The Greatest Dark Humor 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
33 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
350 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1971 American English
362 Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor 1952 American English
467 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
494 The Third Policeman Flann O'Brien 1967 Irish English
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
706 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
750 Money Martin Amis 1984 British English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
1405 The Twits Roald Dahl 1980 British English
1460 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1530 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1584 A Severed Head Iris Murdoch 1961 British English
1674 London Fields Martin Amis 1989 British English
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1992 Headlong Hall Thomas Love Peacock 1816 British English
1994 Fancies And Goodnights John Collier 1951 British English
2084 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2104 Someone Like You Roald Dahl 1953 British English
2208 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2213 Closely Watched Trains Bohumil Hrabal 1965 Czech Czech
2261 Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara 1934 American English
2326 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2504 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
2530 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2849 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2869 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
2980 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English
3037 Manservant And Maidservant Ivy Compton-Burnett 1947 British English
3150 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
3173 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3320 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3322 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3372 The Nazi And The Barber Edgar Hilsenrath 1971 German German
3591 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
4083 No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 1967 British English
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4569 The Rules Of Attraction Bret Easton Ellis 1987 American English
4570 No Kiss For Mother Tomi Ungerer 1973 French English
4607 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4715 Jumping Jenny Anthony Berkeley 1933 British English
5272 Dirty Fred The Captain Jenő Rejtő 1935 Hungarian Hungarian
5334 Jernigan David Gates 1991 American English
5446 The Moscoviad Yuri Andrukhovych 1993 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5529 Fimfárum Jan Werich 1963 Czech Czech
5529 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech
5643 Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson 1964 American English
5702 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
5733 Vernon God Little DBC Pierre 2003 British English
5816 The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Gary Shteyngart 2002 American English
5985 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6151 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6300 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6665 The Gashlycrumb Tinies Edward Gorey 1963 American English
6679 A Fraction Of The Whole Steve Toltz 2008 Australian English
6846 The Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce 1970 American English
6887 The Ginger Man J. P. Donleavy 1955 Irish English
6979 Reuben, Reuben Peter De Vries 1964 American English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
7051 The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt 2011 Canadian English
7093 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
7215 Visions Francisco de Quevedo 1627 Spanish Spanish
7215 A Cool Million Nathanael West 1934 American English
7215 The Bloater Rosemary Tonks 1968 English English
7605 Les Praticiens De L'infernal Pierre La Police 1993 French French
7615 Don't Get Too Comfortable David Rakoff 2005 Canadian English
7844 The Accidental Ali Smith 2005 British English
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7914 The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 2007 American English
8238 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8287 Night They Missed The Horror Show Joe R. Lansdale 1988 American English
8718 Prejudices H. L. Mencken 1919 American English
9111 Cruddy Lynda Barry 1999 American English
9221 The Rachel Papers Martin Amis 1973 British English
9619 We Are Never Meeting In Real Life. Samantha Irby 2017 American English
9652 The Dinner Herman Koch 2009 Dutch Dutch
9761 Show Them A Good Time Nicole Flattery 2019 Irish English
9831 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
9908 Women Charles Bukowski 1978 American English
9927 The Complete Plays Joe Orton 1976 British English
9961 Mailman J. Robert Lennon 2003 American English
10219 Great Granny Webster Caroline Blackwood 1977 English English
10224 The Trees Percival Everett 2021 American English
10631 The New Me Halle Butler 2019 American English
10729 Big Swiss Jen Beagin 2023 American English
10871 Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay 2004 American English
10992 Portable Curiosities Julie Koh 2016 Australian English
11309 Atavists Lydia Millet 2025 American English
11322 By Bizarre Hands Joe R. Lansdale 1989 American English
11612 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11660 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2018 American English
11919 Lake Of Urine Guillermo Stitch 2020 British English
12321 Worsted Garielle Lutz 2025 American English
12376 Haunted Chuck Palahniuk 2005 American English
13148 2016 Sarah Hesketh 2025 Unknown English
13211 Hyperbole And A Half Allie Brosh 2013 American English
13276 The Adversary Michael Crummey 2024 Canadian English
13599 Le Vitriol De La Lune And Le Martyre De L'obèse Henri Béraud French French
14011 The Houseguest Thomas Berger 1988 American English
14093 The Road To Wellville T. Coraghessan Boyle 1993 American English
14518 Dogshit Food Liu Heng 1986 Chinese Unknown
14984 Going Native Stephen Wright 1994 American English
14984 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Wells Tower 2009 American English
14984 God Of Carnage Yasmina Reza 2006 French French
14984 The Lieutenant Of Inishmore Martin McDonagh 2001 Irish English
15680 The Funnies J. Robert Lennon American English
15898 Ending Up Kingsley Amis 1974 British English
15891 God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Kurt Vonnegut 1965 American English
15898 The Dark Philosophers Gwyn Thomas, Simeon 1946 Welsh English
16587 3 By Flannery O'connor Flannery O'Connor 1964 American English
16656 Factotum Charles Bukowski 1975 American English
17120 Take It Or Leave It Raymond Federman 1976 American English
17120 Airships Barry Hannah 1978 American English
17120 Ray Barry Hannah 1980 American English
17120 The Invented Part Rodrigo Fresán 2014 Argentinian Spanish
17120 Doctor Rat William Kotzwinkle 1976 American English
16759 The Suicide Nikolai Erdman 1928 Russian Russian