The Greatest Books of All Time on Belonging

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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
1129 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
1582 Quicksand Nella Larsen 1928 American English
2183 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 American English
2207 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2401 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2596 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
3297 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
5569 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5753 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5860 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
6174 Ludo Conrad Detrez 1974 Belgian French
6189 Kein Schöner Land Silvio Blatter 1984 Swiss German
6929 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
7216 The Island Within Ludwig Lewisohn 1928 American English
7652 The Republic Of Nothing Lesley Choyce 1994 Canadian English
7736 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
8336 The Bat Poet Randall Jarrell 1964 American English
8345 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8445 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8652 Pedigree Patrick Modiano 2005 French French
8853 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
9009 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9066 The Tribe Michael Mohammed Ahmad 2014 Australian English
9618 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9809 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9964 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9972 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
9974 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
10275 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10291 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10396 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10695 The Faraway World Patricia Engel 2023 American English
10776 The Invisible Child Tove Jansson 1962 Finnish Swedish
10876 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10895 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10906 Inside My Mother Ali Cobby Eckermann 2015 Australian English
10941 The Leavers Lisa Ko 2017 American English
11085 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11085 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11357 The House Of Youssef Yumna Kassab 2019 Australian English
11365 La Vie Chinoise De Marianne Pêche Lisa Bresner French French
11444 Fiela's Child Dalene Matthee 1985 South African Afrikaans
11643 Arsonists City Hala Alyan 2021 American English
11643 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11812 When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago 1993 American English
11849 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11883 Root And Branch Eda Gunaydin 2022 Unknown English
11883 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11883 This All Come Back Now Mykaula Saunders 2022 Unknown English
11900 Coming Home And Other Stories Farida Karodia 1988 South African English
12123 Songs For The Dead And The Living Sara M. Saleh 2023 Unknown English
12326 The Collected Stories Of Mavis Gallant Mavis Gallant 1996 Canadian English
12412 Tidelines Sarah Sasson 2024 Unknown English
12412 Growing Up In Australia Various authors Unknown Unknown
12515 The Loom And Other Stories R. A. Sasaki 1991 American English
12515 Yoruba Girl Dancing Simi Bedford 1991 British English
12588 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12769 Mon Vrai Nom Est Elisabeth Adèle Yon French French
12834 Talking To High Monks In The Snow Lydia Minatoya 1992 American English
12975 Fundamentally Nussaibah Younis 2025 Unknown Unknown
12979 Lessons In Magic And Disaster Charlie Jane Anders 2025 Unknown Unknown
13166 This Is Who I Am Rashmi Sirdeshpande 2025 British English
13772 Every Heart A Doorway Seanan McGuire 2016 American English
13818 Spatriati Mario Desiati 2021 Italian Italian
13971 Beneath The Sugar Sky Seanan McGuire 2018 American English
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
14025 In An Absent Dream Seanan McGuire 2019 American English
14025 My New American Life Francine Prose 2011 American English
14051 Pigs in Heaven Barbara Kingsolver 1993 American English
14650 Searching for Caleb Anne Tyler 1975 American English
14899 The Room On The Roof Ruskin Bond 1956 Indian English
14985 Tales From Firozsha Baag Rohinton Mistry 1987 Indian English
14985 Fatherland Burkhard Bilger 2023 Unknown English
14985 My Name Is Yoon Helen Recorvits 2003 American English
14985 Rosarita Anita Desai 2024 Unknown English
14985 How Much Of These Hills Is Gold C Pam Zhang 2020 American English
14985 The Latecomer Jean Hanff Korelitz 2022 American English
14985 Sharks In The Time Of Saviors Kawai Strong Washburn 2020 American English
15642 Stray City Chelsey Johnson 2018 American English
15649 Up Stream Ludwig Lewisohn 1922 American English
15797 Gypsy, Gypsy Rumer Godden 1940 British English
16551 Roman Wall Bryher 1954 British English
16725 Travel Light Naomi Mitchison 1952 British English
17158 Silver City Maurice Leitch 1976 Irish English
17158 Deep Wheel Orcadia Harry Josephine Giles 2021 Scottish Orcadian
17158 The Day You Begin Jacqueline Woodson 2018 American English
17158 Sacred Country Rose Tremain 1992 British English
17158 Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self Danielle Evans 2010 American English
17158 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17158 A Girl Returned Donatella Di Pietrantonio 2017 Italian Italian
17158 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
17158 The Gullet Clinton Palanca Philippine English
17158 The House On Calle Sombra Marga Ortigas 2021 Philippine English
17158 Joy Angelo Lacuesta Philippine English
17158 Stork Mountain Miroslav Penkov 2016 Bulgarian English
17158 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17158 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17158 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17158 Record Of A Spaceborn Few Becky Chambers 2018 American English
17158 The Power Of Meaning Emily Esfahani Smith 2017 American English
17158 Carry On Rainbow Rowell 2015 American English
17158 A Place For Us Fatima Farheen Mirza 2018 American English
17158 Habitus Emma Rooksby Unknown Unknown
17158 Maurice And Maralyn Sophie Elmhirst 2024 Unknown English
17158 In The Country Mia Alvar 2015 Unknown English
17158 All Our Names Dinaw Mengestu 2014 American English
17158 St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Karen Russell 2024 American English
17158 The Identity Trap Yascha Mounk 2023 Unknown English
17158 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17158 The Loneliest Americans Jay Caspian Kang 2021 American English
17158 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
17158 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17158 Black Girl, Call Home Jasmine Mans 2021 American English
17158 Time's Convert Deborah Harkness 2018 American English
17158 The Wrong End Of The Telescope Rabih Alameddine 2021 American English
17158 Better Than War Siamak Vossoughi 2015 Unknown English
17158 A Good Country Laleh Khadivi 2017 American English
17158 Space Between Us Zoya Pirzad 1997 Iranian Persian
17158 The Neighbors Ahmad Mahmoud 1974 Unknown Persian