The Greatest Family and Magical Realism Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
4 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez 1967 Colombian Spanish
41 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie 1981 British, Indian English
44 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
48 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
107 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
110 Pedro Páramo Juan Rulfo 1955 Mexican Spanish
279 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
297 The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende 1982 Chilean Spanish
641 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich 1984 American English
678 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
767 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
1049 Like Water For Chocolate Laura Esquivel 1989 Mexican Spanish
1051 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1094 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
1145 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1210 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
1441 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
1542 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya 1972 American English
1629 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1644 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealander English
1667 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
2122 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
2416 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
2435 The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie 1995 British English
2467 Shame Salman Rushdie 1983 British English
2485 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
2514 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
2530 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2581 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2676 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
2733 The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht 2011 Serbian English
2766 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
2844 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English
2872 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
2891 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3270 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
3332 Dreaming in Cuban Cristina García 1992 Cuban English
3369 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
3374 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
3859 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
3907 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
3945 Indigo Marina Warner 1992 British English
3961 Collected Stories Gabriel García Márquez 1996 Colombian Spanish
4072 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson 2010 American English
4136 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
4149 The Sacred Night Tahar Ben Jelloun 1987 Moroccan French
4163 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
4421 City of the Beasts Isabel Allende 2002 Chilean Spanish
4568 So Far From God Ana Castillo 1993 American English
5087 Peace Like A River Leif Enger 2001 American English
5115 Three Apples Fell From The Sky Narine Abgaryan 2015 Armenian Russian
5133 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
5177 Signs Preceding the End of the World Yuri Herrera 2009 Mexican Spanish
5430 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
5590 Cereus Blooms At Night Shani Mootoo 1996 Canadian English
5590 The Cure For Death By Lightning Gail Anderson-Dargatz 1996 Canadian English
5653 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5978 Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass Bruno Schulz 1937 Polish Polish
6018 Short Friday Isaac Bashevis Singer 1964 Polish Yiddish
6026 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
6322 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
6629 The Seance and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1968 Polish Yiddish
6654 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
6720 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
6732 Shadowshaper Daniel José Older 2015 American English
6860 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
6920 A Tale For The Time Being Ruth Ozeki 2013 American English
7338 La Vida Exagerada De Martín Romaña Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1981 Peruvian Spanish
7455 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
7541 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
7565 Blanca & Roja Anna-Marie McLemore 2018 American English
7717 Mama Day Gloria Naylor 1988 American English
7746 North Woods Daniel Mason 2023 American English
7784 Gods Of Jade And Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2019 Mexican English
7859 The Tricksters Margaret Mahy 1986 New Zealand English
7965 Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger 2020 American English
7971 El Jinete Polaco Antonio Muñoz Molina 1991 Spanish Spanish
8017 Seventh Heaven Alice Hoffman 1990 American English
8077 Santo Oficio De La Memoria Mempo Giardinelli 1991 Argentinian Spanish
8110 Ghosts César Aira 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8150 When The Moon Was Ours Anna-Marie McLemore 2016 American English
8503 The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates 2019 American English
8512 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2013 British English
8527 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
8726 The Astonishing Color Of After Emily X. R. Pan 2018 American English
8975 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
9362 Everything Under Daisy Johnson 2018 British English
9415 Mr. Splitfoot Samantha Hunt 2016 American English
9516 This Is Happiness Niall Williams 2019 Irish English
9623 Real Americans Rachel Khong 2024 American Unknown
9743 Beauty Is A Wound Eka Kurniawan 2002 Indonesian Indonesian
9783 Claire Of The Sea Light Edwidge Danticat 2013 Haitian English
10069 The African Shore Rodrigo Rey Rosa 1999 Guatemalan Spanish
10313 Lunar New Year Love Story Gene Luen Yang 2024 Unknown English
10527 The Dream Life Of Sukhanov Olga Grushin 2005 Russian English
10584 Meteor In The Madhouse Leon Forrest 2001 American English
10578 Bone Gap Laura Ruby 2015 British English
10618 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
10643 Practical Magic Alice Hoffman 1995 American English
10685 The Girl Who Drank The Moon Kelly Barnhill 2016 American English
10855 Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi 2014 British English
10944 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1973 Polish English
11278 Lovecraft Country Matt Ruff 2016 American English
11539 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser 1996 American English
11686 The Golden Bird George Mackay Brown 1962 Scottish English
11752 Ostatnie Historie Olga Tokarczuk 2004 Polish Polish
11834 Birthday César Aira 2019 Argentinian Spanish
12142 Os Malaquias Andréa del Fuego 2010 Brazilian Portuguese
12163 The Invented Part Rodrigo Fresán 2014 Argentinian Spanish
12389 The Fountains of Neptune Rikki Ducornet 1992 American English
12415 The Changeling Joy Williams 1978 American English
12430 The Jade Cabinet Rikki Ducornet 1993 American English
12613 Redemption in Indigo Karen Lord 2010 Barbadian English
12669 The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea Axie Oh 2022 Unknown English
12683 An Orphan World Giuseppe Caputo 2019 Colombian Spanish
12795 Lifelode Jo Walton 2009 British English
12795 The Uncertain Places Lisa Goldstein 2011 American English
12795 A Snicker of Magic Natalie Lloyd 2014 American English
12795 Root Magic Eden Royce 2021 American English
12761 The Antelope Wife Louise Erdrich 1998 American English