The Greatest Books of All Time on Compassion

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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
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
366 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Victor Hugo 1831 French French
460 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
846 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
1767 The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1771 British English
1807 Beware Of Pity Stefan Zweig 1939 Austrian German
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
2345 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2523 The Happy Prince And Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888 British English
2603 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
2730 Overcoat Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
3039 The Snow Goose Paul Gallico 1941 British English
3068 Tintin In Tibet Hergé 1960 Belgian French
3219 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3589 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
3637 The Invisible Flag Peter Bamm 1952 German German
3637 Krambambuli Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1901 Austrian German
3637 The Burnt Offering Albrecht Goes 1955 German German
3637 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3637 Caspar Hauser Or The Inertia Of The Heart Jakob Wassermann 1908 German German
4067 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
4207 The Case Worker György Konrád 1969 Hungarian Hungarian
4268 Sevastopol Sketches Leo Tolstoy 1855 Russian Russian
4378 Heart Edmondo de Amicis 1886 Italian Italian
4493 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4631 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
4795 The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht 1943 German German
5102 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5258 Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5343 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5495 All Creatures Great And Small James Herriot 1972 British English
5863 At The Back Of The North Wind George MacDonald 1871 Scottish English
6005 Tous N'étaient Pas Des Anges Joseph Kessel 1970 French French
6537 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6654 Beauty Salon Mario Bellatin 1994 Mexican Spanish
7216 Christmas Stories Charles Dickens 1852 British English
7672 The One And Only Ivan Katherine Applegate 2012 American English
7817 In My Hands Irene Opdyke 1999 American English
8342 Platform Sutra Huineng 713 Chinese Chinese
8394 Eventide Kent Haruf 2004 American English
9044 A Simple Path Mother Teresa 1995 Unknown English
9569 Les Naufragés Patrick Declerck 2001 French French
10240 In Love With The World Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Helen Tworkov 2019 Unknown English
10395 Zhaun Falun Li Hongzhi 1992 Chinese Chinese
10646 Poonachi Perumal Murugan 2016 Indian Tamil
11001 City Of Joy Dominique Lapierre 1985 French French
11112 The Healer's War Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1988 American English
13362 Gulistan Saadi 1258 Gulistan Persian
13600 La Maternelle Léon Frapié 1904 French French
13729 Oscar And The Lady In Pink Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2002 French French
13924 The Buddha And His Religion J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire 1860 French French
14520 Awakening Joy James Baraz 2010 American English
14757 The Nazarene Sholem Asch 1939 Polish Yiddish
14985 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
14985 Age Of Iron J. M. Coetzee 1990 South African English
14985 The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down Haemin Sunim 2012 Korean Korean
14985 A Psalm For The Wild Built Becky Chambers 2021 American English
15661 Abbé Pierre Jay William Hudson 1922 Unknown Unknown
15686 Places Where I’ve Done Time William Saroyan American English
15746 "Les Misérables" De Victor Hugo Henri Scepi 1862 French French
15820 A Christmas Carol / The Chimes / The Cricket On The Hearth Charles Dickens 1843 British English
15914 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian
15914 A Guide To The Bodhisattva Way Of Life Santideva 700 Indian Sanskrit
15914 A Fortunate Man John Berger 1967 American English
16609 The Last Leaf O. Henry 1907 American English
16746 Os Miseráveis 2 Victor Hugo 1862 French French
17159 Taking the World in for Repairs Richard Selzer 1986 American English
17159 Christy Catherine Marshall 1967 American English
17159 The Book Of Joy Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho 2016 Tibetan English
17159 With The End In Mind Kathryn Mannix 2017 British English
16913 The Complete Fairy Tales Of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde 1908 Irish English
17159 I Was A Stranger Sir John Winthrop Hackett 1977 Irish Unknown
17159 A Dresser Of Sycamore Trees Garret Keizer 1991 American English
17159 Simone Weil Simone Weil 1986 French French
17159 Eternal Treblinka Charles Patterson 2002 American English
16943 Dear And Glorious Physician Taylor Caldwell 1959 American English
17159 The Flowers Of War Yan Geling 2006 Chinese Chinese
16880 The Keys Of The Kingdom A. J. Cronin 1941 British English
17001 Buddha Osamu Tezuka 1972 Japanese Japanese
17159 The Day The World Came To Town Jim DeFede 2002 American English
17159 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17159 Library Lion Michelle Knudsen 2006 American English
17119 Pied Piper Nevil Shute 1942 British English
17159 The Book Of Virtues William Bennett 1993 American English
17159 Misericórdia Lídia Jorge Portuguese Portuguese
17159 A Sick Day For Amos Mc Gee Philip Stead 2010 American English
17159 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17159 The Wrong End Of The Telescope Rabih Alameddine 2021 American English
16805 And Walk In Love Henrietta Buckmaster 1956 American English
17159 Alfie & Me Carl Safina 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Vulnerables Sigrid Nunez 2023 American Unknown
17159 The People’s Hospital Ricardo Nuila 2023 Unknown English
17159 Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind Molly McGhee 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Mastery Of Love Don Miguel Ruiz 1999 Mexican English
17159 Running With Sherman Chris McDougall 2019 American English
17159 Doctor De Soto William Steig 1982 American English
17159 Gossamer Lois Lowry 2006 American English
17159 A New Earth Eckhart Tolle 2005 Canadian English
17159 Traditional Buddhist Mind Training: Essential Mind Training Thupten Jinpa Tibetan English
17159 The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice And Tribal Wisdom Joan Halifax 1993 American English
17159 The Complete Malazan Book Of The Fallen Steven Erikson Canadian English
17159 Soul Boom Rainn Wilson 2023 American English
17159 All Star Superman, Vol. 2 Grant Morrison 2009 British English
17159 Always Remember Charlie Mackesy British English
17159 The Ogress And The Orphans Kelly Barnhill 2022 American English
17159 Jesus Tales Romulus Linney 1983 American English
17159 Buddhadharma anonymous Unknown Unknown