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
7604 Mourir M'enrhume Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
7605 L'interruption Dominique Noguez 1993 French French
7605 Writing Marguerite Duras 1993 French French
7625 Caietul Albastru Nicolae Balotă 2007 Romanian Romanian
7626 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7631 Telephone Percival Everett 2020 American English
7634 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
7682 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7725 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7736 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
7746 Lifted Bill Manhire 2006 New Zealand English
7753 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7827 Mezi Oknem, Stolem A Postelí Petr Borkovec 1996 Czech Czech
7856 Autobiography Of Red Anne Carson 1998 Canadian English
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7899 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
7914 The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 2007 American English
7941 Phantom Pain Wings Kim Hye-soon 2019 Korean Korean
7958 La Casa De La Fuerza Angélica Liddell 2009 Spanish Spanish
8000 Fragmentos De Un Libro Futuro José Ángel Valente 2000 Spanish Spanish
8024 Gender Outlaw Kate Bornstein 1994 American English
8068 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8071 Taipei Tao Lin 2013 American English
8075 The Seven Churches Miloš Urban 1999 Czech Czech
8143 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
8143 Alindarka’s Children Alhierld Bakharevich 2014 Belarusian Belarusian
8155 Crush Richard Siken 2005 American English
8166 In A State Of Memory Tununa Mercado 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8192 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8202 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8202 Insomnia Drawings Louise Bourgeois 2000 Unknown English
8202 The Day I Wasn't There Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
8218 Rok Perel Zuzana Brabcová 2000 Czech Czech
8233 U and I Nicholson Baker 1991 American English
8242 19 Knives Mark Anthony Jarman 1997 Canadian English
8248 Always Unreliable Clive James 2001 British English
8297 Kokuhaku Kō Machida 2005 Japanese Japanese
8327 This All Happened Michael Winter 2000 Canadian English
8344 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8380 Towards Another Summer Janet Frame 2007 New Zealander English
8401 About The Author John Colapinto 2001 American English
8425 Un Campeón Desparejo Adolfo Bioy Casares 1993 Argentinian Spanish
8442 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8444 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8460 Headshot Rita Bullwinkel 2024 Unknown English
8472 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8495 Margaret The First Danielle Dutton 2016 American English
8533 L'amour, Roman Camille Laurens 2003 French French
8552 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8622 Play The Monster Blind Lynn Coady 2000 Canadian English
8630 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8628 Custody Of The Eyes Diamela Eltit 1994 Chilean Spanish
8680 The Chronology Of Water Lidia Yuknavitch 2011 American English
8674 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8705 Strategies Of Fantasy Brian Attebery 1992 American English
8787 The Diaries Of Emilio Renzi Ricardo Piglia 2015 Argentinian Spanish
8843 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
8846 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8884 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
8888 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8896 I Have Not Seen Mandu Swadesh Deepak 2003 Indian Hindi
8903 Blackouts Justin Torres 2023 Unknown English
8976 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
9021 Dark Back Of Time Javier Marias 1998 Spanish Spanish
9021 Memories Of My Father Watching Tv Curtis White 1998 American English
9046 Death as a Side Effect Ana María Shua 1997 Argentinian Spanish
9060 Pond Claire-Louise Bennett 2015 Irish English
9127 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9135 The Last Lover Can Xue 2005 Chinese Chinese
9138 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9142 Can You Tolerate This? Ashleigh Young 2016 New Zealand English
9159 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9223 The Passenger Cormac McCarthy 2022 American English
9224 Burning Your Boats Angela Carter 1995 British English
9230 El Traductor Salvador Benesdra 1998 Argentinian Spanish
9234 Panthers And The Museum Of Fire Jen Craig 2015 Australian English
9244 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9308 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9346 Ellipse Of Uncertainty Lance Olsen 1993 American English
9345 Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird 2016 New Zealand English
9373 Their Brilliant Careers Ryan O’Neill 2016 Australian English
9604 Meteor In The Madhouse Leon Forrest 2001 American English
9640 Tram 83 Fiston Mwanza Mujila 2014 Congolese French
9655 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9657 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9674 Easy Reading Cristina Morales 2018 Spanish Spanish
9762 When The Earth Was Flat Raymond Fraser 2007 Canadian English
9769 Animal Money Michael Cisco 2015 American English
9781 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9807 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9826 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9848 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9958 On The Calculation Of Volume Solvej Balle 2025 Danish Danish
10010 Multiple Choice Alejandro Zambra 2014 Chilean Spanish
10060 Campo De Retamas Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio 2013 Spanish Spanish
10094 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10167 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10180 Harmada João Gilberto Noll 1993 Brazilian Portuguese
10205 Peripathetic Cher Tan 2020 Unknown English
10206 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10221 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10294 April Fool's Day Josip Novakovich 2004 Croatian English
10357 Liars Sarah Manguso 2024 American English
10381 The Airways Jennifer Mills 2021 Unknown English
10381 Human Looking Andy Jackson 2021 Unknown English
10388 Spent Light Lara Pawson 2024 Unknown English
10436 Bluff Danez Smith 2024 American English
10450 Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt 2012 American English
10507 Skin Kathe Koja 1993 American English
10523 Splinters Leslie Jamison 2024 Unknown English
10540 My Struggle: Book 6 Karl Ove Knausgård 2011 Norwegian Norwegian
10592 Varieties of Disturbance Lydia Davis 2007 American English
10597 Strange Sally Diamond Liz Nugent 2023 Irish English
10602 All Things Are Too Small Becca Rothfeld 2024 Unknown English
10666 36 Ways Of Writing A Vietnamese Poem Nam Le 2024 Multiple English
10694 Blue Ruin Hari Kunzru 2024 British English
10709 Hum Helen Phillips 2024 American English
10707 The Lodgers Holly Pester 2024 Unknown English
10733 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov 1995 Russian English
10824 Touching Feeling Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2003 American English