The Greatest Books of All Time on Duty

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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
8105 Memoirs Of A Korean Queen Lady Hyegyeong 1795 Korean Korean
8347 Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
8381 Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens 1948 American English
8471 No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe 1960 Nigerian English
8706 Tom Cringle's Log Michael Scott 1829 British English
8912 Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 2003 American English
9363 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9375 Plain Tales From The Hills Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
9960 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
10659 Men At Arms Terry Pratchett 1993 British English
10863 Ancillary Sword Ann Leckie 2014 American English
11209 The Lily Of The Valley Honoré de Balzac 1835 French French
11264 Empire Of Sand Tasha Suri 2018 British English
11362 The Lantern Bearers Robert Louis Stevenson Unknown Unknown
11451 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes 1930 American English
11544 The Romance Of War James Grant 1846 Scottish English
11881 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
11895 Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1834 British English
12103 Sword Of Honour Evelyn Waugh 1965 British English
12258 Lady's Maid Margaret Forster 1990 British English
12690 How Many Miles To Babylon? Jennifer Johnston 1974 Irish English
13359 The Methods Of Ethics Henry Sidgwick 1874 British English
13359 The Rocket Man Ray Bradbury 1951 American English
13587 Spring Snow Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
13599 Private Gaspard René Benjamin 1915 French French
13599 L'ordre Marcel Arland 1929 French French
13599 Captain Conan Roger Vercel 1934 French English
13599 Week End At Zuydcoote Robert Merle 1949 French French
13878 Ravenshoe Henry Kingsley 1861 British English
14206 Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey 1971 American English
14434 The Time Patrol Poul Anderson 1991 American English
14679 The Country House John Galsworthy 1907 British English
14771 The Tree Of Heaven May Sinclair 1917 British English
14780 The Peony Pavilion Tang Xianzu 1598 Chinese Chinese
14936 Java Head Joseph Hergesheimer 1919 American English
14984 Sabriel Garth Nix 1995 Australian English
14984 I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett 2010 British English
14984 Winter's Orbit Everina Maxwell 2021 British English
15708 The Dim Lantern Temple Bailey 1925 American English
15756 Punishment Without Revenge Lope de Vega 1631 Spanish Spanish
15798 To The Indies C.S. Forester 1940 British English
15858 The Ill Made Knight T.H. White 1940 British English
15898 Officers And Gentlemen Evelyn Waugh 1955 British English
15898 Unconditional Surrender Evelyn Waugh 1961 British English
15898 The Flint Anchor Sylvia Townsend Warner 1954 British English
16489 The Prince Of Homburg Heinrich von Kleist 1821 German German
16497 The Love Suicides At Sonezaki Chikamatsu Monzaemon 1703 Japanese Japanese
15898 Proceed, Sergeant Lamb Robert Graves 1940 British English
15898 On Her Majesty's Secret Service Ian Fleming 1963 British English
15898 The Bugles Blow No More Clifford Dowdey 1942 American English
15898 Nightrunners Of Bengal John Masters 1951 British English
15898 The Letter For The King Tonke Dragt 1962 Dutch Dutch
16583 Post Captain Patrick O'Brian 1972 British English
16573 Typhoon Joseph Conrad 1902 British English
16555 Mountain Meadow John Buchan 1941 Scottish English
17120 The Barracks Thief Tobias Wolff 1984 American English
17120 Lifelode Jo Walton 2009 British English
17120 Shards Of Honour Lois McMaster Bujold 1986 American English
17120 On Basilisk Station David Weber 1993 American English
17120 Without My Cloak Kate O'Brien 1931 Irish English
17120 A Ship Of The Line C. S. Forester 1938 British English
17120 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
17120 King Charles Iii Mike Bartlett 2014 British English
16946 Journey’s End R. C. Sherriff 1929 British English
17120 Nerilka's Story Anne McCaffrey 1986 Irish English
17120 The Atonement Of Leam Dundas Eliza Lynn Linton 1876 British English
17120 Under Two Flags Ouida 1867 British English
17120 Under Heaven Guy Gavriel Kay 2010 Canadian English
17120 Life Debt Chuck Wendig 2016 American English
17120 The Bone Ships RJ Barker 2019 British English
17120 Son Of The Black Sword Larry Correia 2015 American English
17120 Vampire Academy Richelle Mead 2007 American English
16961 The Well Cradle Zeami Motokiyo 1430 Japanese Japanese
17120 Miss Ravenel's Conversion From Secession To Loyalty John W. DeForest 1867 American English
17120 A Distant Trumpet Paul Horgan 1960 American English
17120 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
16833 The Bhagavad Gita Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa -400 Indian Sanskrit
17120 Sheepfarmers Daughter Elizabeth Moon 1988 American English
17120 American Sniper Chris Kyle 2012 American English
17120 Bleach, Vol. 1 Tite Kubo 2001 Japanese Japanese
17120 Morrer Na Primavera Ralf Rothmann 2015 German German
16808 No Surrender Hiroo Onoda 1974 Japanese Japanese
17120 The Edge Of Light Joan Wolf 1990 American English
17120 Shield Of Honor Alice Walworth Graham 1957 Unknown English
17120 Heart Of A Queen Josephine Delves-Broughton Unknown Unknown
17120 Armada Charles Gidley 1987 Unknown English
17120 The Falling Hills Perry Lentz 1994 American English
17120 A Distanr Trumpet Paul Horgan 1960 American English
16769 Shadow Of The Moon M.M. Kaye 1956 British English
17120 The Caretaker Ron Rash 2023 American English
17120 Spare Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex 2023 British English
17120 Lost Stars Claudia Gray 2015 Unknown English
17120 The Militia House John Milas 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Forest Of Enchantments Chitra Divakaruni 2019 Indian English
17120 The Hero Code William H. McRaven 2021 American English
17120 The Farseer Trilogy Robin Hobb 1995 American English
17120 Scion Of Ikshvaku Amish Tripathi 2015 Indian English
17120 War Of Lanka Amish Tripathi 2022 Indian English
16813 The Original Adventures Of Hank The Cowdog John R. Erickson 1983 American English
17029 A Horseman In The Sky Ambrose Bierce 1898 American English
17120 रश्मिरथी Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' 1981 Indian Hindi
17120 Divided Allegiance Elizabeth Moon 1988 American English
17120 Oath Of Gold Elizabeth Moon 1989 American English
17120 Sita Amish Tripathi 2017 Indian English
17120 The Oath Of The Vayuputras Amish Tripathi 2013 Indian English
17120 From A Buick 8 Stephen King 2002 American English
17120 Master At Arms Rafael Sabatini British English
17120 The House Of Lee Gertrude Atherton 2005 American English
17120 The Dawn Of Love Barbara Cartland 1980 British English
17087 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English