The Greatest Books of All Time on Community

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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
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
60 Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe 1958 Nigerian English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
160 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
181 Light in August William Faulkner 1932 American English
224 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
260 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
274 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
391 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather 1927 American English
430 The Bridge on the Drina Ivo Andrić 1945 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
540 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
594 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
625 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
690 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
693 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
733 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English
767 The Tree of Man Patrick White 1955 Australian English
768 A Glastonbury Romance John Cowper Powys 1932 British English
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
813 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell 1851 British English
847 Only Yesterday Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1945 Israeli Hebrew
854 Cane Jean Toomer 1923 American English
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
866 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
879 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
887 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
957 The Little World Of Don Camillo Giovanni Guareschi 1948 Italian Italian
980 News from Nowhere William Morris 1890 British English
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1002 Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko 1977 American English
1007 The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs 1961 American English
1032 In The Heart Of The Seas Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1938 Israeli Hebrew
1043 Danny The Champion Of The World Roald Dahl 1975 British English
1072 Gösta Berling's Saga Selma Lagerlöf 1891 Swedish Swedish
1073 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
1077 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee 1959 British English
1097 My Name Is Aram William Saroyan 1940 American English
1119 The Street Ann Petry 1946 American English
1143 Tevye The Dairyman And The Railroad Stories Sholem Aleichem 1894 Jewish Yiddish
1188 The Quest for Community Robert Nisbet 1953 American English
1262 Maud Martha Gwendolyn Brooks 1953 American English
1287 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1293 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
1321 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1328 Parable Of The Sower Octavia E. Butler 1993 American English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1385 The Bell Iris Murdoch 1958 British English
1428 The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett 1896 American English
1457 Deliver Us Luigi Meneghello 1963 Italian Italian
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
1498 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
1513 The Women of Brewster Place Gloria Naylor 1982 American English
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1615 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
1633 In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1968 American English
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1654 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1662 Down Second Avenue Es'kia Mphahlele 1959 South African English
1670 The Emigrants Vilhelm Moberg 1949 Swedish Swedish
1687 The Hearing Trumpet Leonora Carrington 1974 British English
1710 The Peasants Władysław Reymont 1904 Polish Polish
1716 Lake Wobegon Days Garrison Keillor 1985 American English
1751 NW Zadie Smith 2012 British English
1752 Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward 2013 American English
1769 Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas 1954 British English
1771 Stone Butch Blues Leslie Feinberg 1993 American English
1797 Texaco Patrick Chamoiseau 1992 Martinican French
1814 Christ Recrucified Nikos Kazantzakis 1948 Greek Greek
1837 Jaws Peter Benchley 1974 American English
1885 Little Disturbances Grace Paley 1959 American English
1971 Parable of the Talents Octavia E. Butler 1998 American English
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
1985 Black Elk Speaks John G. Neihardt 1932 American English
1996 A Childhood Harry Crews 1978 American English
2014 A Journal Of The Plague Year Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
2031 The Devil's Pool George Sand 1846 French French
2055 Satan In Goray Isaac Bashevis Singer 1935 Polish Yiddish
2069 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
2074 Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson 1994 American English
2094 Derborence Charles Ferdinand Ramuz 1934 Swiss French
2097 The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver 1988 American English
2104 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
2134 Farewell To Matyora Valentin Rasputin 1976 Russian Russian
2139 Shadows on the Rock Willa Cather 1931 American English
2165 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2206 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2230 The Cathedral Folk Nikolai Leskov 1872 Russian Russian
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
2267 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2283 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 British English
2288 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
2305 Stockholm series Per Anders Fogelström 1960 Swedish Swedish
2330 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
2336 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2343 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2350 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2392 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2399 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2408 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2438 Puckoon Spike Milligan 1963 Irish English
2442 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn 1939 British English
2459 Lark Rise To Candleford Flora Thompson 1945 British English
2491 A Lesson Before Dying Ernest J. Gaines 1993 American English