The Greatest Books of All Time Set in California

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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
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
142 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
170 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
193 East of Eden John Steinbeck 1952 American English
348 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
433 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
441 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 1966 American English
469 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
513 Kindred Octavia E. Butler 1979 American English
540 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
595 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
634 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
698 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
747 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
777 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 American English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1037 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
1097 My Name Is Aram William Saroyan 1940 American English
1105 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1153 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
1183 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1193 Double Indemnity James M. Cain 1943 American English
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1276 The Feynman Lectures on Physics Richard P. Feynman 1963 American English
1320 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1328 Parable Of The Sower Octavia E. Butler 1993 American English
1341 The Graduate Charles Webb 1963 American English
1606 White Fang Jack London 1906 American English
1695 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1720 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1818 Barbarian Days William Finnegan 2015 American English
1847 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler 1949 American English
1873 And the Band Played On Randy Shilts 1987 American English
1899 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
1937 Ask The Dust John Fante 1939 American English
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
2069 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2126 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2167 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2179 The Love Of The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald 1941 American English
2292 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2338 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2359 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1955 American English
2386 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2514 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2517 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2595 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2630 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
2634 Tripmaster Monkey Maxine Hong Kingston 1989 American English
2680 Generation X Douglas Coupland 1991 Canadian English
2696 Dalva Jim Harrison 1988 American English
2788 A Cultural History Of The Modern Age Egon Friedell 1927 Austrian English
2829 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2849 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2856 The Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
2883 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2898 Moneyball Michael M. Lewis 2003 American English
2927 The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson 1979 American English
2953 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
3009 The Octopus Frank Norris 1901 American English
3012 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
3116 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
3169 Hitchcock Francois Truffaut 1966 French French
3183 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3197 The Autobiography Of A Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda 1946 Indian English
3222 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
3234 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3292 The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
3312 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
3315 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
3318 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
3321 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3389 La Realidad Y El Deseo Luis Cernuda 1936 Spanish Spanish
3427 Short Letter, Long Farewell Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
3444 The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby Tom Wolfe 1965 American English
3468 The Story Of English Robert McCrum 1986 British English
3477 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3522 Bad Blood John Carreyrou 2018 American English
3552 The Revolt Of The Cockroach People Oscar Zeta Acosta 1973 American English
3585 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3598 The Wedding Date Jasmine Guillory 2018 American English
3599 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
3607 Virgin River Robyn Carr 2007 American English
3617 The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe 1979 American English
3637 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3637 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
3637 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3637 The Future Has Already Begun Robert Jungk 1952 Austrian German
3856 Closer Dennis Cooper 1989 American English
3876 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
3939 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
4077 Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand 2001 American English
4147 Vineland Thomas Pynchon 1990 American English
4172 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4175 Replay Ken Grimwood 1986 American English
4264 The Importance Of Living Lin Yutang 1937 Chinese English
4310 The Mark Of Zorro Johnston McCulley 1919 American English
4393 The Winds Of War Herman Wouk 1971 American English
4437 Native Funk & Flash Alexandra Jacopetti 1974 American English
4461 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender 2010 American English
4481 Revenge Of The Lawn Richard Brautigan 1971 American English
4493 All The Little Live Things Wallace Stegner 1967 American English
4521 Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki 1970 Japanese English
4539 Stiff Mary Roach 2003 American English
4743 Willard and His Bowling Trophies Richard Brautigan 1975 American English
4751 The Wycherly Woman Ross Macdonald 1961 American English
4752 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English