The Greatest Books of All Time on Failure

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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
203 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 1980 American English
347 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
428 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
432 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
491 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
606 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
775 Cheese Willem Elsschot 1933 Belgian Dutch
1036 The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony Henry Handel Richardson 1917 Australian English
1152 The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever 1957 American English
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
2374 The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald 1945 American English
2733 Seize The Day Saul Bellow 1956 American English
2871 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
3062 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3521 Balzac Stefan Zweig 1946 Austrian German
4588 The Loser Thomas Bernhard 1983 Austrian German
5250 The Art of Fielding Chad Harbach 2011 American English
5310 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5667 Rich Man, Poor Man Irwin Shaw 1969 American English
5830 The Easter Parade Richard Yates 1976 American English
5934 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
6508 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
6816 Open Andre Agassi 2009 American English
6821 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
7216 Poems Of Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson 1897 American English
8683 Adapt Tim Harford 2011 British English
9194 The Rise Sarah Lewis 2014 Unknown English
10105 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
10454 A Hologram For The King Dave Eggers 2012 American English
10789 Jackson Pollock Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith 1989 American English
11354 The Interestings Meg Wolitzer 2013 American English
11455 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin 1943 American English
11455 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser 1996 American English
11547 Enemies of Promise Cyril Connolly 1938 British English
11663 Penelope Fitzgerald Hermione Lee 2013 British English
11663 Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009 American English
13555 Almayer's Folly Joseph Conrad 1895 British English
13739 Mindset Carol S. Dweck 2006 American English
13796 Turnaround Don Carpenter 1981 American English
13818 Inseparabili Alessandro Piperno 2012 Italian Italian
14090 Shoe Dog Phil Knight 2016 American English
14232 The Damned Utd David Peace 2006 British English
14232 In Custody Anita Desai 1984 Indian English
14232 The Imperfectionists Tom Rachman 2010 British English
14230 Fat City Leonard Gardner 1969 American English
14390 The Collected Stories Richard Yates 2001 American English
14458 A Champion's Mind Pete Sampras 2008 American English
14925 Johann Holtrop Rainald Goetz 2012 German German
14986 The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*Ck Mark Manson 2016 American English
14986 A False Spring Pat Jordan 1975 American English
15597 Broken Genius Joel N. Shurkin 2020 American English
17173 The Franchiser Stanley Elkin 1976 American English
17173 Mulligan Stew Gilbert Sorrentino 1979 American English
17173 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
16868 Sweet Bird Of Youth Tennessee Williams 1959 American English
17173 Master Class Terrence McNally 1995 American English
16958 The Entertainer John Osborne 1957 British English
17173 Absurd Person Singular Alan Ayckbourn 1972 British English
17173 Mister Monkey Francine Prose 2016 American English
17173 The Cliff Dwellers Henry Blake Fuller 1893 American English
17173 The Cannibal Galaxy Cynthia Ozick 1983 American English
17173 Learned Optimism Martin E.P. Seligman 1990 American English
17173 Failing Forward John C. Maxwell 2000 American English
17173 Ego Is The Enemy Ryan Holiday 2016 American English
17173 The Guest Lecture Martin Riker 2023 Unknown English
17173 The Path To Paradise Sam Wasson 2023 Unknown English
17173 Losing The Signal McNish, Jacquie, Silcoff, Sean 2015 Canadian English