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
7215 Sonnets Luis de Góngora 1601 Spanish Spanish
7215 Astrophel And Stella Philip Sidney 1591 British English
7215 The Poems Of Thomas Carew Thomas Carew 1640 British English
7215 On Love Stendhal 1822 French French
7215 Selected Poems Of Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1896 French French
7215 Poems And Ballads Algernon Charles Swinburne 1866 British English
7215 Complete Poems Ernest Dowson 1905 British English
7215 The Earthly Paradise William Morris 1868 British English
7215 Selected Poems Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
7215 Retreat From Love Colette 1936 French French
7215 Count D'orgel's Ball Raymond Radiguet 1923 French French
7215 Poems Of Pierre Jean Jouve Pierre-Jean Jouve 1925 French French
7215 Poems Of Bejamin Péret Bejamin Péret 1925 French French
7215 The Desert Of Love François Mauriac 1925 French French
7215 Plays And Stories Arthur Schnitzler 1929 Austrian German
7215 Lulu Plays Frank Wedekind 1895 German German
7215 Alexandrian Songs Mikhail Kuzmin 1906 Russian Russian
7754 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7770 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7770 Summer And Smoke Tennessee Williams 1948 American English
7764 Mating In Captivity Esther Perel 2006 Belgian English
7819 Collected Stories Colette 1949 French French
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7899 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
8105 New Islands And Other Stories María Luisa Bombal 1939 Chilean Spanish
8176 Lilith J.R. Salamanca 1961 American English
8250 Serve The People! Yan Lianke 2005 Chinese Chinese
8283 The Other Side Of Desire Daniel Bergner 2009 American English
8374 Belong To Me Shayla Black 2011 American English
8440 Journal Mireille Havet 2003 French French
8469 Poems Of Anne Hébert Anne Hébert 1960 Canadian French
8576 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8723 In Praise Of Older Women Stephen Vizinczey 1965 Canadian English
8772 Eroticism Georges Bataille 1957 French French
8823 The Laws Of Hospitality Pierre Klossowski 1965 French French
8886 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8931 Cordelia And Other Stories Françoise Mallet-Joris 1958 French French
9043 L'amour, La Mer Pascal Quignard 2002 French French
9124 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9156 La Blessure Et La Soif Laurence Plazenet 2009 French French
9189 What Do Women Want? Daniel Bergner 2013 American English
9325 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9368 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9614 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9622 Three Women Lisa Taddeo 2019 American English
9675 Eros Invincible Ricarda Huch 1931 German German
9712 Eros Is More Juan Antonio González Iglesias 2018 Spanish Spanish
10135 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10240 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10378 Memories Of My Melancholy Whores Gabriel García Márquez 2004 Colombian Spanish
10511 Postcolonial Love Poem Natalie Diaz 2020 American English
10944 Collected Stories John O'Hara 1984 American English
10972 World Of Sex Henry Miller 1941 American English
11024 Four Novels Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
11031 This Sex Which Is Not One Luce Irigary 1977 French French
11241 Liberty Or Love! Robert Desnos 1929 French French
11362 La Fin D'amor Jean-Claude Marol French Unknown
11362 Rien Que L'amour Lucien Becker French French
11517 Enchiridion Of Epictetus Epictetus 135 Greek Greek
11602 One Hundred Poems By Cavafy Cavafy Greek Greek
11612 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11650 Mammoth Eva Baltasar 2022 Catalan Catalan
11660 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy 2009 American English
11824 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11849 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
12198 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
12258 Lantern Slides Edna O'Brien 1990 Irish English
12321 Worsted Garielle Lutz 2025 American English
12383 Eclipse Fever Walter Abish 1993 American English
12410 Daller Gut Dream Department Store Miye Lee Unknown Unknown
12500 Come As You Are Emily Nagoski 2015 American English
12613 I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere Anna Gavalda 1999 French French
12655 Record Of A Night Too Brief Kawakami Hiromi Japanese Japanese
13003 Thus Were Their Faces Silvina Ocampo 1988 Argentinian Spanish
13071 Can't Get Enough Kennedy Ryan 2025 American English
13276 The Adversary Michael Crummey 2024 Canadian English
13359 The Pure and the Impure Colette 1932 French French
13359 The Spice Box Of Earth Leonard Cohen 1961 Canadian English
13556 The Spoils of Poynton Henry James 1897 American English
13557 The Black Swan Thomas Mann 1953 German German
13599 The Margin André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1967 French French
13599 Cronus' Children Yves Navarre 1980 French French
13599 Houris Kamel Daoud 2024 French French
13792 Vampires In The Lemon Grove Karen Russell 2013 American English
14152 The Rover Aphra Behn 1677 British English
14321 The Garden Of Allah Robert Hichens 1904 British English
14598 The Pleasure of the Text Roland Barthes 1973 French French
14697 The Song Of Songs Hermann Sudermann 1908 German German
14765 Millions Of Cats Wanda Gág 1928 American English
14925 Libro De Buen Amor Juan Ruiz 1330 Spanish Spanish
14943 Picnic William Inge 1953 American English
14983 Tales from Ovid Ted Hughes 1997 British English
14983 The Folding Star Alan Hollinghurst 1994 British English
14983 The Forgotten Waltz Anne Enright 2011 Irish English
14983 No One Belongs Here More Than You Miranda July 2007 American English
14983 A Touch Of Darkness Scarlett St. Clair 2019 Unknown English
14983 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
15596 A Few Figs From Thistles Edna St. Vincent Millay 1920 American English
15678 The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems Diane Wakoski American English
15825 Laughter In The Dark Vladimir Nabokov 1932 Russian Russian
15897 Dhammapada Unknown -299 Multiple Pali
15897 A Spy In The House Of Love Anaïs Nin 1954 French English
15897 At Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
16698 Diary Of A Seducer Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
16672 Up At The Villa W. Somerset Maugham 1941 British English
17119 Dusk James Salter 1988 American English
17119 The PowerBook Jeanette Winterson 2000 British English
17119 The Epicure's Lament Kate Christensen 2004 American English
17119 Entering Fire Rikki Ducornet 1986 American English
17119 The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye A. S. Byatt 1994 British English
17119 When Dreams Travel Githa Hariharan 1999 Indian English
17119 Tamara Drewe Posy Simmonds 2007 British English
16804 The House Of Bernarda Alba Federico García Lorca 1936 Spanish Spanish
17119 The Beast In The Nursery Adam Phillips 1998 British English
17119 The Art Of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Helen Vendler 1997 American English
17119 Desiring God John Piper 1986 American English
17119 Rama And The Dragon Edward al Kharrat 1980 Egyptian Arabic
17119 The Love Object Edna O'Brien 2013 Irish English
17119 The Hellbound Heart Clive Barker 1986 British English
16822 Laughable Loves Milan Kundera 1969 Czech Czech