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
17064 The Harder They Fall Budd Schulberg 1947 American English
17117 The Penguin Book Of Japanese Short Stories Jay Rubin 2018 Japanese English
17117 High Art Rubem Fonseca 1983 Brazilian Portuguese
17117 Showdown Jorge Amado 1984 Brazilian Unknown
17117 Dalen Portland Kjartan Fløgstad 1977 Norwegian Norwegian
17117 Juoksuhaudantie Kari Hotakainen 2002 Finnish Finnish
17117 The Penguin Book Of First World War Poetry George Walter 1979 British English
17105 La Dama Del Alba Casona, Alejandro 1947 Spanish Spanish
17117 The Complete Tales Beatrix Potter 1986 British English
17117 Guess How Much I Love You Sam McBratney 2007 British English
17117 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17117 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17117 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17117 The Expendable Man Dorothy B. Hughes 1963 American English
17117 The Tremor Of Forgery Patricia Highsmith 1969 American English
17117 The Long Shadow Celia Fremlin 1975 British English
17117 جای خالی سلوچ Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 1979 Iranian Persian
16893 Family Happiness And Other Stories Leo Tolstoy 1973 Russian Russian
17094 Vis And Ramin Fakhraddin Gorgani 1048 Persian Persian
17110 Pied Piper Nevil Shute 1942 British English
17117 Barlaam And Josaphat Gui de Cambrai 2014 French Old french
17117 Bark, George Jules Feiffer 1999 American English
17117 A Chair For My Mother Vera B. Williams 1982 American English
17117 George And Martha James Marshall 1972 American English
17117 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 1977 American English
17117 The Tales Of Uncle Remus Julius Lester 1987 American English
17117 The Oxford Book Of American Short Stories Joyce Carol Oates 1992 American English
17117 The Neighbors Ahmad Mahmoud 1974 Unknown Persian
17117 The Third Man And Other Stories Graham Greene 2011 British English
17117 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17117 Funeral Games Mary Renault 1981 British English
17117 The Praise Singer Mary Renault 1978 British English
16765 Winter Quarters Alfred Duggan 1956 British English
17117 Augustus Allan Massie 1986 British English
17117 Tiberius Allan Massie 1991 British English
17117 The Young Caesar Rex Warner 1958 British English
17117 The Heirs Of The Kingdom Zoe Oldenbourg 1970 French French
17117 The Agony And The Ecstacy Irving Stone 1961 American English
16765 Hannah Fowler Janice Giles 1956 American English
16765 Shadow Of The Moon M.M. Kaye 1956 British English
16765 The Heike Story Eiji Yoshikawa 1956 Japanese Japanese
16915 Astoria Washington Irving 1835 American English
17117 Emperor Of Rome Mary Beard 2023 British English
16883 Attack Upon Christendom Soren Kierkegaard 1944 Danish Danish
17117 The Golem Isaac Bashevis Singer 1969 Unknown English
17117 How Like An Angel Margaret Millar 1962 Canadian English
17117 Memoirs Pablo Neruda 1974 Chilean Spanish
17117 Take A Girl Like You Kingsley Amis 1960 British English
17117 Ways Of Escape Graham Greene 1971 British English
16902 The Grasshopper Anton Chekhov 1892 Russian Russian
17117 Subtly Worded Teffi 2014 Russian Russian
17117 Lancelot Walker Percy 1977 American English
17117 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Sebastian Lloyd Alexander 1970 American English
17117 Ramona And Her Mother Beverly Cleary 1979 American English
17117 A House Is A House For Me Mary Ann Hoberman 1978 American English
17117 Saint Joan Of The Stockyards Bertolt Brecht 1931 German German
17117 Romance Of The Western Chamber Wang Shifu 1200 Chinese Chinese
17117 Katalin Street Magda Szabó 1969 Hungarian Hungarian
17117 Angel Of Oblivion Maja Haderlap 2011 Austrian German
17117 Selected Writings Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
17117 Six Early Stories Thomas Mann 1997 German German
17117 The Adventures Of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom Ignacy Krasicki 1776 Polish Polish
17117 Sweeney Astray Seamus Heaney 1983 Irish English
17117 One Way Or Another Leonardo Sciascia 1974 Italian Italian
17117 The History Of Italy Francesco Guicciardini 1540 Italian Italian
16994 Hill Jean Giono 1928 French English
16930 The Other Side Alfred Kubin 1909 Austrian English
17117 Maya Angelou Maya Angelou 1994 American Unknown
17063 The Mad Scientists' Club Bertrand R. Brinley 1961 American English
16953 Ibn Fadlān And The Land Of Darkness Ahmad ibn Fadlān 921 Unknown Arabic
17117 The Walking Drum Louis L'Amour 1984 American English
17031 Manhã Submersa Vergílio Ferreira 1953 Portuguese Portuguese
17092 The Relic Eça de Queirós 1887 Portuguese Portuguese
17039 A Horseman In The Sky Ambrose Bierce 1898 American English
16857 Cape Cod Henry David Thoreau 1865 American English
17117 रश्मिरथी Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' 1981 Indian Hindi
17117 Of Consolation To Helvia Seneca 2042 Roman English
17117 The Magpie At Night Li Qingzhao Chinese Chinese
17117 What Dreams May Come Richard Matheson 1978 American English
16846 The Heart Of A Dog Mikhail Bulgakov 1925 Russian Russian
17117 The Silence Of The Lambs And Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1991 American Unknown
16855 The Brothers Karmazov Dostoevsky, Fyodor 1880 Russian Russian
16900 The Sorrows Of A Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 German German
16931 Elevul Dima Dintr A Vii A Mihail Drumeş 1946 Romanian Romanian
17117 The Polar Express Chris Van Allsburg 1985 American English
17117 Watermark Joseph Brodsky 1989 Unknown English
16963 The Anarchist Cookbook William Powell 1971 American English
17046 Mémoires D'hadrien, Carnets De Notes De Mémoires D'hadrien Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
16878 Il Male Oscuro Berto, Giuseppe 1964 Italian Italian
17089 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
16798 Fenitschka/Deviations Dorothee Krahn 1898 German English
16851 The Outlaw Of Torn Edgar Rice Burroughs 1914 American English
17117 Peepo! Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg 1981 British English
16947 1984 george orwell 1948 British English
17117 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
17098 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1605 Spanish Spanish
17117 Todos Os Contos Clarice Lispector 2015 Brazilian Portuguese
17117 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
17034 Rebellion Joseph Roth 1924 Austrian German
17117 Lettere A Lucilio Seneca 2064 Roman Italian
16862 Flotsam Erich Maria Remarque 1939 German German
17075 My Theodosia Anya Seton 1941 American English