The Greatest Books of All Time on Classics

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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
17161 Through A Glass, Darkly Helen McCloy 1950 American English
17161 Paper Lion George Plimpton 1966 American English
17161 The Summer Game Roger Angell 1972 American English
17161 The Golf Omnibus P. G. Wodehouse 1966 British English
17103 The Harder They Fall Budd Schulberg 1947 American English
17161 The Penguin Book Of Japanese Short Stories Jay Rubin 2018 Japanese English
17161 High Art Rubem Fonseca 1983 Brazilian Portuguese
17161 Showdown Jorge Amado 1984 Brazilian Unknown
17161 Dalen Portland Kjartan Fløgstad 1977 Norwegian Norwegian
17161 Juoksuhaudantie Kari Hotakainen 2002 Finnish Finnish
17161 The Penguin Book Of First World War Poetry George Walter 1979 British English
17156 La Dama Del Alba Casona, Alejandro 1947 Spanish Spanish
17161 The Complete Tales Beatrix Potter 1986 British English
17161 Guess How Much I Love You Sam McBratney 2007 British English
17161 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17161 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17161 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17161 The Expendable Man Dorothy B. Hughes 1963 American English
17161 The Tremor Of Forgery Patricia Highsmith 1969 American English
17161 The Long Shadow Celia Fremlin 1975 British English
17161 جای خالی سلوچ Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 1979 Iranian Persian
16921 Family Happiness And Other Stories Leo Tolstoy 1973 Russian Russian
17115 Vis And Ramin Fakhraddin Gorgani 1048 Persian Persian
17140 Pied Piper Nevil Shute 1942 British English
17161 Barlaam And Josaphat Gui de Cambrai 2014 French Old french
17161 Bark, George Jules Feiffer 1999 American English
17161 A Chair For My Mother Vera B. Williams 1982 American English
17161 George And Martha James Marshall 1972 American English
17161 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17161 The Tales Of Uncle Remus Julius Lester 1987 American English
17161 The Oxford Book Of American Short Stories Joyce Carol Oates 1992 American English
17161 The Neighbors Ahmad Mahmoud 1974 Unknown Persian
17161 The Third Man And Other Stories Graham Greene 2011 British English
17161 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17161 Funeral Games Mary Renault 1981 British English
17161 The Praise Singer Mary Renault 1978 British English
16806 Winter Quarters Alfred Duggan 1956 British English
17161 Augustus Allan Massie 1986 British English
17161 Tiberius Allan Massie 1991 British English
17161 The Young Caesar Rex Warner 1958 British English
17161 The Heirs Of The Kingdom Zoe Oldenbourg 1970 French French
17161 The Agony And The Ecstacy Irving Stone 1961 American English
16806 Hannah Fowler Janice Giles 1956 American English
16806 Shadow Of The Moon M.M. Kaye 1956 British English
16806 The Heike Story Eiji Yoshikawa 1956 Japanese Japanese
17006 Astoria Washington Irving 1835 American English
17161 Emperor Of Rome Mary Beard 2023 British English
16900 Attack Upon Christendom Soren Kierkegaard 1944 Danish Danish
17161 The Golem Isaac Bashevis Singer 1969 Unknown English
17161 How Like An Angel Margaret Millar 1962 Canadian English
17161 Memoirs Pablo Neruda 1974 Chilean Spanish
17161 Take A Girl Like You Kingsley Amis 1960 British English
17161 Ways Of Escape Graham Greene 1971 British English
16930 The Grasshopper Anton Chekhov 1892 Russian Russian
17161 Subtly Worded Teffi 2014 Russian Russian
17161 Lancelot Walker Percy 1977 American English
17161 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Sebastian Lloyd Alexander 1970 American English
17161 Ramona And Her Mother Beverly Cleary 1979 American English
17161 A House Is A House For Me Mary Ann Hoberman 1978 American English
17161 Saint Joan Of The Stockyards Bertolt Brecht 1931 German German
17161 Romance Of The Western Chamber Wang Shifu 1200 Chinese Chinese
17161 Katalin Street Magda Szabó 1969 Hungarian Hungarian
17161 Angel Of Oblivion Maja Haderlap 2011 Austrian German
17161 Selected Writings Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
17161 Six Early Stories Thomas Mann 1997 German German
17161 The Adventures Of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom Ignacy Krasicki 1776 Polish Polish
17161 Sweeney Astray Seamus Heaney 1983 Irish English
17161 One Way Or Another Leonardo Sciascia 1974 Italian Italian
17161 The History Of Italy Francesco Guicciardini 1540 Italian Italian
17012 Hill Jean Giono 1928 French English
16994 The Other Side Alfred Kubin 1909 Austrian English
17161 Maya Angelou Maya Angelou 1994 American Unknown
17111 The Mad Scientists' Club Bertrand R. Brinley 1961 American English
16978 Ibn Fadlān And The Land Of Darkness Ahmad ibn Fadlān 921 Unknown Arabic
17161 The Walking Drum Louis L'Amour 1984 American English
17071 Manhã Submersa Vergílio Ferreira 1953 Portuguese Portuguese
17126 The Relic Eça de Queirós 1887 Portuguese Portuguese
17082 A Horseman In The Sky Ambrose Bierce 1898 American English
16903 Cape Cod Henry David Thoreau 1865 American English
17161 रश्मिरथी Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' 1981 Indian Hindi
17161 Of Consolation To Helvia Seneca 2042 Roman English
17161 The Magpie At Night Li Qingzhao Chinese Chinese
17161 What Dreams May Come Richard Matheson 1978 American English
16871 The Heart Of A Dog Mikhail Bulgakov 1925 Russian Russian
17161 The Silence Of The Lambs And Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1991 American Unknown
16898 The Brothers Karmazov Dostoevsky, Fyodor 1880 Russian Russian
16944 The Sorrows Of A Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 German German
16934 Elevul Dima Dintr A Vii A Mihail Drumeş 1946 Romanian Romanian
17161 The Polar Express Chris Van Allsburg 1985 American English
17161 Watermark Joseph Brodsky 1989 Unknown English
16956 The Anarchist Cookbook William Powell 1971 American English
17091 Mémoires D'hadrien, Carnets De Notes De Mémoires D'hadrien Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
16906 Il Male Oscuro Berto, Giuseppe 1964 Italian Italian
17122 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
16842 Fenitschka/Deviations Dorothee Krahn 1898 German English
16916 The Outlaw Of Torn Edgar Rice Burroughs 1914 American English
17161 Peepo! Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg 1981 British English
16963 1984 george orwell 1948 British English
17161 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
17145 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1605 Spanish Spanish
17161 Todos Os Contos Clarice Lispector 2015 Brazilian Portuguese
17161 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
17051 Rebellion Joseph Roth 1924 Austrian German
17161 Lettere A Lucilio Seneca 2064 Roman Italian
17070 The Fellowship Of The Ring J. R. R. Tolkien 1954 English English
17101 1984 George Orwell 1948 British English