The Greatest Contemporary 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 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
7211 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton 2018 Australian English
7215 Retreat From Love Colette 1936 French French
7215 Man's Hope Andre Malraux 1937 French French
7215 Wolf Solent John Cowper Powys 1929 British English
7215 H. M. Pulham, Esquire John P. Marquand 1941 American English
7215 Lead Us Into Temptation Breandán Ó hEithir 1976 Irish English
7215 Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane 1974 Australian English
7215 The Bloater Rosemary Tonks 1968 English English
7215 The Long View Elizabeth Jane Howard 1956 British English
7639 The Sermon On The Fall Of Rome Jerome Ferrari 2012 French French
7689 Birnam Wood Eleanor Catton 2023 New Zealand English
7734 Stag Dance Torrey Peters 2025 American English
7742 Flesh David Szalay 2025 British English
7752 Another Marvelous Thing Laurie Colwin 1986 American English
7780 The Pairing Casey McQuiston 2024 Unknown English
7787 Cold Enough For Snow Jessica Au 2022 Australian English
7806 Lick Kylie Scott 2013 Australian English
7831 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
7844 The Accidental Ali Smith 2005 British English
7850 Paula Spencer Roddy Doyle 2006 Irish English
7854 Heart, Be At Peace Donal Ryan 2024 Unknown English
7860 World Enough And Time Robert Penn Warren 1950 American English
7876 Baumgartner Paul Auster 2023 American English
7890 Love Toni Morrison 2003 American English
7944 Death In Summer William Trevor 1998 Irish English
7956 The House Gun Nadine Gordimer 1997 South African English
8021 Loved And Missed Susie Boyt 2023 British English
8064 Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby Van Pelt 2022 American English
8066 Bunny Mona Awad 2019 Canadian English
8075 The Blackwater Lightship Colm Toibin 1999 Irish English
8094 Molly Fox’s Birthday Deirdre Madden 2008 Irish English
8154 Crush Richard Siken 2005 American English
8167 One Day In December Josie Silver 2018 British English
8169 A Long Way Down Nick Hornby 2005 British English
8266 Before I Let Go Kennedy Ryan 2022 American English
8266 Honey And Spice Bolu Babalola 2022 British English
8266 The Dead Romantics Ashley Poston 2022 American English
8266 You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty Akwaeke Emezi 2022 Nigerian English
8266 The Bodyguard Katherine Center 2022 American English
8276 Solace Belinda McKeon 2011 Irish English
8344 Swing Time Zadie Smith 2016 British English
8392 Eventide Kent Haruf 2004 American English
8394 Audition Katie Kitamura 2025 Unknown English
8425 Sad Tiger Neige Sinno 2023 Unknown French
8426 She Said Jodi Kantor 2019 American English
8429 Heart The Lover Lily King 2025 Unknown English
8439 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8443 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8443 Der Geliebte Der Mutter Urs Widmer 2000 Swiss German
8501 Collected Poems Jane Kenyon 2005 American English
8520 The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible Rabih Alameddine 2025 American English
8548 Coffee Boy Austin Chant 2016 Unknown English
8561 Open Lisa Moore 2002 Canadian English
8564 Witness Jamel Brinkley 2023 American English
8601 Small Rain Garth Greenwell 2024 Unknown English
8630 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman 2022 American English
8636 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8669 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English
8691 The Discomfort Of Evening Lucas Rijneveld 2018 Dutch Dutch
8695 Too Much Lip Melissa Lucashenko 2018 Australian English
8713 Gifted Patrick Evans 2010 New Zealand English
8722 King Of Ashes S. A. Cosby 2025 Unknown English
8727 It Happened One Summer Tessa Bailey 2021 American English
8735 The End Of Eddy Édouard Louis 2014 French French
8750 Running Away Jean-Philippe Toussaint 2005 French French
8788 Bittersweet Philip Lee 2001 Canadian English
8796 It Happened One Wedding Julie James 2014 American English
8844 Our Kids Robert D. Putnam 2015 American English
8845 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8851 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
8855 What You Are Looking For Is In The Library Michiko Aoyama 2020 Japanese Japanese
8870 When Katie Met Cassidy Camille Perri 2018 American English
8866 Death Of The Author Nnedi Okorafor 2025 Unknown English
8880 I'll Go To Bed At Noon Gerard Woodward 2004 British English
8902 Blackouts Justin Torres 2023 Unknown English
8907 Carreteras Secundarias Ignacio Martínez de Pisón 1996 Spanish Spanish
8915 All Grown Up Jami Attenberg 2017 American English
8943 Wolf in White Van John Darnielle 2014 American English
8952 Family Lore Elizabeth Acevedo 2023 Unknown English
9007 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9019 Love Hanne Ørstavik 1997 Norwegian Norwegian
9046 The Rachel Incident Caroline O'Donoghue 2023 Irish English
9057 After The Funeral And Other Stories Tessa Hadley 2023 British English
9079 The Prince Of Broadway Joanna Shupe 2019 American English
9078 Good Material Dolly Alderton 2024 British English
9101 Tilt Emma Pattee 2025 Unknown English
9105 Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy 2025 Unknown English
9106 Happy Place Emily Henry 2023 American English
9114 The Heron Giorgio Bassani 1968 Italian Italian
9127 The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches Sangu Mandanna 2022 British English
9130 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9142 Talk Before Sleep Elizabeth Berg 1994 American English
9143 Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi 2014 British English
9144 Bugs Whiti Hereaka 2013 New Zealand English
9152 My Friend Annie Jane Duncan 1961 Scottish English
9166 The Dying Animal Philip Roth 2001 American English
9178 The Cocktail Collection Alice Clayton 2016 Unknown English
9179 Beautiful Bastard Christina Lauren 2013 American English
9191 Future Sex Emily Witt 2015 American English
9191 Irritable Hearts Mac McClelland 2015 Unknown English
9231 Multitudes Lucy Caldwell 2016 Irish English
9274 Angels Denis Johnson 1983 American English
9287 It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake Claire Christian 2020 Australian English
9287 The Lost And Found Bookshop Susan Wiggs 2020 American English
9287 Spoiler Alert Olivia Dade 2020 American English
9304 Part Of Your World Abby Jimenez 2022 American English
9307 The Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisberger 2003 American English
9315 My Husband Rumena Bužarovska 2020 Macedonian Macedonian
9319 Bright Dead Things Ada Limón 2015 American English
9325 The Road Home Rose Tremain 2007 British English
9345 Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird 2016 New Zealand English
9355 Hard Hitter Sarina Bowen 2017 American English
9372 Oh My God What A Complete Aisling Emer McLysaght, Sarah Breen 2017 Irish English
9560 Zuckerman Unbound Philip Roth 1981 American English
9575 The Queer Principles Of Kit Webb Cat Sebastian 2021 American English
9575 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
9581 Night Sky With Exit Wounds Ocean Vuong 2016 American English
9580 Sweet Home Wendy Erskine 2018 Irish English
9584 The Director Daniel Kehlmann 2023 German English
9599 Perfection Vincenzo Latronico 2022 Italian Italian