The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Berlin

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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
201 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
338 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
482 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
761 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
923 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
1184 Mr Norris Changes Trains Christopher Isherwood 1935 British English
1339 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
1480 Divided Heaven Christa Wolf 1963 German German
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2031 History Of The Reformation In Germany Leopold von Ranke 1834 German German
2031 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2031 Gedanken Und Erinnerungen Otto von Bismarck 1898 German German
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2249 Emil And The Detectives Erich Kästner 1929 German German
2514 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2638 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
2750 Mephisto Klaus Mann 1936 German German
2750 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2785 The Philosophy Of Symbolic Forms Ernst Cassirer 1929 German German
2833 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2846 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2882 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2895 Speculations About Jakob Uwe Johnson 1959 German German
2991 A Book Of Memories Péter Nádas 1986 Hungarian Hungarian
3140 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3192 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
3263 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
3372 The Nazi And The Barber Edgar Hilsenrath 1971 German German
3638 Little Man, What Now? Hans Fallada 1932 German German
3638 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
3638 Theodor Chindler Bernard von Brentano 1936 German German
3638 Gods, Graves, And Scholars C. W. Ceram 1949 German German
3638 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3638 Schach Von Wuthenow Theodor Fontane 1883 German German
3638 Deutsches Wörterbuch Brothers Grimm 1854 German German
3638 Architecture Walter Gropius 1935 German German
3638 Die Homosexualität Des Mannes Und Des Weibes Magnus Hirschfeld 1920 German German
3638 The Art Of Prolonging Life Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland 1842 German German
3638 The Future Has Already Begun Robert Jungk 1952 Austrian German
3638 The Century Of The Child Ellen Key 1900 Swedish Swedish
3638 The Raging Reporter Egon Erwin Kisch 1924 Czech German
3638 The Language Of The Third Reich Victor Klemperer 1947 German German
3638 From Caligari To Hitler Siegfried Kracauer 1947 German German
3638 Das Unauslöschliche Siegel Elisabeth Langgässer 1946 German German
3638 Child Of The Revolution Wolfgang Leonhard 1955 German German
3638 Doctors Of Infamy Unknown 1947 Unknown English
3638 An Outline Of European Architecture Nikolaus Pevsner 1943 British English
3638 Stalingrad Theodor Plievier 1948 German German
3638 The Sexual Revolution Wilhelm Reich 1936 German German
3638 The Questionnaire Ernst von Salomon 1951 German German
3638 Der Moderne Kapitalismus Werner Sombart 1902 German German
3638 Ich Suchte Adam Herbert Wendt 1954 German German
3638 Duden. Die Deutsche Rechtschreibung Unknown 1880 German German
3638 The Captain Of Köpenick Carl Zuckmayer 1931 German German
3870 Die Skeptische Generation Helmut Schelsky 1957 German German
3897 Zoo Station Christiane V. Felscherinow 1978 German German
4102 Purge Sofi Oksanen 2008 Finnish Finnish
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4153 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German
4195 The Oppermanns Lion Feuchtwanger 1933 German German
4392 The Winds Of War Herman Wouk 1971 American English
4415 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4501 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4633 The Inability To Mourn Alexander Mitscherlich, Margarete Mitscherlich 1967 German German
4686 The Cost Of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1937 German German
4686 Letters And Papers From Prison Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1951 German German
4686 Major Trends In Jewish Mysticism Gershom Scholem 1929 German German
4855 The Gift Horse Hildegard Knef 1970 German German
4863 Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers Max Planck 1922 German German
5130 Hitler Joachim Fest 1973 German German
5240 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5280 Declare Tim Powers 2000 American English
5291 Der Mädchenkrieg Manfred Bieler 1975 German German
5291 Tante Jolesch Or The Decline Of The West In Anecdotes Friedrich Torberg 1975 Austrian German
5351 Stasiland Anna Funder 2002 Australian English
5445 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5456 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5529 A Prayer For Kateřina Horovitzová Arnost Lustig 1964 Czech Czech
5657 March Violets Philip Kerr 1989 British English
5750 Flight Of Ashes Monika Maron 1981 German German
5800 Kruso Lutz Seiler 2014 German German
5926 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
5935 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
6002 Men In Dark Times Hannah Arendt 1968 German English
6002 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6002 Three Women Robert Musil 1924 Austrian German
6121 Monster Naoki Urasawa 1994 Japanese Japanese
6186 The March Of Folly Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1984 American English
6217 Chronicle of Feelings Alexander Kluge 2000 German German
6263 Der Baader Meinhof Komplex Stefan Aust 1985 German German
6311 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
6340 In Hitler's Germany Bernt Engelmann 1986 German English
6379 History Of Germany In The Nineteenth Century Heinrich von Treitschke 1879 German German
6575 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
6747 Sturmzeit Charlotte Link 1990 German German
6852 The Quiller Memorandum Adam Hall 1965 British English
6853 Kairos Jenny Erpenbeck 2023 German German
6888 The Boxer Rebellion Diana Preston 1999 Unknown English
6892 The Company Robert Littell 2002 American English
6939 Summerhouse, Later Judith Hermann 1998 German German
6969 Collected Shorter Poems W. H. Auden 1966 British English
7027 In The Garden Of Beasts Erik Larson 2011 American English
7168 Julio Jurenito Ilya Ehrenburg 1921 Russian Russian
7691 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7732 Despair Vladimir Nabokov 1934 Russian Russian
7926 Die Auflösung Der Weimarer Republik Karl Dietrich Bracher 1955 German German
8142 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8142 Vor Uns Die Sintflut Urs Widmer 1998 Swiss German
8209 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8265 Berlin Game Len Deighton 1983 British English
8291 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8414 War and Remembrance Herman Wouk 1978 American English
8441 Willenbrock Christoph Hein 2000 German German
8441 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8441 Generation Golf Florian Illies 2000 German German
8441 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German