The Greatest Dark 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
5 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez 1967 Colombian Spanish
34 The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov 1967 Russian Russian
66 The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
81 The Castle Franz Kafka 1926 Czech German
84 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969 American English
91 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
145 Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais 1532 French French
151 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
153 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962 British English
154 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey 1962 American English
171 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1927 German German
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
198 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 1985 American English
209 Hunger Knut Hamsun 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
231 Death of Virgil Hermann Broch 1945 Austrian German
238 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
245 Nausea Jean Paul Sartre 1938 French French
263 The Tartar Steppe Dino Buzzati 1940 Italian Italian
268 Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats 1933 Irish English
270 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
295 Franz Kafka Franz Kafka 1971 Czech Unknown
333 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
347 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
364 White Noise Don DeLillo 1985 American English
407 The World According to Garp John Irving 1978 American English
408 The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus 1942 French French
460 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
463 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
547 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
554 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
565 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
604 The Blind Owl Ṣādiq Hidāyat 1937 Iranian Persian
629 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
728 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
793 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
796 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
800 The Loved One Evelyn Waugh 1948 British English
841 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
843 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
859 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutola 1952 Nigerian English
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
889 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
891 Golem Gustav Meyrink 1915 Austrian German
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
964 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
991 Macunaíma Mario de Andrade 1928 Brazilian Portuguese
996 Journey by Moonlight Antal Szerb 1937 Hungarian Hungarian
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1012 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1088 The Dwarf Par Lagerkvist 1944 Swedish Swedish
1089 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
1118 Germany, a Winter Tale Heinrich Heine 1844 German German
1120 The Sorrow of Belgium Hugo Claus 1983 Belgian Dutch
1132 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1164 The Nose Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1281 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1335 Kiss of the Spider Woman Manuel Puig 1976 Argentinian Spanish
1337 A Legacy Sybille Bedford 1956 German English
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1347 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1374 Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess 1980 British English
1420 The October Country Ray Bradbury 1955 American English
1422 The Sot-Weed Factor John Barth 1960 American English
1427 Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh 1930 British English
1457 Deliver Us Luigi Meneghello 1963 Italian Italian
1481 The Little Golden Calf Ilya Ilf, Evgeniy Petrov 1931 Russian Russian
1486 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1525 The Late Mattia Pascal Luigi Pirandello 1904 Italian Italian
1535 The Sound Of His Horn Sarban 1952 British English
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1591 Wry-Blue Loves Tristan Corbière 1873 French French
1599 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1603 On the Edge of Reason Miroslav Krleža 1938 Croatian Croatian
1622 Fortress Besieged Qian Zhongshu 1947 Chinese Chinese
1631 Acquainted With Grief Carlo Emilio Gadda 1963 Italian Italian
1687 The Hearing Trumpet Leonora Carrington 1974 British English
1691 Cat Country Lao She 1932 Chinese Chinese
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1702 Oreo Fran Ross 1974 American English
1715 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1717 The Clown Heinrich Böll 1963 German German
1729 Requiem for a Dream Hubert Selby 1978 American English
1730 The Mouse And His Child Russell Hoban 1967 American English
1732 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1733 Tender Buttons Gertrude Stein 1914 American English
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1761 Lady into Fox David Garnett 1922 British English
1784 Marks of Identity Juan Goytisolo 1966 Spanish Spanish
1811 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
1840 Mysteries Knut Hamsun 1892 Norwegian Norwegian
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
1925 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano 1789 African English
1937 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English
1945 Medusa E. H. Visiak 1929 British English
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1967 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
1994 Fancies And Goodnights John Collier 1951 British English
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2031 The Riddle Of The Universe Ernst Haeckel 1899 German German
2057 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
2084 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2101 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2102 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
2116 Querelle of Brest Jean Genet 1947 French French
2128 Will O' The Wisp Willem Elsschot 1947 Belgian Dutch
2140 The Interrogation J. M. G. Le Clezio 1963 French French