The Greatest Contemporary Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
13969 The Birds Of The Innocent Wood Deirdre Madden 1988 Irish English
13970 Mormor Gråter Och Andra Texter Jonas Gardell 1993 Swedish Swedish
13991 Eureka Street Robert McLiam Wilson 1996 Irish English
13971 Hotel World Ali Smith 2001 British English
13971 Citrus County John Brandon 2010 American English
13971 The Radleys Matt Haig 2010 British English
13986 I'm Dying Laughing Christina Stead 1986 Australian English
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
13971 Book Of Mutter Kate Zambreno 2017 American English
14008 The Ordinary Seaman Francisco Goldman 1997 American English
14011 Emperor Of The Air Ethan Canin 1988 American English
14025 Miss New India Bharati Mukherjee 2011 American English
14025 My New American Life Francine Prose 2011 American English
14025 Pigeon English Stephen Kelman 2011 British English
14025 2030 Albert Brooks 2011 American English
14025 Heart Berries Terese Marie Mailhot 2018 Canadian English
14042 Surrogate City Hugo Hamilton 1990 Irish Unknown
14051 Pigs in Heaven Barbara Kingsolver 1993 American English
14051 The Rosie Effect Graeme Simsion 2014 Australian English
14058 The Case Of Dr Sachs Martin Winckler 1998 French French
14068 Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Raymond Carver 1976 American English
14076 The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel 2008 American English
14078 The Seven Necessary Sins For Women And Girls Mona Eltahawy 2019 American English
14098 Why We Took The Car Wolfgang Herrndorf 2010 German German
14104 Los Días Azules Fernando Vallejo 2020 Colombian Spanish
14107 The Game That Ended Us Fe Esperanza Trampe Filipino Filipino
14113 The Man Who Saw Everything Deborah Levy 2019 British English
14122 Turtles All The Way Down John Green 2017 American English
14168 This Is How It Always Is Laurie Frankel 2017 American English
14173 Wife Bharati Mukherjee 1975 Indian English
14176 Black Tickets Jayne Anne Phillips 1979 American English
14232 We Should All Be Feminists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2014 Nigerian English
14232 In Custody Anita Desai 1984 Indian English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
14232 The Imperfectionists Tom Rachman 2010 British English
14232 Last Night At The Telegraph Club Malinda Lo 2021 American English
14232 Bride Ali Hazelwood 2024 Unknown English
14232 Annie Bot Sierra Greer 2024 Unknown English
14342 The Circle Dave Eggers 2013 American English
14345 Reading In The Dark Seamus Deane 1996 Irish English
14347 Fortune Smiles Adam Johnson 2015 American English
14359 How Far Can You Go? David Lodge 1980 British English
14370 Allegro Pastell Leif Randt 2020 German German
14375 We Are Here To Hurt Each Other Paula D. Ashe 2022 Unknown English
14382 Simple Marie-Aude Murail 2004 French French
14398 Writers & Lovers Lily King 2020 American English
14399 Bye Bye Blondie Virginie Despentes 2004 French French
14402 28 Summers Elin Hilderbrand 2020 American English
14425 The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes Tatiana Țîbuleac 2016 Moldovan Romanian
14434 Train Pete Dexter 2003 American English
14450 A Spool Of Blue Thread Anne Tyler 2015 American English
14485 Mislaid Nell Zink 2015 American English
14491 Every Summer After Carley Fortune 2022 Canadian English
14519 Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara Frank O'Hara 1971 American English
14519 A Spot Of Bother Mark Haddon 2006 British English
14541 The Children Carolina Sanin 2016 Colombian Spanish
14547 Queenie Candice Carty-Williams 2019 British English
14598 The Hairdresser Of Harare Tendai Huchu 2010 Zimbabwean English
14598 Our Story Begins Tobias Wolff 2008 American English
14628 Five Steps To Happy Ella Dove 2019 British English
14641 Somos Luces Abismales Carolina Sanin 2018 Colombian Spanish
14644 Love And Sleep Sean O'Reilly 2002 Unknown Unknown
14649 Searching for Caleb Anne Tyler 1975 American English
14649 The Green Knight Iris Murdoch 1993 British English
14649 I Would Have Saved Them If I Could Leonard Michaels 1975 American English
14666 The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson 2010 British English
14674 An Orphan World Giuseppe Caputo 2019 Colombian Spanish
14693 The Parts Keith Ridgway 2003 Irish English
14697 The Doctor's Wife Brian Moore 1976 British English
14697 Radiance Of Tomorrow Ishmael Beah 2014 American English
14730 I, etcetera Susan Sontag 1978 American English
14730 The Changeling Joy Williams 1978 American English
14826 Bad Habit Alana S. Portero Unknown Unknown
14831 Listen To The Warm Rod McKuen 1967 American English
14984 Going Native Stephen Wright 1994 American English
14984 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Jon McGregor 2002 British English
14984 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Wells Tower 2009 American English
14984 Injury Time Beryl Bainbridge 1977 British English
14984 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
14984 Practical Magic Alice Hoffman 1995 American English
14984 A Home at the End of the World Michael Cunningham 1990 American English
14984 Lucy Jamaica Kincaid 1990 Antiguan English
14984 South of the Border, West of the Sun Haruki Murakami 1992 Japanese Japanese
14984 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
14984 Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue 2016 Cameroonian English
14984 Call Me Zebra Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi 2018 American English
14984 Sea Monsters Chloe Aridjis 2019 British English
14984 Lila Marilynne Robinson 2014 American English
14984 Everything Inside Edwidge Danticat 2019 Haitian English
14984 Brazzaville Beach William Boyd 1990 British English
14984 The Folding Star Alan Hollinghurst 1994 British English
14984 The Children's Bach Helen Garner 1984 Australian English
14984 The Forgotten Waltz Anne Enright 2011 Irish English
14984 A Little Devil In America Hanif Abdurraqib 2021 American English
14984 Olive, Again Elizabeth Strout 2019 American English
14984 Wittgenstein Jr. Lars Iyer 2014 British English
14984 The Unnamed Joshua Ferris 2010 American English
14984 How To Read The Air Dinaw Mengestu 2010 American English
14984 The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller 2021 American English
14984 Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman 2015 American English
14984 Razorblade Tears S. A. Cosby 2021 American English
14984 Earthlings Sayaka Murata 2023 Japanese Japanese
14984 The Travelling Cat Chronicles Hiro Arikawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
14984 Elon Musk Walter Isaacson 2023 American English
14984 Long Bright River Liz Moore 2020 American English
14984 The Duke Who Didn't Courtney Milan 2020 American English
14984 You Had Me At Hola Alexis Daria 2020 American English
14984 Icebreaker Hannah Grace 2022 Unknown English
14984 Love In The Big City Sang Young Park 2019 Korean Korean
14984 Welcome To The Hyunam Dong Bookshop Hwang Bo-reum 2022 Unknown Korean
14984 Mussel Feast Birgit Vanderbeke 1990 German German
14984 The End Of Loneliness Benedict Wells 2016 German German
14984 The Girls Emma Cline 2016 American English
14984 The Glass Hotel Emily St John Mandel 2020 Canadian English
14984 Strange Weather In Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami 2001 Japanese Japanese
14984 Crossroads Jonathan Franzen 2021 American English
14984 Purity Jonathan Franzen 2015 American English
14984 Shred Sisters Betsy Lerner 2024 Unknown English
14984 Memory Piece Lisa Ko 2024 Unknown English
14984 Margo's Got Money Troubles Rufi Thorpe 2024 American English