The Greatest Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Political Books Since 1980

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 464 '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
679 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
801 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
867 The War of the End of the World Mario Vargas Llosa 1981 Peruvian Spanish
1181 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1939 In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez 1994 Dominican English
1986 The Sorrow of Belgium Hugo Claus 1983 Belgian Dutch
2013 I Served The King Of England Bohumil Hrabal 1983 Czech Czech
2361 The Witness Juan José Saer 1983 Argentinian Spanish
2467 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2524 Half of Man is Woman Zhang Xianliang 1985 Chinese Chinese
2640 Paradise of the Blind Dương Thu Hương 1988 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2920 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 American English
3475 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
3513 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3975 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
4079 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
4164 The Man Who Loved Dogs Leonardo Padura 2009 Cuban Spanish
4570 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
4785 Flight From The Ussr Dato Turashvili 2010 Georgian Georgian
5031 A Geração Da Utopia Pepetela 1992 Angolan Portuguese
5049 The Garlic Ballads Yan Mo 1988 Chinese Chinese
5097 As If I Am Not There Slavenka Drakulic 1999 Croatian English
5097 In Search of Klingsor Jorge Volpi Escalante 1999 Mexican Spanish
5161 A Spare Life Lidija Dimkovksa 2012 Macedonian Macedonian
5213 De Niro's Game Rawi Hage 2006 Canadian English
5297 A Flag For Sunrise Robert Stone 1981 American English
5561 Carbide Andriy Lyubka 2014 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5637 Stones In The Wall Dai Houying 1980 Chinese Chinese
5881 The Successor Ismail Kadare 2003 Albanian Albanian
5999 Becoming Madame Mao Anchee Min 2000 American English
6416 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
6583 The Assault Harry Mulisch 1982 Dutch Dutch
7072 Beijing Coma Ma Jian 2008 Chinese Chinese
7319 The Vagrants Yiyun Li 2009 American English
7439 Malvinas Requiem Fogwill 1983 Argentine Spanish
7477 Allah Is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma 2000 French French
7592 Homeland Fernando Aramburu 2016 Spanish Spanish
8004 A Case Of Exploding Mangoes Mohammed Hanif 2008 Pakistani English
8340 The Orphanage Serhiy Zhadan 2017 Ukrainian Ukrainian
8781 Great Expectations Vinson Cunningham 2024 Unknown English
8792 The French Art Of War Alexis Jenni 2011 French French
9242 This Blinding Absence Of Light Tahar Ben Jelloun 2001 French French
9888 Red Menace Joe Thomas 2024 Unknown English
10714 The Way To Paradise Mario Vargas Llosa 2003 Peruvian Spanish
10850 The Darling Russell Banks 2004 American English
11113 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English
11284 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen 2008 American English
11369 M Antonio Scurati 2018 Italian Italian
11568 Love In Exile Bahaa Taher 1995 Egyptian Arabic
11628 Fall Of Giants Ken Follett 2010 British English
11670 Door To The Courtyard Sahar Khalifeh 1995 Palestinian Arabic
11725 Winter Of The World Ken Follett 2012 British English
11799 Gate Of The Sun Elias Khoury 1998 Lebanese Arabic
11802 The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta Mario Vargas Llosa 1984 Peruvian Spanish
11839 Edge Of Eternity Ken Follett 2014 British English
12914 The House Of Splendid Isolation Edna O'Brien 1994 Irish English
12914 The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver 2009 American English