The Greatest Farm Life 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 394 '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
20 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
85 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
150 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
236 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
271 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
238 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men James Agee 1941 American English
313 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
430 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
509 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English
510 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
537 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
564 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
598 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
638 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
760 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
915 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
935 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
995 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1107 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1257 The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett 1896 American English
1292 Barefoot Zaharia Stancu 1948 Romanian Romanian
1381 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
1416 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1478 The Emigrants Vilhelm Moberg 1949 Swedish Swedish
1525 The Emperor of Portugallia Selma Lagerlöf 1914 Swedish Swedish
1556 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
1574 Lad Albert Payson Terhune 1919 American English
1688 The Devil's Pool George Sand 1846 French French
1719 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
1719 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
1935 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
1963 My Friend Flicka Mary O'Hara 1941 American English
2457 A Childhood Harry Crews 1978 American English
2490 Little House In The Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder 1932 American English
2557 The Taste Of Country Cooking Edna Lewis 1976 American English
2708 Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson 2003 Norwegian Norwegian
2755 The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 1852 American English
2816 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
2999 On the Black Hill Bruce Chatwin 1982 British English
3067 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
3077 Lark Rise To Candleford Flora Thompson 1945 British English
3107 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
3281 Horseman, Pass By Larry McMurtry 1961 American English
3289 The Worm Forgives The Plough John Stewart Collis 1947 British English
3361 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
3369 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3626 Call Home The Heart Olive Tilford Dargan 1932 American English
3626 A New Home, Who'll Follow? Caroline M. Kirkland 1839 American English
3626 Pembroke Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 1894 American English
3626 Weeds Edith Summers Kelley 1923 Canadian English
3626 Winter Wheat Mildred Walker 1944 American English
3673 The Peasants Władysław Reymont 1904 Polish Polish
3920 Under The Feet Of Jesus Helena María Viramontes 1995 American English
4080 The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954 American English
4185 Harvest Home Thomas Tryon 1973 American English
4202 One of Ours Willa Cather 1922 American English
4244 The Morometes Marin Preda 1955 Romanian Romanian
4373 Storm In The Village Miss Read 1958 British English
4413 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
4528 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
4654 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans 1995 British English
4784 The Third Life Of Grange Copeland Alice Walker 1970 American English
5311 This Child's Gonna Live Sarah E. Wright 1969 American English
5584 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
5600 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
5816 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
5871 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
6001 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6100 Het Leven En De Dood In Den Ast Stijn Streuvels 1926 Belgian Dutch
6513 Firelight and Woodsmoke Claude Michelet 1979 French French
6877 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
6969 A Farm Under A Lake Martha Bergland 1985 American English
6989 Tarry Flynn Patrick Kavanagh 1948 Irish English
6998 December Bride Sam Hanna Bell 1951 British English
7049 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls 2009 American English
7049 Little Heathens Mildred Armstrong Kalish 2007 American English
7196 A Country Year Sue Hubbell 1986 American English
7237 Esther Waters George Moore 1894 British English
7238 Little Fadette George Sand 1849 French French
7351 Windbreak Linda M. Hasselstrom 1987 American English
7437 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
7544 Moo Jane Smiley 1995 American English
7598 Real Farm Patricia Tichenor Westfall 1989 American English
7598 River Time Janet Lembke 1989 American English
7697 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
7884 All But The Waltz Mary Clearman Blew 1991 American English
8488 Charlottes Buzzybeez PUBLICATIONS Unknown
8709 Coming Rain Stephen Daisley 2015 Australian English
8699 The Twin Gerbrand Bakker 2006 Dutch Dutch
9050 Farm Hands Tom Rivers 2012 American English
9392 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
9854 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson 1923 American English
9854 So Big Edna Ferber 1924 American English
9854 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
9854 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller 1933 American English
9854 The Town Conrad Richter 1950 American English
9818 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
9884 Ride This Night Vilhelm Moberg 1941 Swedish Swedish
9892 Raskens Vilhelm Moberg 1927 Swedish Swedish
9925 The Kulla Gulla Series Martha Sandwall-Bergström 1945 Swedish Swedish
10378 October Light John Gardner 1976 American English
10739 Eager Ben Goldfarb 2018 American English
10985 Barren Ground Ellen Glasgow 1925 American English
11335 One Man's Meat E. B. White 1942 American English
12198 The Red Pony John Steinbeck 1933 American English
11987 Letters Of A Woman Homesteader Elinore Pruitt Stewart 1914 American English
11987 String Too Short To Be Saved Donald Hall 1961 American English
11987 Elizabeth And Her German Garden Elizabeth von Arnim 1898 German English
12159 A Country Doctor Sarah Orne Jewett 1884 American English
11335 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1942 American English
12200 Anne Of Avonlea L. M. Montgomery 1909 Canadian English
12220 Akenfield Ronald Blythe 1969 American English
12251 On The Banks Of Plum Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder 1937 American English
12252 Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1903 American English
12258 Caddie Woodlawn Carol Ryrie Brink 1935 American English
12352 The Dogs of March Ernest Hebert 1979 American English
12352 Wilding Isabella Tree 2018 British English
12352 Meadowland John Lewis-Stempel 2014 British English
12352 The Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen 2014 British English
12352 A Painted House John Grisham 2001 American English