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
10728 Dirt Poor Islanders Winnie Dunn 2022 Unknown English
10728 Black Butterflies Priscilla Morris 2022 Unknown English
10748 A Perfect Peace Amos Oz 1982 Israeli Hebrew
10774 Reservation Blues Sherman Alexie 1995 American English
10782 Grown Ups Marian Keyes 2020 Irish English
10791 Jane Sexes It Up Merri Lisa Johnson 2002 Unknown English
10808 Laurinda Alice Pung 2014 Australian English
10818 An Untamed State Roxane Gay 2014 American English
10852 Modern Baptists James Wilcox 1983 American English
10852 American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates 1989 American English
10883 A Man In Full (A Novel) Tom Wolfe 1998 American English
10885 My Friends Fredrik Backman 2025 Unknown English
10884 Things We Never Got Over Lucy Score 2022 American English
10889 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10891 The Odd Woman And The City Vivian Gornick 2015 American English
10892 Roman Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown English
10892 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10903 The Drone Eats With Me Atef Abu Saif 2015 Palestinian English
10908 Grief Andrew Holleran 2022 American English
10908 Samedi The Deafness Jesse Ball 2007 American English
10932 Bodies Of Light Jennifer Down 2021 Australian English
10939 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
10975 They Know Not What They Do Jussi Valtonen 2014 Finnish Finnish
10989 Happenstance Carol Shields 1980 Canadian English
11018 Gifted & Talented Olivie Blake 2025 American English
11039 First Time Caller B.K. Borison 2025 Unknown English
11041 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11049 The Lone Pilgrim Laurie Colwin 1981 American English
11047 Black Swan Green David Mitchell 2006 British English
11058 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11072 Your Steps On The Stairs Antonio Muñoz Molina, Curtis Bauer 2019 Spanish English
11078 Heaven Mieko Kawakami 2023 Japanese Japanese
11079 Theory & Practice Michelle de Kretser 2024 Unknown English
11081 Praying for Sheetrock Melissa Fay Greene 1991 American English
11082 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11082 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11130 Imaginary Homelands Salman Rushdie 1991 British English
11162 The Destroyers Christopher Bollen 2017 American English
11164 Foe J. M. Coetzee 1986 South African English
11164 Ordinary People Diana Evans 2018 British English
11198 Woodworking Emily St. James 2025 Unknown English
11205 The Tokyo Suite Bruna Dantas Lobato, Giovana Madalosso 2020 Brazilian English
11215 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11237 Vera, Or Faith Gary Shteyngart 2025 American English
11293 Such A Fun Age Kiley Reid 2019 American English
11302 Run For The Hills Kevin Wilson 2025 Unknown English
11310 Atavists Lydia Millet 2025 American English
11312 Homeseeking Karissa Chen 2025 Unknown English
11313 Bad Art Mother Edwina Preston 2022 Unknown English
11350 The Interestings Meg Wolitzer 2013 American English
11354 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11354 The House Of Youssef Yumna Kassab 2019 Australian English
11361 Une Façon D'aimer Dominique Barbéris 2019 French French
11390 The Immortal Bartfuss Aharon Appelfeld 1988 Israeli Hebrew
11390 Poor Caleb Femi 2020 British English
11422 A Naked Singularity Sergio De La Pava 2008 American English
11429 Girls Out Late Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11452 Elbow Room James Alan McPherson 1977 American English
11476 Someone To Watch Over You Kumi Kimura 2021 Unknown English
11480 Overstaying Ariane Koch 2021 Unknown English
11492 Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson 2019 American English
11497 Hunter Shuang Xuetao 2019 Chinese Chinese
11498 The Thirty Names Of Night Zeyn Joukhadar 2020 Unknown English
11501 State Of Wonder Ann Patchett 2011 American English
11506 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11522 Dial A For Aunties Jesse Q. Sutanto 2021 Indonesian English
11565 Trick Mirror Jia Tolentino 2019 American English
11569 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English
11640 The Colony Annika Norlin, Alice E. Olsson 2023 Swedish English
11642 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11642 Silence Is A Sense Layla AlAmmar 2021 Unknown English
11649 Money To Burn Asta Olivia Nordenhof 2020 Danish Danish
11651 Mammoth Eva Baltasar 2022 Catalan Catalan
11661 The Lay Of The Land Richard Ford 2006 American English
11661 The Female Persuasion Meg Wolitzer 2018 American English
11661 The House Of Broken Angels Luis Alberto Urrea 2018 American English
11661 Lake Success Gary Shteyngart 2018 American English
11661 The Parking Lot Attendant Nafkote Tamirat 2018 American English
11661 Property Lionel Shriver 2018 American English
11661 Pure Hollywood Christine Schutt 2018 American English
11661 A State Of Freedom Neel Mukherjee 2018 British English
11805 The Meursault Investigation Kamel Daoud 2013 Algerian French
11810 Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? Elizabeth Blackburn 2022 Unknown English
11824 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11835 I Gave You Eyes And You Looked Toward Darkness Irene Solà 2023 Unknown Catalan
11855 Mahmoud Ou La Montée Des Eaux Antoine Wauters 2021 Belgian French
11859 Highwire Moon Susan Straight 2001 American English
11878 Sololand Hassan Blasim 2021 Iraqi Arabic
11882 Honor Thrity Umrigar 2022 American English
11882 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11888 The Mac Gregor Brides Nora Roberts 1997 American English
11894 Kinder Than Solitude Yiyun Li 2014 American English
11925 Nineteen Minutes Jodi Picoult 2007 American English
11931 The Land In Winter Andrew Miller 2024 British English
11935 Wolf Bells Leni Zumas 2024 American English
12028 The Heather Blazing Colm Toibin 1992 Irish English
12030 American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld 2008 American English
12048 Windows On The World Frédéric Beigbeder 2003 French French
12066 Discontent Beatriz Serrano, Mara Faye Lethem 2023 Unknown English
12069 Mr. Ibrahim And The Flowers Of The Koran Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2001 French French
12071 When You Listen To This Song Lola Lafon 2022 French French
12075 Great Big Beautiful Life Emily Henry 2025 American English
12080 The Ten Year Affair Erin Somers 2025 Unknown English
12083 Disappearing Acts Terry McMillan 1989 American English
12102 Vantage Point Sara Sligar 2025 Unknown English
12104 Promise Me Sunshine Cara Bastone 2025 Unknown English
12107 Good And Evil And Other Stories Samanta Schweblin 2025 Argentine Spanish
12106 The Ferryman And His Wife Frode Grytten, Alison McCullough 2023 Norwegian English
12105 Dwelling Emily Hunt Kivel 2025 Unknown English
12114 Great Black Hope Rob Franklin 2025 Unknown English
12110 North Sun Ethan Rutherford 2025 Unknown English
12119 Culpability Bruce Holsinger 2025 Unknown English
12122 Songs For The Dead And The Living Sara M. Saleh 2023 Unknown English
12139 August Lane Regina Black 2025 Unknown English
12148 What Girls Learn Karin Cook 1997 American English
12169 Trip Amie Barrodale 2025 American English
12170 Tom's Crossing Mark Z. Danielewski 2025 American English
12173 The Catch Yrsa Daley-Ward 2025 British English
12178 The Centaur John Updike 1963 American English
12181 Pick A Color Souvankham Thammavongsa 2025 Canadian English