The Greatest Books of All Time on Generations

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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
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
1152 The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever 1957 American English
1173 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
2178 Old People And The Things That Pass Louis Couperus 1906 Dutch Dutch
2237 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2504 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2543 The Artamonov Business Maxim Gorky 1925 Russian Russian
2937 Jauche Und Levkojen Christine Brückner 1975 German German
3414 Hanna's Daughters Marianne Fredriksson 1994 Swedish Swedish
3577 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3637 On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs Olha Kobylianska 1909 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3860 The Wrath of the Ancestors Archibald Campbell Jordan 1940 South African English
4280 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4897 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
5647 Before I Was Born And After My Death Ivailo Petrov 1968 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5668 Medea And Her Children Lyudmila Ulitskaya 1996 Russian Russian
5709 Woof, Woof, Dear Lord Sotiris Dimitriou 1987 Greek Unknown
5783 The Old And The Young Luigi Pirandello 1913 Italian Italian
6197 Bezzeg Az én Időmben Klára Fehér 1966 Hungarian Hungarian
6418 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6548 Heirs To The Great Sinner Sheikh San’on Erkin A’zam 2004 Unknown Unknown
6893 Régimódi Történet Szabó, Magda 1977 Hungarian Hungarian
7216 A Family Chronicle Sergei Aksakov 1856 Russian Russian
7649 Jalna Mazo de La Roche 1927 Canadian English
8474 Ceremony In Lone Tree Wright Morris 1960 American English
9954 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
10130 El Tiempo De Las Mujeres Ignacio Martínez de Pisón 2003 Spanish Spanish
10819 Firelight and Woodsmoke Claude Michelet 1979 French French
10982 Or Else, The Lightning God And Other Stories Catherine Lim 1980 Singaporean English
11257 From The Lanai And Other Hawaii Stories Jessica Saiki 1983 American English
11257 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
11494 Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson 2019 American English
11663 A Short History Of Women Kate Walbert 2009 American English
11663 During The Reign Of The Queen Of Persia Joan Chase 1983 American English
12011 Mr. Mani A. B. Yehoshua 1990 Israeli Hebrew
12201 Memorial Ferdinando Camon 1983 Italian Italian
12515 Child Of Her People Anne Cameron 1991 Canadian English
12515 The Loom And Other Stories R. A. Sasaki 1991 American English
12515 The Seventh Garment Eugenia Fakinou 1991 Greek Greek
12787 The Marriage Of Young Blacky Zhao Shuli 1943 Chinese Chinese
13815 The Bastard of Istanbul Elif Shafak 2006 Turkish English
14009 Family Catastrophe Wang Wen-hsin 1973 Chinese Chinese
14348 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
14433 Fault Lines Nancy Huston 2006 French French
14451 A Spool Of Blue Thread Anne Tyler 2015 American English
14650 Searching for Caleb Anne Tyler 1975 American English
15677 His Children's Children Arthur Cheney Train 1923 American English
16553 Akenfield Ronald Blythe 1969 American English
17165 Facts of Life Maureen Howard 1965 American English
17165 The Destiny Waltz Gerda Charles 1968 British English
17165 The New Animals Pip Adam 2017 New Zealander English
17165 A Slanting Light Gerda Charles 1963 British English
17165 The Inheritance Matthew Lopez 2020 American English
17165 Paper Fish Tina de Rosa 1980 American English
17165 Orbits of the East Nabil Suleiman 1993 Syrian Unknown
17165 The Heron Ibrahim Aslan 1983 Egyptian Arabic
17165 Les 1001 années de la nostalgie Rachid Boudjedra 1997 Algerian French
17165 Essential Pillars Elias Farkouh 2002 Jordanian Unknown
17165 Al Wasmiya Abdel-aziz Mishri Unknown Unknown
17165 Fathers Herb Gold 1994 American English
17165 Kingdom Come Mark Waid 1996 American English
17165 Family Values Wendy Cope 2011 British English
17165 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English