The Greatest Experimental Books Since 1990

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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
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
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
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
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1299 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German 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
1703 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
1715 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
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
2067 How Late It Was, How Late James Kelman 1994 Scottish English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2335 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2468 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2806 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
2843 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 American English
2847 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
3012 By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño 2000 Chilean Spanish
3063 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 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
3223 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
3275 The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis 1993 Colombian Spanish
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
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
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3945 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4135 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4152 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4299 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4391 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
4393 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4609 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4661 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4665 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4762 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4941 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
5013 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
5154 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5417 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5581 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
5623 Biography Of X Catherine Lacey 2023 American English
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
5802 Kruso Lutz Seiler 2014 German German
5804 Martyr! Kaveh Akbar 2024 American English
5930 Light M. John Harrison 2002 British English
6000 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6143 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
6144 Oreille Rouge Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
6178 Geste Michelle Grangaud 1991 French French
6200 The Elegies Of Oxopetra Odysseas Elytis 1991 Greek Greek
6219 Chronicle of Feelings Alexander Kluge 2000 German German
6235 Petrolio Pier Paolo Pasolini 1992 Italian Italian
6283 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6410 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6461 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6476 War & War László Krasznahorkai 1999 Hungarian Hungarian
6542 F Dumitru Radu Popescu 2000 Romanian Unknown
6567 Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming László Krasznahorkai 2016 Hungarian Hungarian
6608 The Anomaly Hervé Le Tellier 2020 French French
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6737 Emergence Steven Johnson 2001 American English
6787 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments Saidiya Hartman 2019 American English
6846 Three Georges Perec 1991 French French
6851 Apeirogon Colum McCann 2020 Irish English
6854 Chelsea Girls Eileen Myles 1994 American English
6901 Raymond And Hannah Stephen Marche 2005 Canadian English
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
6981 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
6991 The Employees Olga Ravn 2018 Danish Danish
7001 Collected Poems Jack Gilbert 2012 American English
7038 The Afterlife Of George Cartwright John Steffler 1992 Canadian English
7056 Some Thing Black Jacques Roubaud 1990 French French
7080 The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt 2014 American English
7096 Try Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7096 Guide Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7120 The Color Of Summer Reinaldo Arenas 1991 Cuban Spanish
7157 La Horde Du Contrevent Alain Damasio 2004 French French
7176 Out Of Sheer Rage Geoff Dyer 1997 British English
7206 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7213 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
7586 After Sappho Selby Wynn Schwartz 2023 Unknown English
7603 The Beginning Of Infinity David Deutsch 2011 British English