The Greatest Books of All Time on Essays

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
11005 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11026 Alphabetical Diaries Sheila Heti 2024 Unknown Unknown
11044 Who Is Government? Michael M. Lewis 2025 Unknown English
11049 Untold Stories Alan Bennett 2005 British English
11068 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11086 Insomniac City Bill Hayes 2017 American English
11086 Tell Them I Said No Martin Herbert 2017 Unknown English
11256 Nobody Passes Matthew Bernstein Sycamore 2006 Unknown English
11330 Learning To Drive Katha Pollitt 2007 American English
11423 Feminism And Pop Culture Andi Zeisler 2008 American English
11500 Azadi Arundhati Roy 2020 Indian English
11572 Scepticism and Animal Faith George Santayana 1923 Spanish English
11644 On Animals Susan Orlean 2021 American English
11662 Videogames For Humans Merritt Kopas 2015 Unknown English
11663 Hugging The Shore John Updike 1983 American English
11663 Dead Girls Alice Bolin 2018 American English
11663 The Souls Of Yellow Folk Wesley Yang 2018 American English
11805 Culture Creep Alice Bolin 2021 American English
11829 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11884 Root And Branch Eda Gunaydin 2022 Unknown English
11884 Translating Myself And Others Jhumpa Lahiri 2022 Multiple English
11934 This Young Monster Charlie Fox 2017 British English
11934 Animals Strike Curious Poses Elena Passarello 2017 American English
12083 Perfect Victims Mohammed El-Kurd 2025 Unknown English
12136 The Book Of Alchemy Suleika Jaouad 2025 Unknown English
12157 Dead And Alive Zadie Smith 2025 British English
12161 Searches Vauhini Vara 2025 Unknown English
12191 The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age Of Distraction Alan Jacobs 2011 American English
12209 All Consuming Ruby Tandoh 2025 British English
12301 Languages Of Home John Edgar Wideman 2025 American English
12470 And The Pursuit Of Happiness Maira Kalman 2010 American English
12480 Poets Square Courtney Gustafson 2025 Unknown English
12565 History Matters David McCullough, Dorie McCullough Lawson, Michael Hill American English
12600 Dear Writer Maggie Smith American English
12626 Change The Recipe José Andrés, Richard Wolffe American English
12656 Times Square Red, Times Square Blue Samuel R. Delany 1999 American English
12696 You Didn't Hear This From Me Kelsey McKinney 2025 American English
12705 Actress Of A Certain Age Jeff Hiller 2025 American English
12722 Notes To John Joan Didion 2025 American English
12732 Waiting On The Moon Peter Wolf Unknown English
12793 Turning To Birds Lili Taylor 2025 American English
12913 Black Genius Tre Johnson 2025 American English
12918 Let Only Red Flowers Bloom Emily Feng 2025 Unknown English
12925 Second Life Amanda Hess 2025 Unknown English
12943 Attention Anne Enright 2025 Irish English
12956 I Want To Burn This Place Down Maris Kreizman 2025 American English
12969 Alligator Tears Edgar Gomez 2025 Unknown English
12970 Uncanny Valley Girls Zefyr Lisowski 2025 Unknown English
12989 The Hour Of The Predator Giuliano da Empoli 2025 Unknown English
13085 No Sense In Wishing Lawrence Burney 2025 Unknown English
13088 Three Or More Is A Riot Jelani Cobb 2025 American English
13194 Authority Andrea Long Chu 2025 American English
13205 Aggregated Discontent Harron Walker 2025 Unknown English
13209 You Have A New Memory Aiden Arata 2025 Unknown English
13140 Erik Satie Three Piece Suite Ian Penman 2025 British English
13149 Those Passions T. J. Clark 2025 British English
13362 The Works of Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor 1846 British English
13591 Papyrus Irene Vallejo 2019 Spanish Spanish
13600 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13886 American Voyeur Benoit Denizet-Lewis 2009 American English
13941 Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson 1995 American English
13971 Book Of Mutter Kate Zambreno 2017 American English
14023 Generation Of Vipers Philip Wylie 1942 American English
14043 Memory Serves Lee Maracle 2015 Canadian English
14078 The Seven Necessary Sins For Women And Girls Mona Eltahawy 2019 American English
14176 To Be A Machine Mark O'Connell 2017 Irish English
14328 Shapes Of Native Nonfiction Elissa Washuta, Theresa Warburton 2019 Unknown English
14435 The World Of Mathematics James R. Newman 1956 American English
14650 A Homemade World Hugh Kenner 1975 American English
14732 The World Within the Word William H. Gass 1978 American English
14872 The Common Reader Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
14985 Naked David Sedaris 1997 American English
14985 Crazy Salad Nora Ephron 1975 American English
14985 Reliable Essays Clive James 2001 British English
14985 The Crisis Of Narration Byung-Chul Han 2023 German German
14985 An Outside Chance Thomas McGuane 1980 American English
14985 The Man Who Ate Everything Jeffrey Steingarten 1997 American English
14985 Affinities Brian Dillon 2023 British English
15660 The Outline Of Literature John Drinkwater 1923 British English
15686 The Paris Review Interviews Paris Review 2006 American English
15916 Masscult and Midcult Dwight Macdonald 1962 American English
16508 Table Talk William Hazlitt 1822 English English
16710 The Rambler Samuel Johnson 1784 English English
17163 Recollected Essays Wendell Berry 1981 American English
17163 The Edward Hoagland Reader Edward Hoagland 1979 American English
17163 Enthusiasms Bernard Levin 1983 British English
17163 Taking the World in for Repairs Richard Selzer 1986 American English
17163 Self-Consciousness John Updike 1989 American English
17163 Metaphor and Memory Cynthia Ozick 1989 American English
17163 Independent Spirit Hubert Butler 1990 Irish English
17163 Ten Years In The Tub Nick Hornby 2013 British English
17163 A Reader's Delight Noel Perrin 1988 American English
17163 I Just Keep Talking Nell Irvin Painter 2024 Unknown English
17163 Private Revolutions Yuan Yang 2024 Unknown English
17163 Attachments Lucas Mann 2024 Unknown English
17163 Thunder Song Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Art Of Dying Peter Schjeldahl 2024 American English
17163 Wrong Norma Anne Carson 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Serviceberry Robin Wall Kimmerer 2024 Unknown English
17163 More, Please Emma Specter 2024 Unknown English
17163 Democracy Awakening Heather Cox Richardson 2023 American English
17163 All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten Robert Fulghum 1986 American English
17163 Death By A Thousand Cuts Shashi Bhat 2024 Unknown English
17163 Everything And Nothing At All Jenny Heijun Wills 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Garden Against Time Olivia Laing 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Notebook Roland Allen 2024 Unknown English
17163 Lessons For Survival Emily Raboteau 2024 Unknown English
17163 We Loved It All Lydia Millet 2024 American English
17163 How To Live Free In A Dangerous World Shayla Lawson 2024 Unknown English
17163 Stranger Than Fiction Edwin Frank 2024 Unknown English
17163 Assassination Vacation Sarah Vowell 2005 American English
17163 Unfamiliar Fishes Sarah Vowell 2011 American English
17163 Cairn Kathleen Jamie 2024 British English
17163 On The Couch Andrew Blauner 2024 Unknown English
17163 Private Island James Meek 2014 British English
17163 On The Front Line Marie Colvin 2012 British English
17163 Hoo Hahs And Passing Frenzies Francis Wheen 2002 British English
17163 The Bedwetter Sarah Silverman 2010 American English
17163 The Flaneur Edmund White 2001 American English
17163 Poverty And Famines Amartya Sen 1981 Indian English