The Greatest Books of All Time on Decay

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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
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
240 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
294 The Time Machine H. G. Wells 1895 British English
662 The House On The Borderland And Other Novels William Hope Hodgson 1908 British English
671 The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe 1839 American English
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
1052 Treatise on Radioactivity Marie Curie 1910 French French
1478 The Shipyard Juan Carlos Onetti 1961 Uruguayan Spanish
1635 The Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel García Márquez 1975 Colombian Spanish
1665 The House of Ulloa Emilia Pardo Bazán 1886 Spanish Spanish
1919 The Dying Earth Jack Vance 1950 American English
2175 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2245 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2262 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
3419 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
3637 The Portable Faulkner William Faulkner 1946 American English
4284 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4309 After London; Or, Wild England Richard Jefferies 1885 British English
6698 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
7215 Poems Of Georg Trakl Georg Trakl 1913 Austrian German
8075 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
10217 Great Granny Webster Caroline Blackwood 1977 English English
12878 Birchwood John Banville 1973 Irish English
15895 The Complete Stories Edgar Allan Poe 1832 American English
16690 The Colour Out Of Space H. P. Lovecraft 1927 American English
16933 The Other Side Alfred Kubin 1909 Austrian English
17114 Watermark Joseph Brodsky 1989 Unknown English