The Greatest Books of All Time on Farm Life

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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
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
102 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
160 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
170 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
281 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
288 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
456 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
486 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English
499 Platero Juan Ramón Jiménez 1914 Spanish Spanish
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
594 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
693 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
914 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1014 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter 1902 British English
1319 The Story Of An African Farm Olive Schreiner 1883 South African English
1333 Barefoot Zaharia Stancu 1948 Romanian Romanian
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1365 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1428 The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett 1896 American English
1442 Little House In The Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932 American English
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1615 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
1654 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1670 The Emigrants Vilhelm Moberg 1949 Swedish Swedish
1710 The Peasants Władysław Reymont 1904 Polish Polish
1770 The Emperor of Portugallia Selma Lagerlöf 1914 Swedish Swedish
1996 A Childhood Harry Crews 1978 American English
2031 The Devil's Pool George Sand 1846 French French
2073 The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 1852 American English
2278 One of Ours Willa Cather 1922 American English
2331 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
2409 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2460 Lark Rise To Candleford Flora Thompson 1945 British English
2512 On the Black Hill Bruce Chatwin 1982 British English
2574 Lad Albert Payson Terhune 1919 American English
2702 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
2739 My Friend Flicka Mary O'Hara 1941 American English
2752 The Worm Forgives The Plough John Stewart Collis 1947 British English
3181 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3310 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1942 American English
3324 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
3324 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3381 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
3434 Horseman, Pass By Larry McMurtry 1961 American English
3953 The Morometes Marin Preda 1955 Romanian Romanian
4070 The Mountain And The Valley Ernest Buckler 1954 Canadian English
4571 The Taste Of Country Cooking Edna Lewis 1976 American English
4751 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4940 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
5269 Under The Feet Of Jesus Helena María Viramontes 1995 American English
5342 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5391 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans 1995 British English
5494 All Creatures Great And Small James Herriot 1972 British English
5510 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5715 The Twin Gerbrand Bakker 2006 Dutch Dutch
5862 Barren Ground Ellen Glasgow 1925 American English
6105 Het Leven En De Dood In Den Ast Stijn Streuvels 1926 Belgian Dutch
6302 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6522 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
6546 Ride This Night Vilhelm Moberg 1941 Swedish Swedish
6691 Raskens Vilhelm Moberg 1927 Swedish Swedish
6929 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
7589 Moo Jane Smiley 1995 American English
8107 Call Home The Heart Olive Tilford Dargan 1932 American English
8107 A New Home, Who'll Follow? Caroline M. Kirkland 1839 American English
8107 Pembroke Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 1894 American English
8107 Weeds Edith Summers Kelley 1923 Canadian English
8107 Winter Wheat Mildred Walker 1944 American English
8513 Harvest Home Thomas Tryon 1973 American English
8655 The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954 American English
8933 Storm In The Village Miss Read 1958 British English
9001 Little Fadette George Sand 1849 French French
9005 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
9028 Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver 2000 American English
9151 Limberlost Robbie Arnott 2022 Australian English
9857 This Child's Gonna Live Sarah E. Wright 1969 American English
9893 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
10036 The Kulla Gulla Series Martha Sandwall-Bergström 1945 Swedish Swedish
10151 December Bride Sam Hanna Bell 1951 British English
10165 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
10169 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10211 Hjortronlandet Sara Lidman 1955 Swedish Swedish
10450 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls 2009 American English
10507 October Light John Gardner 1976 American English
10745 Farm Hands Tom Rivers 2012 American English
10816 Firelight and Woodsmoke Claude Michelet 1979 French French
11039 Sörgården Anna-Maria Roos 1912 Swedish Swedish
11184 The Loväng Series Sven Edvin Salje 1942 Swedish Swedish
11310 Tarry Flynn Patrick Kavanagh 1948 Irish English
11453 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller 1933 American English
11443 A Farm Under A Lake Martha Bergland 1985 American English
11495 Esther Waters George Moore 1894 British English
11580 A Country Year Sue Hubbell 1986 American English
11619 Every Living Thing James Herriot 1992 British English
11811 Windbreak Linda M. Hasselstrom 1987 American English
12083 Real Farm Patricia Tichenor Westfall 1989 American English
12083 River Time Janet Lembke 1989 American English
12514 All But The Waltz Mary Clearman Blew 1991 American English
12656 Eager Ben Goldfarb 2018 American English
14347 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
14479 Adventures In Friendship David Grayson 1910 American English
14586 The Harvester Gene Stratton-Porter 1911 American English
14625 Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon 1913 French French
14897 The Third Life Of Grange Copeland Alice Walker 1970 American English
14870 Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1903 American English
14938 The Red Pony John Steinbeck 1933 American English
14943 The Long Winter Laura Ingalls Wilder 1940 American English
14960 On The Banks Of Plum Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder 1937 American English
14984 Meadowland John Lewis-Stempel 2014 British English
15629 Joanna Godden Sheila Kaye-Smith 1921 British English
15908 One Man's Meat E. B. White 1942 American English
15908 Letters Of A Woman Homesteader Elinore Pruitt Stewart 1914 American English
15908 String Too Short To Be Saved Donald Hall 1961 American English
15908 Elizabeth And Her German Garden Elizabeth von Arnim 1898 German English