The Greatest Books of All Time on Duty

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
8107 Memoirs Of A Korean Queen Lady Hyegyeong 1795 Korean Korean
8350 Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
8384 Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens 1948 American English
8474 No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe 1960 Nigerian English
8710 Tom Cringle's Log Michael Scott 1829 British English
8916 Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 2003 American English
9366 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9378 Plain Tales From The Hills Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
9965 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
10664 Men At Arms Terry Pratchett 1993 British English
10868 Ancillary Sword Ann Leckie 2014 American English
11214 The Lily Of The Valley Honoré de Balzac 1835 French French
11269 Empire Of Sand Tasha Suri 2018 British English
11366 The Lantern Bearers Robert Louis Stevenson Unknown Unknown
11455 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes 1930 American English
11547 The Romance Of War James Grant 1846 Scottish English
11883 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
11897 Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1834 British English
12104 Sword Of Honour Evelyn Waugh 1965 British English
12259 Lady's Maid Margaret Forster 1990 British English
12692 How Many Miles To Babylon? Jennifer Johnston 1974 Irish English
13362 The Methods Of Ethics Henry Sidgwick 1874 British English
13362 The Rocket Man Ray Bradbury 1951 American English
13588 Spring Snow Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
13600 Private Gaspard René Benjamin 1915 French French
13600 L'ordre Marcel Arland 1929 French French
13600 Captain Conan Roger Vercel 1934 French English
13600 Week End At Zuydcoote Robert Merle 1949 French French
13879 Ravenshoe Henry Kingsley 1861 British English
14206 Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey 1971 American English
14435 The Time Patrol Poul Anderson 1991 American English
14680 The Country House John Galsworthy 1907 British English
14772 The Tree Of Heaven May Sinclair 1917 British English
14780 The Peony Pavilion Tang Xianzu 1598 Chinese Chinese
14938 Java Head Joseph Hergesheimer 1919 American English
14985 Sabriel Garth Nix 1995 Australian English
14985 I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett 2010 British English
14985 Winter's Orbit Everina Maxwell 2021 British English
15714 The Dim Lantern Temple Bailey 1925 American English
15768 Punishment Without Revenge Lope de Vega 1631 Spanish Spanish
15791 To The Indies C.S. Forester 1940 British English
15829 The Ill Made Knight T.H. White 1940 British English
15916 Officers And Gentlemen Evelyn Waugh 1955 British English
15916 Unconditional Surrender Evelyn Waugh 1961 British English
15916 The Flint Anchor Sylvia Townsend Warner 1954 British English
16505 The Prince Of Homburg Heinrich von Kleist 1821 German German
16517 The Love Suicides At Sonezaki Chikamatsu Monzaemon 1703 Japanese Japanese
15916 Proceed, Sergeant Lamb Robert Graves 1940 British English
15916 On Her Majesty's Secret Service Ian Fleming 1963 British English
15916 The Bugles Blow No More Clifford Dowdey 1942 American English
15916 Nightrunners Of Bengal John Masters 1951 British English
15916 The Letter For The King Tonke Dragt 1962 Dutch Dutch
15891 Mountain Meadow John Buchan 1941 Scottish English
16628 The Bhagavad Gita Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa -400 Indian Sanskrit
16614 Post Captain Patrick O'Brian 1972 British English
16605 Typhoon Joseph Conrad 1902 British English
17165 The Barracks Thief Tobias Wolff 1984 American English
17165 Lifelode Jo Walton 2009 British English
17165 Shards Of Honour Lois McMaster Bujold 1986 American English
17165 On Basilisk Station David Weber 1993 American English
17165 Without My Cloak Kate O'Brien 1931 Irish English
17165 A Ship Of The Line C. S. Forester 1938 British English
17165 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
17165 King Charles Iii Mike Bartlett 2014 British English
16989 Journey’s End R. C. Sherriff 1929 British English
17165 Nerilka's Story Anne McCaffrey 1986 Irish English
17165 The Atonement Of Leam Dundas Eliza Lynn Linton 1876 British English
17165 Under Two Flags Ouida 1867 British English
17165 Under Heaven Guy Gavriel Kay 2010 Canadian English
17165 Life Debt Chuck Wendig 2016 American English
17165 The Bone Ships RJ Barker 2019 British English
17165 Son Of The Black Sword Larry Correia 2015 American English
17165 Vampire Academy Richelle Mead 2007 American English
17000 The Well Cradle Zeami Motokiyo 1430 Japanese Japanese
17165 Miss Ravenel's Conversion From Secession To Loyalty John W. DeForest 1867 American English
17165 A Distant Trumpet Paul Horgan 1960 American English
17165 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
17165 Sheepfarmers Daughter Elizabeth Moon 1988 American English
17165 American Sniper Chris Kyle 2012 American English
17165 Bleach, Vol. 1 Tite Kubo 2001 Japanese Japanese
17165 Morrer Na Primavera Ralf Rothmann 2015 German German
16848 No Surrender Hiroo Onoda 1974 Japanese Japanese
17165 The Edge Of Light Joan Wolf 1990 American English
17165 Shield Of Honor Alice Walworth Graham 1957 Unknown English
17165 Heart Of A Queen Josephine Delves-Broughton Unknown Unknown
17165 Armada Charles Gidley 1987 Unknown English
17165 The Falling Hills Perry Lentz 1994 American English
17165 A Distanr Trumpet Paul Horgan 1960 American English
16809 Shadow Of The Moon M.M. Kaye 1956 British English
17165 The Caretaker Ron Rash 2023 American English
17165 Spare Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex 2023 British English
17165 Lost Stars Claudia Gray 2015 Unknown English
17165 The Militia House John Milas 2023 Unknown English
17165 The Forest Of Enchantments Chitra Divakaruni 2019 Indian English
17165 The Hero Code William H. McRaven 2021 American English
17165 The Farseer Trilogy Robin Hobb 1995 American English
17165 Scion Of Ikshvaku Amish Tripathi 2015 Indian English
17165 War Of Lanka Amish Tripathi 2022 Indian English
16844 The Original Adventures Of Hank The Cowdog John R. Erickson 1983 American English
17091 A Horseman In The Sky Ambrose Bierce 1898 American English
16999 Oblomow Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
17165 रश्मिरथी Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' 1981 Indian Hindi
17165 Divided Allegiance Elizabeth Moon 1988 American English
17165 Oath Of Gold Elizabeth Moon 1989 American English
17165 Sita Amish Tripathi 2017 Indian English
17165 The Oath Of The Vayuputras Amish Tripathi 2013 Indian English
17165 From A Buick 8 Stephen King 2002 American English
17165 Master At Arms Rafael Sabatini British English
17165 The House Of Lee Gertrude Atherton 2005 American English
17165 The Dawn Of Love Barbara Cartland 1980 British English
17140 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English