The Greatest Books of All Time on Death

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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
2081 Στροφή George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2082 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2092 Mourning Becomes Electra Eugene O'Neill 1931 American English
2101 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 American English
2102 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2116 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2116 Querelle of Brest Jean Genet 1947 French French
2125 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2153 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
2156 The Green Man Kingsley Amis 1969 British English
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2169 My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier 1951 British English
2177 Old People And The Things That Pass Louis Couperus 1906 Dutch Dutch
2178 The Love Of The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald 1941 American English
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2187 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish
2191 The Witches Of Eastwick John Updike 1984 American English
2200 Death Of A Hero Richard Aldington 1929 British English
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2209 Sub Rosa Robert Aickman 1968 British English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2245 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2257 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2261 Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara 1934 American English
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2266 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2265 The Murderess Alexandros Papadiamantis 1903 Greek Greek
2270 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
2277 The Twelve Alexander Blok 1918 Russian Russian
2279 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2285 The Crossing Cormac McCarthy 1994 American English
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2302 Ironweed William Kennedy 1983 American English
2303 Machine Dreams Jayne Anne Phillips 1984 American English
2308 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2320 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2323 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
2330 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
2333 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2341 Mastro Don Gesualdo Giovanni Verga 1889 Italian Italian
2356 The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe 1992 Irish English
2363 The Sorrow Of War Bao Ninh 1990 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2370 Happiness, as Such Natalia Ginzburg 1973 Italian Italian
2372 The Tales Of Hoffmann E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
2385 Viper’s Tangle François Mauriac 1932 French French
2408 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2424 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2431 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2435 Nine Horrors And A Dream Joseph Payne Brennan 1958 American English
2437 The Crow Road Iain Banks 1992 British English
2439 Poems Of Anna Akhmatova Anna Akhmatova 1912 Russian Russian
2445 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2450 Worse Things Waiting Manly Wade Wellman 1973 American English
2462 Poems Of William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant 1821 American English
2466 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
2469 Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2472 Fall On Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald 1996 Canadian English
2477 L'acacia Claude Simon 1989 French French
2494 Rogue Moon Algis Budrys 1960 American English
2514 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2521 The Happy Prince And Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888 British English
2537 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2544 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
2547 Her Privates We Frederic Manning 1929 Australian English
2555 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2559 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2564 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2572 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2578 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
2586 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2588 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
2592 The Gods Of Pegana Lord Dunsany 1905 Irish English
2604 The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer 1974 South African English
2611 The Winter's Tale William Shakespeare 1623 British English
2619 To Live Yu Hua 1993 Chinese Chinese
2623 Collected Writings Ambrose Bierce 1909 American English
2640 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2646 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2652 Sleepless Nights Elizabeth Hardwick 1979 American English
2656 Ariel Sylvia Plath 1965 American English
2661 Daughters of Fire Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
2674 The Mountain Lion Jean Stafford 1947 American English
2692 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
2694 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2701 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
2706 The Works Of Thomas Lovell Beddoes Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1851 British English
2726 Last Poems A. E. Housman 1922 British English
2733 A Violent Life Pier Paolo Pasolini 1959 Italian Italian
2783 North Of Boston Robert Frost 1914 American English
2801 The Old Devils Kingsley Amis 1986 British English
2807 Summertime J. M. Coetzee 2009 South African English
2814 The Golden Apples Eudora Welty 1949 American English
2815 The Belkin Tales Alexander Pushkin 1831 Russian Russian
2821 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2829 A Contract With God Will Eisner 1978 American English
2838 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
2849 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2853 The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge 1974 British English
2875 Palace of the Peacock Wilson Harris 1960 Guyanese English
2887 Hadji Murat Leo Tolstoy 1912 Russian Russian
2900 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2907 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2911 A Simple Soul Gustave Flaubert 1877 French French
2915 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
2921 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
2954 Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass Bruno Schulz 1937 Polish Polish
2958 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
2965 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2977 The Demon Mikhail Lermontov 1829 Russian Russian
2991 A Book Of Memories Péter Nádas 1986 Hungarian Hungarian
3006 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3007 Labyrinths Christopher Okigbo 1971 Nigerian English
3031 Novel on Yellow Paper Stevie Smith 1936 British English
3047 A World for Julius Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1970 Peruvian Spanish
3049 Our Town Thornton Wilder 1938 American English
3054 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English