The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Desperation

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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
209 Hunger Knut Hamsun 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
347 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
695 Boys Alive Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Italian
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
1114 Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor 1955 American English
1245 Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell 1933 British English
1334 Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton 1941 British English
1868 Junky William S. Burroughs 1953 American English
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
2085 The Sheep Look Up John Brunner 1972 British English
2297 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2504 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
2555 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2608 The Gambler Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
2646 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2729 Overcoat Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
2732 Seize The Day Saul Bellow 1956 American English
3637 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3637 Bicycle Thieves Luigi Bartolini 1946 Italian Italian
3637 Who Once Eats Out Of The Tin Bowl Hans Fallada 1934 German German
4070 Phantom Lady Cornell Woolrich 1942 American English
4309 Of Love & Hunger Julian Maclaren-Ross 1947 British English
4828 Cutter and Bone Newton Thornburg 1976 American English
4931 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
5187 From Nine To Nine Leo Perutz 1918 Austrian German
5509 The Visit Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1956 Swiss German
6002 Waiting For Nothing And Other Writings Tom Kromer 1935 American English
6002 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6002 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6151 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6439 The Magic Barrel Bernard Malamud 1958 American English
6651 The Beast Óscar Martínez 2013 Salvadoran Spanish
6680 Blacktop Wasteland S. A. Cosby 2020 American English
6821 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
6887 The Ginger Man J. P. Donleavy 1955 Irish English
6974 The Good Life Elsewhere Vladimir Lorchenkov 2008 Russian Russian
7161 Saved Edward Bond 1965 British English
7215 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Horace McCoy 1948 American English
7615 Dirty Havana Trilogy Pedro Juan Gutierrez 1998 Cuban Spanish
7697 The Ruins Scott Smith 2006 American English
7784 The Wig Charles Wright 1966 American English
9083 Toys In The Attic Lillian Hellman 1960 American English
9269 Naples 44 Norman Lewis 1978 British English
9271 Angels Denis Johnson 1983 American English
9856 Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky Patrick Hamilton 1935 British English
10026 The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse Ivan Repila 2013 Spanish Spanish
10108 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10825 The Lime Twig John Hawkes 1961 American English
10964 The Hunger Alma Katsu 2018 American English
11660 If The River Was Whiskey T. Coraghessan Boyle 1989 American English
12376 Haunted Chuck Palahniuk 2005 American English
12819 Rage Steve Gerlach 2006 Australian English
13337 Project X Jim Shepard 2004 American English
13817 As God Commands Niccolò Ammaniti 2006 Italian Italian
14232 Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet 1984 American English
14876 To Have And Have Not Ernest Hemingway 1937 American English
14950 Crimes Of The Heart Beth Henley 1978 American English
14982 Alive Piers Paul Read 1974 British English
16495 The Zoo Story Edward Albee 1958 American English
16706 Shipwreck of the Whaleship Essex Owen Chase 1821 American English
16745 Tales From The Vienna Woods Ödön von Horváth 1931 Austrian German
17114 A Feast of Snakes Harry Crews 1976 American English
17114 The Devil All The Time Donald Ray Pollock 2011 American English
17114 Dawn Of The Dead George Romero 1978 American Unknown
16813 Sweet Bird Of Youth Tennessee Williams 1959 American English
17114 City Of Last Chances Adrian Tchaikovsky 2022 British English
17114 One Conrad Williams 2009 British English
17114 No One Gets Out Alive Adam Nevill 2014 British English
17114 The Running Man Stephen King 1982 American English
17114 Rock Springs Richard Ford 1987 American English
17114 The Rum Diary Hunter S. Thompson 1998 American English
17114 Run Blake Crouch 2011 American English
16757 Yama Aleksandr Kuprin 1909 Russian Russian
17114 Voyage Of The Damned Frances White 2024 Unknown English
17114 The Long Walk Stephen King 1979 American English