknown English
17120 Carl's Doomsday Scenario Matt Dinniman 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Stupids Step Out Harry Allard 1974 American English
17120 The Day My Bum Went Psycho Andy Griffiths 2001 Australian English
17053 Candide And Other Stories Voltaire 1759 French French
17120 Autobiography Of A Corpse Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky 2013 Russian Russian
17120 The First Bad Man Miranda July 2015 American English
17120 Cave & Julia M. John Harrison 2014 British English
17120 Here Goes Nothing Steve Toltz 2022 Australian English
17120 The Humans Matt Haig 2013 British English
17120 Looking For The Stranger Alice Kaplan 2016 Unknown English
16965 Alice's Adventures In Wonderland & Other Stories Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
17120 The Beastly Beatitudes Of Balthazar B J. P. Donleavy 1967 American English
17120 Insignificance Terry Johnson 1982 British English
17120 How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The Fa Cup JL Carr 1975 British English
17017 Tujec / Kuga Albert Camus 1942 French French
17120 A Shining Jon Fosse 2023 Norwegian Unknown
17120 The Annual Banquet Of The Gravediggers' Guild Mathias Énard 2023 French French
17120 Earlier Sasha Frere‑Jones 2023 Unknown English
17120 This Won’t Help Eli Grober 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Glint Of Light Clarence Major 2023 Unknown Unknown
17120 I’m A Fan Sheena Patel 2023 Unknown English
17120 Hit Parade Of Tears Izumi Suzuki 2023 Japanese Japanese
17120 Skip To The Fun Parts Dana Jeri Maier 2023 Unknown English
17120 Users Colin Winnette 2023 Unknown English
17120 Big Swiss Jen Beagin 2023 American English
17120 The Blazing World Jonathan Healey 2023 Unknown English
17120 Temporary Hilary Leichter 2020 American English
17120 The Men Can't Be Saved Ben Purkert 2023 Unknown English
17120 I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box Of Doom Jason Pargin American Unknown
17120 Black Sheep Rachel Harrison 2023 Unknown English
17120 Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend M.J. Wassmer Unknown Unknown
17120 Hurricane Girl Marcy Dermansky 2022 American English
17120 The Laxian Key Robert Sheckley 1966 American English
17120 The People Trap Robert Sheckley 1968 American English
17120 The Seasick Whale Ephraim Kishon 1965 Israeli Hebrew
17120 Man In The Empty Suit Sean Ferrell 2013 American English
17120 The Stranger Times Caimh McDonnell 2021 British English
17120 Mouthful Of Birds Samanta Schweblin 2009 Argentinian Spanish
17120 The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine Or The Hithering Thithering Djinn Donald Barthelme 1971 American English
17120 Homage To The Lame Wolf Vasko Popa 1979 Serbian Serbo-croatian
17120 Horváth Für Boshafte Ödön von Horváth 2010 Austrian German
17120 Infinite Ground Martin MacInnes 2016 British English
16841 L'étranger / La Peste Albert Camus 1942 French French
17120 Jabberwocky And Other Nonsense Lewis Carroll British English
17120 Popular Hits Of The Showa Era Ryū Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
17120 Census Jesse Ball 2018 American English
17120 Die Insel Der Tausend Leuchttürme Walter Moers 2023 German German
17120 L'écroulement De La Baliverna Dino Buzzati Italian Italian
17120 The Hitchhiker's Trilogy Douglas Adams 1979 British English
17120 Harold Stephen Wright American English
16836 The Heart Of A Dog Mikhail Bulgakov 1925 Russian Russian
17062 The Anarchist Banker Pessoa 1922 Portuguese Portuguese
17120 Catch .22 Diane L. Kowalyshyn Unknown Unknown