The Greatest Books of All Time on Desire

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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
7216 Sonnets Luis de Góngora 1601 Spanish Spanish
7216 Astrophel And Stella Philip Sidney 1591 British English
7216 The Poems Of Thomas Carew Thomas Carew 1640 British English
7216 On Love Stendhal 1822 French French
7216 Selected Poems Of Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1896 French French
7216 Poems And Ballads Algernon Charles Swinburne 1866 British English
7216 Complete Poems Ernest Dowson 1905 British English
7216 The Earthly Paradise William Morris 1868 British English
7216 Selected Poems Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
7216 Retreat From Love Colette 1936 French French
7216 Count D'orgel's Ball Raymond Radiguet 1923 French French
7216 Poems Of Pierre Jean Jouve Pierre-Jean Jouve 1925 French French
7216 Poems Of Bejamin Péret Bejamin Péret 1925 French French
7216 The Desert Of Love François Mauriac 1925 French French
7216 Plays And Stories Arthur Schnitzler 1929 Austrian German
7216 Lulu Plays Frank Wedekind 1895 German German
7216 Alexandrian Songs Mikhail Kuzmin 1906 Russian Russian
7756 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7772 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7772 Summer And Smoke Tennessee Williams 1948 American English
7766 Mating In Captivity Esther Perel 2006 Belgian English
7820 Collected Stories Colette 1949 French French
7897 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7900 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
8107 New Islands And Other Stories María Luisa Bombal 1939 Chilean Spanish
8178 Lilith J.R. Salamanca 1961 American English
8252 Serve The People! Yan Lianke 2005 Chinese Chinese
8285 The Other Side Of Desire Daniel Bergner 2009 American English
8377 Belong To Me Shayla Black 2011 American English
8443 Journal Mireille Havet 2003 French French
8473 Poems Of Anne Hébert Anne Hébert 1960 Canadian French
8580 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8728 In Praise Of Older Women Stephen Vizinczey 1965 Canadian English
8777 Eroticism Georges Bataille 1957 French French
8828 The Laws Of Hospitality Pierre Klossowski 1965 French French
8890 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8935 Cordelia And Other Stories Françoise Mallet-Joris 1958 French French
9047 L'amour, La Mer Pascal Quignard 2002 French French
9129 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9161 La Blessure Et La Soif Laurence Plazenet 2009 French French
9193 What Do Women Want? Daniel Bergner 2013 American English
9330 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9373 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9619 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9627 Three Women Lisa Taddeo 2019 American English
9680 Eros Invincible Ricarda Huch 1931 German German
9717 Eros Is More Juan Antonio González Iglesias 2018 Spanish Spanish
10140 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10246 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10383 Memories Of My Melancholy Whores Gabriel García Márquez 2004 Colombian Spanish
10516 Postcolonial Love Poem Natalie Diaz 2020 American English
10949 Collected Stories John O'Hara 1984 American English
10977 World Of Sex Henry Miller 1941 American English
11029 Four Novels Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
11036 This Sex Which Is Not One Luce Irigary 1977 French French
11246 Liberty Or Love! Robert Desnos 1929 French French
11366 La Fin D'amor Jean-Claude Marol French Unknown
11366 Rien Que L'amour Lucien Becker French French
11520 Enchiridion Of Epictetus Epictetus 135 Greek Greek
11605 One Hundred Poems By Cavafy Cavafy Greek Greek
11615 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11653 Mammoth Eva Baltasar 2022 Catalan Catalan
11663 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy 2009 American English
11826 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11851 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
12199 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
12259 Lantern Slides Edna O'Brien 1990 Irish English
12323 Worsted Garielle Lutz 2025 American English
12385 Eclipse Fever Walter Abish 1993 American English
12412 Daller Gut Dream Department Store Miye Lee Unknown Unknown
12502 Come As You Are Emily Nagoski 2015 American English
12615 I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere Anna Gavalda 1999 French French
12657 Record Of A Night Too Brief Kawakami Hiromi Japanese Japanese
13006 Thus Were Their Faces Silvina Ocampo 1988 Argentinian Spanish
13074 Can't Get Enough Kennedy Ryan 2025 American English
13279 The Adversary Michael Crummey 2024 Canadian English
13362 The Pure and the Impure Colette 1932 French French
13362 The Spice Box Of Earth Leonard Cohen 1961 Canadian English
13557 The Spoils of Poynton Henry James 1897 American English
13558 The Black Swan Thomas Mann 1953 German German
13600 The Margin André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1967 French French
13600 Cronus' Children Yves Navarre 1980 French French
13600 Houris Kamel Daoud 2024 French French
13793 Vampires In The Lemon Grove Karen Russell 2013 American English
14152 The Rover Aphra Behn 1677 British English
14322 The Garden Of Allah Robert Hichens 1904 British English
14599 The Pleasure of the Text Roland Barthes 1973 French French
14698 The Song Of Songs Hermann Sudermann 1908 German German
14766 Millions Of Cats Wanda Gág 1928 American English
14928 Libro De Buen Amor Juan Ruiz 1330 Spanish Spanish
14946 Picnic William Inge 1953 American English
14985 Tales from Ovid Ted Hughes 1997 British English
14985 The Folding Star Alan Hollinghurst 1994 British English
14985 The Forgotten Waltz Anne Enright 2011 Irish English
14985 No One Belongs Here More Than You Miranda July 2007 American English
14985 A Touch Of Darkness Scarlett St. Clair 2019 Unknown English
14985 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
15604 A Few Figs From Thistles Edna St. Vincent Millay 1920 American English
15686 The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems Diane Wakoski American English
15836 Laughter In The Dark Vladimir Nabokov 1932 Russian Russian
15916 Dhammapada Unknown -299 Multiple Pali
15916 A Spy In The House Of Love Anaïs Nin 1954 French English
15916 At Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
16529 Up At The Villa W. Somerset Maugham 1941 British English
16748 Diary Of A Seducer Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
17164 Dusk James Salter 1988 American English
17164 The PowerBook Jeanette Winterson 2000 British English
17164 The Epicure's Lament Kate Christensen 2004 American English
17164 Entering Fire Rikki Ducornet 1986 American English
17164 The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye A. S. Byatt 1994 British English
17164 When Dreams Travel Githa Hariharan 1999 Indian English
17164 Tamara Drewe Posy Simmonds 2007 British English
16850 The House Of Bernarda Alba Federico García Lorca 1936 Spanish Spanish
17164 The Beast In The Nursery Adam Phillips 1998 British English
17164 The Art Of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Helen Vendler 1997 American English
17164 Desiring God John Piper 1986 American English
17164 Rama And The Dragon Edward al Kharrat 1980 Egyptian Arabic
17164 The Love Object Edna O'Brien 2013 Irish English
17164 The Hellbound Heart Clive Barker 1986 British English
16855 Laughable Loves Milan Kundera 1969 Czech Czech