The Greatest Books of All Time on Emotion

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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
425 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1811 British English
1342 The Principles of Psychology William James 1890 American English
1367 Like Water For Chocolate Laura Esquivel 1989 Mexican Spanish
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1799 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
1810 The Weary Blues Langston Hughes 1926 American English
1870 The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Gustave Flaubert 1921 French French
1934 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
1962 The Prose Of The Trans Siberian Blaise Cendrars 1913 French French
2162 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2417 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2566 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2607 Poems And Prose Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1797 British English
2888 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2999 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
3008 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3324 Reveries of a Solitary Walker Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
3528 Poetry and the Age Randall Jarrell 1953 American English
3638 Laughter Henri Bergson 1900 French French
3954 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
4582 Antiworlds Andrey Voznesensky 1964 Russian Russian
4661 Poets Of The English Language W. H. Auden, Norman Holmes Pearson 1950 American English
5292 Notes On The Cinematographer Robert Bresson 1975 French French
5829 On The Sublime Longinus -50 Greek Greek
5863 Twenty Love Poems And A Song Of Despair Pablo Neruda 1924 Chilean Spanish
5939 Music As Speech Nikolaus Harnoncourt 1982 Austrian German
6135 The Dance Of Life Havelock Ellis 1923 British English
6194 Stumbling On Happiness Daniel Gilbert 2006 American English
6282 The Mirror and the Lamp Meyer Howard Abrams 1953 American English
6375 The Feeling Of What Happens Antonio Damasio 1999 Portuguese English
6717 On The Aesthetic Education Of Man Friedrich Schiller 1794 German German
7019 Corinne Madame de Staël 1807 French French
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English
7216 The Works Of Thomas Campion Thomas Campion 1909 British English
7216 A Philosophical Enquiry Into...The Sublime And Beautiful Edmund Burke 1757 British English
7216 On The Naïve And Sentimental In Literature Friedrich Schiller 1795 German German
7216 Laocoön Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1766 German German
7216 Odes And The Graces Ugo Foscolo 1822 Italian Italian
7216 On Love Stendhal 1822 French French
7216 Selected Poems Of Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1896 French French
7216 A Defence Of Poetry Percy Bysshe Shelley 1840 British English
7216 Ballads And Songs John Davidson 1894 British English
7216 My Voice Because Of You Pedro Salinas 1933 Spanish Spanish
7216 The Art Of Poetry Paul Valéry 1939 French French
7216 Alexandrian Songs Mikhail Kuzmin 1906 Russian Russian
7772 Stories And Recollections Umberto Saba 1948 Italian Italian
7915 Musicophilia Oliver Sacks 2007 British English
7967 Selected Writings Guillaume Apollinaire 1952 French French
8009 100 Love Sonnets Pablo Neruda 1959 Chilean Spanish
9550 Straw For The Fire Theodore Roethke 1972 American English
9716 Eros Is More Juan Antonio González Iglesias 2018 Spanish Spanish
9836 Poems Of Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy 1975 French French
9860 Meghadūta Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
10140 What I Love Odysseas Elytis 1978 Greek Greek
10246 Understanding Poetry Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks 1938 American English
10309 An Actor Prepares Konstantin Stanislavski 1936 Russian Russian
10828 Touching Feeling Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2003 American English
10852 Strange Pictures Uketsu 2022 Unknown Unknown
10856 The Central Motion James Dickey 1983 American English
11278 In Other Words May Swenson 1987 American English
11366 La Vie Rêvée Antonia Pozzi Italian Italian
12259 A Natural History Of The Senses Diane Ackerman 1990 American English
12644 The Restless Clock Jessica Riskin 2016 American English
13362 Sonnets from the Portuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1850 British English
13886 Essential Pleasures Robert Pinsky 2009 American English
14458 The Romantic Generation Charles Rosen 1995 American English
14695 Interpretations Of Literature Lafcadio Hearn 1915 British English
14985 Let's Talk About Love Carl Wilson 2007 Canadian English
14985 Affinities Brian Dillon 2023 British English
15916 Foliage Leigh Hunt 1818 British English
15916 Blues Fell This Morning Paul Oliver 1960 British English
16737 Diary Of A Seducer Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
16762 Las Confesiones Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 Genevan French
16764 Elements Of Criticism Henry Home, Lord Kames 1762 Scottish English
16773 Psychology: Briefer Course William James 1892 American English
17163 Cards of Grief Jane Yolen 1984 American English
17163 Attrib. And Other Stories Eley Williams 2017 British English
17163 Time Warped Claudia Hammond 2012 British English
17163 The Science Of The Mind Owen J. Flanagan 1984 American English
17163 The Beast In The Nursery Adam Phillips 1998 British English
17163 The Idiot Brain Dean Burnett 2016 British English
17163 Your Brain On Art Susan Magsamen 2023 Unknown English
17163 Nothing Stays Put Willard Spiegelman 2023 Unknown English
17163 Do You Remember? Sydney Smith 2023 Unknown English
17163 More Letters Of Note Nikki Usher 2019 Unknown English
17163 The Method Isaac Butler 2022 American English
17163 Why You Love Music John Powell 2016 British English