The Greatest Books of All Time on Despair

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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
12 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy 1869 Russian Russian
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
63 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry 1947 British English
67 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
96 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
98 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
101 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
111 The Waste Land T. S. Eliot 1922 British English
118 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
124 Pedro Páramo Juan Rulfo 1955 Mexican Spanish
128 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
135 Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann 1947 German German
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
187 The Power and the Glory Graham Greene 1940 British English
201 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
238 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
245 Nausea Jean Paul Sartre 1938 French French
263 The Tartar Steppe Dino Buzzati 1940 Italian Italian
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
270 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
282 The Sorrows of Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 German German
287 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
292 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
375 Kolyma Stories Varlam Shalamov 1954 Russian Russian
378 Melmoth the Wanderer Charles Robert Maturin 1820 British English
408 The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus 1942 French French
433 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
463 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
467 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
501 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
504 Her Lover Albert Cohen 1968 Swiss French
584 Poet in New York Federico García Lorca 1940 Spanish Spanish
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
593 Complete Poems of Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi 1831 Italian Italian
604 The Blind Owl Ṣādiq Hidāyat 1937 Iranian Persian
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
611 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
635 Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo 1939 American English
650 The Flanders Road Claude Simon 1960 French French
683 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
706 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
739 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
744 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
759 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
777 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 American English
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
824 Rhymes And Legends Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1871 Spanish Spanish
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
873 Call to Arms Lu Xun 1922 Chinese Chinese
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
889 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
907 Hyperion Friedrich Holderlin 1797 German German
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
930 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
973 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1081 The War of the End of the World Mario Vargas Llosa 1981 Peruvian Spanish
1107 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
1132 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1137 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
1171 Residence on Earth Pablo Neruda 1933 Chilean Spanish
1177 Phèdre Jean Racine 1677 French French
1182 Poems of Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca 1921 Spanish Spanish
1199 This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Tadeusz Borowski 1947 Polish Polish
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1237 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
1260 The President Miguel Angel Asturias 1946 Guatemalan Spanish
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1312 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1314 Under Satan's Sun Georges Bernanos 1926 French French
1361 The King In Yellow Robert W. Chambers 1895 American English
1393 The Business of Living Cesare Pavese 1952 Italian Italian
1402 The Seagull Anton Chekhov 1896 Russian Russian
1407 The Golovlyov Family Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin 1880 Russian Russian
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1451 The Children of Men P. D. James 1992 British English
1482 Eline Vere Louis Couperus 1889 Dutch Dutch
1499 Three Comrades Erich Maria Remarque 1936 German German
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1592 Niels Lyhne Jens Peter Jacobson 1880 Danish Danish
1605 The Foundation Pit Andrey Platonov 1930 Russian Russian
1667 The Poetry of Alexander Pushkin Alexander Pushkin 1836 Russian Russian
1689 Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk Nikolai Leskov 1865 Russian Russian
1711 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
1729 Requiem for a Dream Hubert Selby 1978 American English
1747 Twenty Four Hours In The Life Of A Woman Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1760 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
1773 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore 1955 Irish English
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
1867 The Woodlanders Thomas Hardy 1887 British English
1877 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
1933 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
1942 The Land At The End Of The World António Lobo Antunes 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
2055 Satan In Goray Isaac Bashevis Singer 1935 Polish Yiddish
2067 How Late It Was, How Late James Kelman 1994 Scottish English
2147 Aniara Harry Martinson 1956 Swedish Swedish
2163 A Personal Matter Kenzaburō Ōe 1964 Japanese Japanese
2175 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2181 The Little Demon Fedor Sologub 1907 Russian Russian
2187 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish