The Greatest Experimental 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
10733 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10749 Spanking The Maid Robert Coover 1982 American English
10749 The Changing Light At Sandover James Merrill 1982 American English
10818 Montauk Max Frisch 1975 Swiss German
10825 Touching Feeling Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2003 American English
10829 The Lime Twig John Hawkes 1961 American English
10830 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10877 The Vitals Tracy Sorensen 2023 Unknown English
10877 The Pole And Other Stories J. M. Coetzee 2023 South African English
10890 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10899 Hotel Splendid Marie Redonnet 1986 French French
10909 Samedi The Deafness Jesse Ball 2007 American English
10909 The Last Novel David Markson 2007 American English
10913 Роман Vladimir Sorokin 1998 Russian Russian
10936 Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins 1966 Irish English
10938 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
10946 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
10967 That Time Of Year Marie NDiaye 2020 French French
10997 The History Of Sexuality Michel Foucault 1976 French French
11012 Birthday César Aira 2019 Argentinian Spanish
11023 Alphabetical Diaries Sheila Heti 2024 Unknown Unknown
11033 This Sex Which Is Not One Luce Irigary 1977 French French
11055 Gliff Ali Smith 2024 British English
11059 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11061 The Red Grass Boris Vian 1949 French French
11074 Life Adjustment Center Ryan McGinley 2010 American Unknown
11074 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
11090 Perrudja Hans Henny Jahnn 1929 German German
11090 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11090 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11090 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11090 Die Palette Hubert Fichte 1968 German German
11135 An Arrow’s Flight Mark Merlis 1998 American English
11165 Scattered All Over The Earth Yoko Tawada 2018 Japanese Japanese
11181 In Every Moment We Still Are Alive Tom Malmquist 2015 Swedish Swedish
11207 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11245 Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins 1971 American English
11253 Nobody Passes Matthew Bernstein Sycamore 2006 Unknown English
11270 Seiobo There Below László Krasznahorkai 2008 Hungarian Hungarian
11275 Space In Motion Juan Goytisolo 1987 Spanish Unknown
11336 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
11354 Solange Willy Kyrklund 1951 Swedish Swedish
11391 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11390 Marbot Wolfgang Hildesheimer 1981 German German
11423 A Naked Singularity Sergio De La Pava 2008 American English
11432 Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrung Mit Georg Trakls Gedicht Franz Fühmann 1982 German German
11432 Midwinter Day Bernadette Mayer 1982 American English
11438 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11492 Day In Day Out Terézia Mora 2004 German German
11507 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11546 Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen 1966 Canadian English
11564 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11563 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11631 The Instructions Adam Levin 2010 American English
11638 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11660 Videogames For Humans Merritt Kopas 2015 Unknown English
11661 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
11661 A Short History Of Women Kate Walbert 2009 American English
11661 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11661 An Arrow In The Wall Andrey Voznesensky 1987 Russian Russian
11661 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2018 American English
11661 Pure Hollywood Christine Schutt 2018 American English
11661 Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg 2018 American English
11805 X, Y Michael Blumlein 1993 American English
11809 Little Labors Rivka Galchen 2016 American English
11824 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11838 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
11869 Throat Sprockets Tim Lucas 1994 American English
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
11899 A War Of Eyes And Other Stories Wanda Coleman 1988 American English
11899 The Woman Who Was Not All There Paula Sharp 1988 American English
11898 The Drama Of Doctrine Kevin Vanhoozer 2004 American English
11932 This Young Monster Charlie Fox 2017 British English
12021 The Off Season Jack Cady 1995 American English
12046 Species Of Spaces And Other Pieces Georges Perec 1974 French French
12060 Cannonball Joseph McElroy 2013 American English
12083 Aids And Its Metaphors Susan Sontag 1989 American English
12083 Dancing At The Edge Of The World Ursula K. Le Guin 1989 American English
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12112 Hotel Lautréamont John Ashbery 1992 American English
12111 Every Riven Thing Christian Wiman 2010 American English
12158 My Work Olga Ravn 2023 Danish Danish
12231 The Karnau Tapes Marcel Beyer 1995 German German
12241 Brother Brontë Fernando A. Flores 2023 Unknown English
12249 The Golden Gate Vikram Seth 1986 Indian English
12258 Through The Arc Of The Rain Forest Karen Tei Yamashita 1990 American English
12482 EEG Daša Drndić 2016 Croatian Croatian
12495 The Mind's I Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett 1981 American English
12656 And The Stars Were Shining John Ashbery 1994 American English
12752 Border Districts Gerald Murnane 2017 Australian English
12755 Maidenhair Mikhail Shishkin 2005 Russian Russian
12764 Father's On The Phone With The Flies Herta Müller 2012 German German
12793 Echine Philippe Djian 1982 French French
12806 Ich Bin In Der Anstalt Friederike Mayröcker 2000 Austrian German
12833 The Straight Mind Monique Wittig 1992 French French
12865 The Extreme Self Douglas Coupland, Shumon Basar, Hans Ulrich Obrist 2021 Multiple English
13160 Lode Gillian Allnutt 2025 English English
13257 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
13285 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
13287 Nocilla Dream Agustín Fernández Mallo 2006 Spanish Spanish
13318 Brief Interviews With Hideous Men David Foster Wallace 1999 American English
13330 Wir Schlafen Nicht Kathrin Röggla 2004 Austrian German
13329 Olio Tyehimba Jess 2016 American English
13333 Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed Over Two Decades Jianren Wu 1908 Chinese Chinese
13361 Harmonium Wallace Stevens 1923 American English
13361 Sonnets To Orpheus Rainer Maria Rilke 1923 German German
13361 On Having No Head Douglas Harding 1961 British English
13361 Blast I Wyndham Lewis 1914 British English
13361 Silence John Cage 1961 American English
13361 I Am A Cat Natsume Sōseki 1905 Japanese Japanese
13553 Tell The Machine Goodnight Katie Williams 2018 American English
13567 J Pod Douglas Coupland 2006 Canadian English
13583 Heartland Wilson Harris 1964 Guyanese English
13600 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13694 First World Fantasy Awards Gahan Wilson 1977 American English
13711 The Fruit Thief Peter Handke 2017 Austrian German
13765 Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008 American English
13818 A Caso Tommaso Landolfi 1975 Italian Italian
13818 Nottetempo, Casa Per Casa Vincenzo Consolo 1992 Italian Italian
13879 First Love And Other Shorts Samuel Beckett 1970 French French