The Greatest Drama Books Since 1900

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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
3 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
41 On the Road Jack Kerouac 1957 American English
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
109 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
128 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
168 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
170 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
176 The End of the Affair Graham Greene 1951 British English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
195 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
207 Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis 1946 Greek Greek
217 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
227 Women in Love D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
244 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
253 Look Homeward, Angel Thomas Wolfe 1929 American English
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
260 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
263 The Tartar Steppe Dino Buzzati 1940 Italian Italian
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
288 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
302 The Lost Estate Henri Alain-Fournier 1913 French French
329 History Elsa Morante 1974 Italian Italian
336 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
359 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
362 Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor 1952 American English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
410 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
428 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
434 The Fountainhead Ayn Rand 1943 American English
437 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
451 Hiroshima John Hersey 1946 American English
453 I, Claudius Robert Graves 1934 British English
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
474 Embers Sandor Marai 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
477 Fateless or Fatelessness Imre Kertész 1975 Hungarian Hungarian
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
492 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
502 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
504 Her Lover Albert Cohen 1968 Swiss French
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
514 Speak, Memory Vladimir Nabokov 1951 American English
516 Season of Migration to the North Al-Tayyib Salih 1966 Sudanese Arabic
524 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
526 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
539 So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell 1980 American English
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
608 Canto General Pablo Neruda 1950 Chilean Spanish
611 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
629 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
652 Dispatches Michael Herr 1977 American English
655 Stories of Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway 1987 American English
668 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
686 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
687 The Time of the Hero Mario Vargas Llosa 1963 Peruvian Spanish
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
704 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 1958 American English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
720 The Professor's House Willa Cather 1925 American English
729 Thérèse Desqueyroux François Mauriac 1927 French French
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
764 Mother Maxim Gorky 1906 Russian Russian
772 The Group Mary McCarthy 1963 American English
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1003 A Dry White Season Andre Brink 1979 South African Afrikaans
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1021 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
1024 Some Prefer Nettles Junichiro Tanizaki 1929 Japanese Japanese
1084 Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1096 The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard 1980 Australian English
1127 The Devil in the Flesh Raymond Radiguet 1923 French French
1136 The Black Prince Iris Murdoch 1973 British English
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1208 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1230 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 1918 American English
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French