The Greatest Farm Life and Social & Cultural Fiction Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
28 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
247 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
313 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
360 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
594 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English
1011 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1107 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1225 Barefoot Zaharia Stancu 1948 Romanian Romanian
1258 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1400 The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett 1896 American English
1698 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
1813 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
2526 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
2764 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
3368 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
3493 Weeds Edith Summers Kelley 1923 Canadian English
3870 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
4174 The Morometes Marin Preda 1955 Romanian Romanian
4543 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
4703 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
4867 Under The Feet Of Jesus Helena María Viramontes 1995 American English
5773 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
7076 Tarry Flynn Patrick Kavanagh 1948 Irish English
10831 Moo Jane Smiley 1995 American English
11539 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson 1923 American English
11539 So Big Edna Ferber 1924 American English
11539 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
11539 The Town Conrad Richter 1950 American English
12249 The Dogs of March Ernest Hebert 1979 American English
13025 Barren Ground Ellen Glasgow 1925 American English