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
3070 Kecksies And Other Twilight Tales Marjorie Bowen 1946 British English
3074 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3092 The Travelling Grave L. P. Hartley 1948 British English
3100 Diary Of A Mad Old Man Junichiro Tanizaki 1961 Japanese Japanese
3105 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3111 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
3119 The Mortal Wound Raffaele La Capria 1961 Italian Italian
3161 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3168 North Seamus Heaney 1975 Irish English
3178 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3181 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3190 Trilce César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
3198 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3224 The Driver's Seat Muriel Spark 1970 British English
3258 A Fine And Private Place Peter S. Beagle 1960 American English
3262 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3266 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
3274 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3307 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch 1968 American English
3319 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3323 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3323 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3323 The Living and the Dead Patrick White 1941 Australian English
3323 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
3323 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French
3323 The Guiltless Hermann Broch 1950 Austrian German
3373 A Man's Place Annie Ernaux 1983 French French
3381 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3382 Poems Miguel de Unamuno 1907 Spanish Spanish
3383 The Plague-Sower Gesualdo Bufalino 1981 Italian Italian
3387 Bomber Len Deighton 1970 British English
3390 Selected Poetry Of Francisco De Quevedo Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3390 Bomarzo Manuel Mujica Lainez 1962 Argentinian Spanish
3400 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3408 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3408 The Birds Tarjei Vesaas 1957 Norwegian Norwegian
3425 The Violent Bear It Away Flannery O'Connor 1960 American English
3433 Horseman, Pass By Larry McMurtry 1961 American English
3437 So Far From God Ana Castillo 1993 American English
3444 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3465 Murgunstrumm And Others Hugh B. Cave 1977 American English
3465 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3476 The Black Obelisk Erich Maria Remarque 1956 German German
3496 The Thin Red Line James Jones 1962 American English
3509 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3510 Alone With The Horrors Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
3536 The Death of Woman Wang MMP Jonathan Spence 1978 American English
3539 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3552 Divorcing Susan Taubes 1969 American English
3562 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3577 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3579 Flowering Judas and Other Stories Katherine Anne Porter 1930 American English
3585 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3590 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
3596 Time of Silence Luis Martín-Santos 1962 Spanish Spanish
3616 The Farthest Shore Ursula K. Le Guin 1972 American English
3622 The Atrocity Exhibition J. G. Ballard 1970 British English
3629 Party Going Henry Green 1939 British English
3630 Life Of Quintus Fixlein Jean-Paul Richter 1796 German German
3637 And where Were You, Adam? Heinrich Böll 1951 German German
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3637 Renascence and Other Poems Edna St. Vincent Millay 1917 American English
3637 War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon 1919 British English
3637 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3637 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3804 The Ponder Heart Eudora Welty 1954 American English
3809 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3813 Henry IV, Part II William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3827 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
3841 All Our Yesterdays Natalia Ginzburg 1952 Italian Italian
3845 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3856 Closer Dennis Cooper 1989 American English
3885 Collected Plays John Millington Synge 1935 Irish English
3886 Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis 2005 American English
3892 Oriental Tales Marguerite Yourcenar 1938 French French
3902 Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy 1998 American English
3914 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
3918 Fences August Wilson 1985 American English
3934 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3938 All The World's Mornings Pascal Quignard 1991 French French
3943 Of Love and Shadows Isabel Allende 1984 Chilean Spanish
3954 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3954 The Only Journey Of His Life Georgios Vizyinos 1887 Greek Greek
3954 Freedom Or Death Nikos Kazantzakis 1953 Greek Greek
3954 Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες Kostas Karyotakis 1927 Greek Greek
3954 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3954 Life In The Tomb Stratis Myrivilis 1924 Greek Greek
3954 The Complete Works Of Alexandros Papadiamantis Alexandros Papadiamantis 1952 Greek Greek
3954 Ο Πεθαμένος και η Ανάσταση Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1949 Greek Greek
3954 Eroica Kosmas Politis 1937 Greek Greek
3954 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3954 Η Κερένια Κούκλα Konstantinos Christomanos 1899 Greek Greek
3954 The Poems Of Dinos Christianopoulos Dinos Christianopoulos 1958 Greek Greek
4068 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
4091 The Little Tragedies Alexander Pushkin 1832 Russian Russian
4114 The Old Woman Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4121 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4138 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4154 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4175 Replay Ken Grimwood 1986 American English
4179 De Kellner En De Levenden Simon Vestdijk 1949 Dutch Dutch
4200 The Elementals Michael McDowell 1981 American English
4208 Heartbreak Tango Manuel Puig 1969 Argentinian Spanish
4222 The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
4219 Heracles Euripides -416 Greek Ancient greek
4224 The Spectre Of Alexander Wolf Gaito Gazdanov 1947 French Russian
4227 The Frogs Aristophanes -405 Greek Ancient greek
4267 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4268 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4269 Sevastopol Sketches Leo Tolstoy 1855 Russian Russian
4277 In The Ravine Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
4282 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4285 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4299 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Fannie Flagg 1987 American English
4310 The Polyglots William Gerhardie 1925 British English
4370 More Die Of Heartbreak Saul Bellow 1987 American English
4421 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
4421 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4436 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English