The Greatest Fiction, Historical Fiction, Political, and Social & Cultural Fiction Books Since 1980

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.

View: Default Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
878 The War of the End of the World Mario Vargas Llosa 1981 Peruvian Spanish
1090 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
2261 I Served The King Of England Bohumil Hrabal 1983 Czech Czech
2590 Paradise of the Blind Dương Thu Hương 1988 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2598 Half of Man is Woman Zhang Xianliang 1985 Chinese Chinese
3374 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
3403 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
4029 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
4105 A Geração Da Utopia Pepetela 1992 Angolan Portuguese
4735 Flight From The Ussr Dato Turashvili 2010 Georgian Georgian
5033 As If I Am Not There Slavenka Drakulic 1999 Croatian English
5076 A Spare Life Lidija Dimkovksa 2012 Macedonian Macedonian
5525 The Garlic Ballads Yan Mo 1988 Chinese Chinese
6312 Stones In The Wall Dai Houying 1980 Chinese Chinese
6852 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
10881 The Darling Russell Banks 2004 American English
11228 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English