The Greatest Contemporary and Family Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
155 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
171 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth 1969 American English
174 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
210 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
213 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
235 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
242 The World According to Garp John Irving 1978 American English
264 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
277 Herzog Saul Bellow 1964 American English
279 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
315 White Noise Don DeLillo 1985 American English
318 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
320 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever 1978 American English
326 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
339 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
341 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
361 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
375 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
442 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
506 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
513 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
551 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
561 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
613 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
618 Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga 1988 Zimbabwean English
634 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
641 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich 1984 American English
653 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
662 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
667 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 American English
686 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
780 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
784 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
793 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
829 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
835 The Time Of The Doves Merce Rodoreda 1962 Spanish Catalan
863 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
865 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
944 The Women of Brewster Place Gloria Naylor 1982 American English
946 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
951 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
965 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
975 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
977 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1007 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1039 Franny and Zooey J. D. Salinger 1961 American English
1044 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
1051 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1083 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1103 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1110 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Anne Tyler 1982 American English
1137 Oranges are not the only Fruit Jeanette Winterson 1985 British English
1141 Corregidora Gayl Jones 1975 American English
1160 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1190 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1195 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
1233 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 American English
1245 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1281 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1307 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
1310 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
1341 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1431 Terug naar Oegstgeest Jan Wolkers 1965 Dutch Dutch
1433 Waiting Ha Jin 1999 Chinese English
1445 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
1459 The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi 1990 British English
1482 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1496 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1509 Freedom Jonathan Franzen 2010 American English
1556 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
1574 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
1583 Childhood Nathalie Sarraute 1983 French French
1586 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
1629 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1644 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealander English
1659 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
1773 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
1796 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
1853 NW Zadie Smith 2012 British English
1864 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1865 Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro 1978 Canadian English
1880 Halbzeit Martin Walser 1960 German German
1883 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
1921 Girl With Green Eyes Edna O'Brien 1962 Irish English
1937 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
1958 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2022 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2023 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2087 Eva Trout Elizabeth Bowen 1968 Irish English
2100 Garden, Ashes Danilo Kiš 1965 Serbian Serbo-croatian
2132 Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Mario Vargas Llosa 1977 Peruvian Spanish
2140 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
2262 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
2265 No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 1967 British English
2371 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2377 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
2437 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
2464 The Virgin in the Garden A. S. Byatt 1978 British English
2489 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2495 Surfacing Margaret Atwood 1972 Canadian English
2498 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
2592 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2608 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
2627 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
2641 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2667 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie 2007 American English
2674 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2698 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2733 The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht 2011 Serbian English
2735 Family Life Akhil Sharma 2014 Indian English
2762 Room Emma Donoghue 2010 Irish English
2793 The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver 1988 American English
2801 Last Days of Summer Steve Kluger 1998 American English
2848 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2856 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2994 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2995 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English
3088 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
3093 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3113 Kitchen Banana Yoshimoto 1988 Japanese Japanese