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
2182 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 American English
2206 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2399 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2595 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
3296 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
5567 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5750 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5857 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
6171 Ludo Conrad Detrez 1974 Belgian French
6186 Kein Schöner Land Silvio Blatter 1984 Swiss German
6929 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
7215 The Island Within Ludwig Lewisohn 1928 American English
7651 The Republic Of Nothing Lesley Choyce 1994 Canadian English
7734 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
8334 The Bat Poet Randall Jarrell 1964 American English
8343 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8441 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8648 Pedigree Patrick Modiano 2005 French French
8849 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
9005 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9061 The Tribe Michael Mohammed Ahmad 2014 Australian English
9614 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9806 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9960 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9968 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
9970 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
10270 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10286 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10391 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10689 The Faraway World Patricia Engel 2023 American English
10770 The Invisible Child Tove Jansson 1962 Finnish Swedish
10870 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10889 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10900 Inside My Mother Ali Cobby Eckermann 2015 Australian English
10935 The Leavers Lisa Ko 2017 American English
11079 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11079 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11351 The House Of Youssef Yumna Kassab 2019 Australian English
11360 La Vie Chinoise De Marianne Pêche Lisa Bresner French French
11439 Fiela's Child Dalene Matthee 1985 South African Afrikaans
11641 Arsonists City Hala Alyan 2021 American English
11641 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11811 When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago 1993 American English
11848 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11882 Root And Branch Eda Gunaydin 2022 Unknown English
11882 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11882 This All Come Back Now Mykaula Saunders 2022 Unknown English
11899 Coming Home And Other Stories Farida Karodia 1988 South African English
12122 Songs For The Dead And The Living Sara M. Saleh 2023 Unknown English
12324 The Collected Stories Of Mavis Gallant Mavis Gallant 1996 Canadian English
12410 Tidelines Sarah Sasson 2024 Unknown English
12410 Growing Up In Australia Various authors Unknown Unknown
12513 The Loom And Other Stories R. A. Sasaki 1991 American English
12513 Yoruba Girl Dancing Simi Bedford 1991 British English
12586 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12767 Mon Vrai Nom Est Elisabeth Adèle Yon French French
12832 Talking To High Monks In The Snow Lydia Minatoya 1992 American English
12972 Fundamentally Nussaibah Younis 2025 Unknown Unknown
12976 Lessons In Magic And Disaster Charlie Jane Anders 2025 Unknown Unknown
13163 This Is Who I Am Rashmi Sirdeshpande 2025 British English
13771 Every Heart A Doorway Seanan McGuire 2016 American English
13817 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
14649 Searching for Caleb Anne Tyler 1975 American English
14896 The Room On The Roof Ruskin Bond 1956 Indian English
14983 Tales From Firozsha Baag Rohinton Mistry 1987 Indian English
14983 Fatherland Burkhard Bilger 2023 Unknown English
14983 My Name Is Yoon Helen Recorvits 2003 American English
14983 Rosarita Anita Desai 2024 Unknown English
14983 How Much Of These Hills Is Gold C Pam Zhang 2020 American English
14983 The Latecomer Jean Hanff Korelitz 2022 American English
14983 Sharks In The Time Of Saviors Kawai Strong Washburn 2020 American English
15634 Stray City Chelsey Johnson 2018 American English
15641 Up Stream Ludwig Lewisohn 1922 American English
15802 Gypsy, Gypsy Rumer Godden 1940 British English
16528 Roman Wall Bryher 1954 British English
16730 Travel Light Naomi Mitchison 1952 British English
17117 Silver City Maurice Leitch 1976 Irish English
17117 Deep Wheel Orcadia Harry Josephine Giles 2021 Scottish Orcadian
17117 The Day You Begin Jacqueline Woodson 2018 American English
17117 Sacred Country Rose Tremain 1992 British English
17117 Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self Danielle Evans 2010 American English
17117 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17117 A Girl Returned Donatella Di Pietrantonio 2017 Italian Italian
17117 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
17117 The Gullet Clinton Palanca Philippine English
17117 The House On Calle Sombra Marga Ortigas 2021 Philippine English
17117 Joy Angelo Lacuesta Philippine English
17117 Stork Mountain Miroslav Penkov 2016 Bulgarian English
17117 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17117 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17117 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17117 Record Of A Spaceborn Few Becky Chambers 2018 American English
17117 The Power Of Meaning Emily Esfahani Smith 2017 American English
17117 Carry On Rainbow Rowell 2015 American English
17117 Habitus Emma Rooksby Unknown Unknown
17117 Maurice And Maralyn Sophie Elmhirst 2024 Unknown English
17117 In The Country Mia Alvar 2015 Unknown English
17117 All Our Names Dinaw Mengestu 2014 American English
17117 St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves Karen Russell 2024 American English
17117 The Identity Trap Yascha Mounk 2023 Unknown English
17117 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Loneliest Americans Jay Caspian Kang 2021 American English
17117 Grandfather’s Journey Allen Say 1993 American English
17117 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17117 Black Girl, Call Home Jasmine Mans 2021 American English
17117 Time's Convert Deborah Harkness 2018 American English
17117 The Wrong End Of The Telescope Rabih Alameddine 2021 American English
17117 Better Than War Siamak Vossoughi 2015 Unknown English
17117 A Good Country Laleh Khadivi 2017 American English
17117 Space Between Us Zoya Pirzad 1997 Iranian Persian
17117 The Neighbors Ahmad Mahmoud 1974 Unknown Persian
17117 By The Fire We Carry Rebecca Nagle 2024 Unknown English