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
1766 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
2343 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2521 The Happy Prince And Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888 British English
2602 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
2729 Overcoat Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
3035 The Snow Goose Paul Gallico 1941 British English
3065 Tintin In Tibet Hergé 1960 Belgian French
3217 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
3323 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
4492 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4630 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
4794 The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht 1943 German German
5099 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5256 Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5341 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5493 All Creatures Great And Small James Herriot 1972 British English
5860 At The Back Of The North Wind George MacDonald 1871 Scottish English
6002 Tous N'étaient Pas Des Anges Joseph Kessel 1970 French French
6535 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6652 Beauty Salon Mario Bellatin 1994 Mexican Spanish
7215 Christmas Stories Charles Dickens 1852 British English
7670 The One And Only Ivan Katherine Applegate 2012 American English
7816 In My Hands Irene Opdyke 1999 American English
8340 Platform Sutra Huineng 713 Chinese Chinese
8391 Eventide Kent Haruf 2004 American English
9040 A Simple Path Mother Teresa 1995 Unknown English
9564 Les Naufragés Patrick Declerck 2001 French French
10234 In Love With The World Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Helen Tworkov 2019 Unknown English
10390 Zhaun Falun Li Hongzhi 1992 Chinese Chinese
10640 Poonachi Perumal Murugan 2016 Indian Tamil
10995 City Of Joy Dominique Lapierre 1985 French French
11106 The Healer's War Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1988 American English
13359 Gulistan Saadi 1258 Gulistan Persian
13599 La Maternelle Léon Frapié 1904 French French
13728 Oscar And The Lady In Pink Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2002 French French
13923 The Buddha And His Religion J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire 1860 French French
14519 Awakening Joy James Baraz 2010 American English
14760 The Nazarene Sholem Asch 1939 Polish Yiddish
14983 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
14983 Age Of Iron J. M. Coetzee 1990 South African English
14983 The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down Haemin Sunim 2012 Korean Korean
14983 A Psalm For The Wild Built Becky Chambers 2021 American English
15653 Abbé Pierre Jay William Hudson 1922 Unknown Unknown
15678 Places Where I’ve Done Time William Saroyan American English
15738 "Les Misérables" De Victor Hugo Henri Scepi 1862 French French
15802 A Christmas Carol / The Chimes / The Cricket On The Hearth Charles Dickens 1843 British English
15897 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian
15897 A Guide To The Bodhisattva Way Of Life Santideva 700 Indian Sanskrit
15897 A Fortunate Man John Berger 1967 American English
16583 The Last Leaf O. Henry 1907 American English
16720 Os Miseráveis 2 Victor Hugo 1862 French French
17114 Taking the World in for Repairs Richard Selzer 1986 American English
17114 Christy Catherine Marshall 1967 American English
17114 The Book Of Joy Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho 2016 Tibetan English
17114 With The End In Mind Kathryn Mannix 2017 British English
16874 The Complete Fairy Tales Of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde 1908 Irish English
17114 I Was A Stranger Sir John Winthrop Hackett 1977 Irish Unknown
17114 A Dresser Of Sycamore Trees Garret Keizer 1991 American English
17114 Simone Weil Simone Weil 1986 French French
17114 Eternal Treblinka Charles Patterson 2002 American English
16884 Dear And Glorious Physician Taylor Caldwell 1959 American English
17114 The Flowers Of War Yan Geling 2006 Chinese Chinese
16944 Buddha Osamu Tezuka 1972 Japanese Japanese
17114 The Day The World Came To Town Jim DeFede 2002 American English
17114 Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar Luis Sepúlveda 1996 Chilean Spanish
17114 Library Lion Michelle Knudsen 2006 American English
17092 Pied Piper Nevil Shute 1942 British English
17114 The Book Of Virtues William Bennett 1993 American English
17114 Misericórdia Lídia Jorge Portuguese Portuguese
17114 A Sick Day For Amos Mc Gee Philip Stead 2010 American English
17114 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17114 The Wrong End Of The Telescope Rabih Alameddine 2021 American English
16763 And Walk In Love Henrietta Buckmaster 1956 American English
17114 Alfie & Me Carl Safina 2023 Unknown English
17114 The Vulnerables Sigrid Nunez 2023 American Unknown
17114 The People’s Hospital Ricardo Nuila 2023 Unknown English
17114 Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind Molly McGhee 2023 Unknown English
17114 The Mastery Of Love Don Miguel Ruiz 1999 Mexican English
17114 Running With Sherman Chris McDougall 2019 American English
17114 Doctor De Soto William Steig 1982 American English
17114 Gossamer Lois Lowry 2006 American English
17114 A New Earth Eckhart Tolle 2005 Canadian English
17114 Traditional Buddhist Mind Training: Essential Mind Training Thupten Jinpa Tibetan English
17114 The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice And Tribal Wisdom Joan Halifax 1993 American English
17114 The Complete Malazan Book Of The Fallen Steven Erikson Canadian English
17114 Soul Boom Rainn Wilson 2023 American English
17114 All Star Superman, Vol. 2 Grant Morrison 2009 British English
17114 Always Remember Charlie Mackesy British English
17114 The Ogress And The Orphans Kelly Barnhill 2022 American English
17114 Jesus Tales Romulus Linney 1983 American English