The Greatest Experimental Books Since 1980

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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
200 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
333 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
355 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño 1998 Chilean Spanish
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1106 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1166 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1299 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1443 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English
1472 The Beauty Of The Husband Anne Carson 2001 Canadian English
1565 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1610 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1703 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
1715 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1861 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1909 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
2057 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
2067 How Late It Was, How Late James Kelman 1994 Scottish English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2334 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2416 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2419 The Melancholy of Resistance László Krasznahorkai 1989 Hungarian Hungarian
2467 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2492 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2666 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin 1987 British English
2805 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
2842 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 American English
2846 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
3007 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3011 By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño 2000 Chilean Spanish
3055 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
3056 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3062 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3111 Anagrams Lorrie Moore 1986 American English
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3162 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3164 Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 2014 American English
3165 Gender Trouble Judith Butler 1990 American English
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3212 Betty Blue Philippe Djian 1985 French French
3223 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
3275 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3396 Cities of the Red Night William S. Burroughs 1981 American English
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3534 The Obscene Madame D Hilda Hilst 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
3539 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3603 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3801 A Imortalidade Milan Kundera 1990 Czech Czech
3806 Critique Of Cynical Reason Peter Sloterdijk 1983 German German
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3877 Subconscious Opens Like A Fan Yona Wallach 1985 Israeli Hebrew
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3919 Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg 1984 American English
3944 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
4115 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4134 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4135 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4151 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4285 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4298 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4390 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
4392 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4414 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4608 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4660 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4664 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4761 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4802 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4940 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4949 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4991 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5012 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5254 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5284 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
5284 Tratament Fabulatoriu Mircea Nedelciu 1986 Romanian Romanian
5337 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5417 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5477 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5581 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
5582 Democracy Joan Didion 1984 American English
5623 Biography Of X Catherine Lacey 2023 American English
5630 Ego Monster Sayd Bahodine Majrouh 1985 Afghan French
5653 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5653 The Parable of the Blind Gert Hofmann 1985 German German
5667 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
5685 Big Blondes Jean Echenoz 1995 French French
5692 Period Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
5708 Sertarul Cu Aplauze Ana Blandiana 1992 Romanian Romanian
5720 Warlight Michael Ondaatje 2018 Canadian English
5750 The Insult Rupert Thomson 1996 British English
5774 Χαιρε Ποτε Kiki Dimoula 1988 Greek Greek
5802 Kruso Lutz Seiler 2014 German German