The Greatest Books of All Time on Identity

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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
2923 The Poems of Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1855 American English
2933 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
2968 The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman 2000 British English
2986 Two Solitudes Hugh MacLennan 1945 Canadian English
3012 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3048 Centennial James A. Michener 1974 American English
3052 National Episodes Benito Pérez Galdós 1873 Spanish Spanish
3078 Los lanzallamas Roberto Arlt 1931 Argentinian Spanish
3083 Diane Arbus Marvin Israel, Doon Arbus 1972 American English
3091 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3103 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3116 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
3129 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
3131 The Man Who Loved Dogs Leonardo Padura 2009 Cuban Spanish
3134 Ake Wole Soyinka 1981 Nigerian English
3140 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3172 A Simple Story S.Y. Agnon 1935 Israeli Hebrew
3203 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby 1992 British English
3206 Submission Michel Houellebecq 2015 French French
3221 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3226 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3229 Growing Up Absurd Paul Goodman 1960 American English
3232 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3277 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3278 Holy Week Louis Aragon 1958 French French
3280 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3324 By the Open Sea August Strindberg 1890 Swedish Swedish
3324 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3372 The Nazi And The Barber Edgar Hilsenrath 1971 German German
3373 The Green Child Herbert Read 1935 British English
3374 A Man's Place Annie Ernaux 1983 French French
3390 La Realidad Y El Deseo Luis Cernuda 1936 Spanish Spanish
3391 Los Gozos Y Las Sombras Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1957 Spanish Spanish
3400 Great Plains Ian Frazier 1989 American English
3401 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3416 Bécon Les Bruyères Emmanuel Bove 1927 French French
3422 Daylight Czesław Miłosz 1975 Polish Polish
3428 Short Letter, Long Farewell Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
3450 Mistborn Brandon Sanderson 2006 American English
3469 The Story Of English Robert McCrum 1986 British English
3485 The Scorpion Fish Nicolas Bouvier 1982 French French
3486 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
3492 The Claw Of The Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981 American English
3501 Family Matters Rohinton Mistry 2002 Canadian English
3506 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
3517 The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life Erving Goffman 1959 American English
3533 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3542 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3565 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
3571 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3584 Married Life David Vogel 1986 Jewish English
3595 Thick Tressie McMillan Cottom 2019 American English
3594 The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years Chinghiz Aitmatov 1980 Kyrgyz Russian
3603 Celtic Tales Hugo Pratt 1980 Italian Italian
3628 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata 2016 Japanese Japanese
3638 Days In The Caucasus Banine 1945 French French
3638 Maya The Bee And Her Adventures Waldemar Bonsels 1912 German German
3638 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Lord Byron 1812 British English
3638 The Leatherstocking Tales James Fenimore Cooper 1823 American English
3638 Jew Süss Lion Feuchtwanger 1925 German German
3638 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3638 Bolwieser Oskar Maria Graf 1931 German German
3638 Leviathan Julien Green 1929 French French
3638 The Poor Musician Franz Grillparzer 1848 Austrian German
3638 Der Gaulschreck Im Rosennetz Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando 1928 Austrian German
3638 Die Homosexualität Des Mannes Und Des Weibes Magnus Hirschfeld 1920 German German
3638 Fluss Ohne Ufer Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
3638 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3638 The People Of Seldwyla Gottfried Keller 1872 Swiss German
3638 The Marquise Of O Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
3638 The Language Of The Third Reich Victor Klemperer 1947 German German
3638 Das Unauslöschliche Siegel Elisabeth Langgässer 1946 German German
3638 The Veil Of Veronica Gertrud von le Fort 1928 German German
3638 Child Of The Revolution Wolfgang Leonhard 1955 German German
3638 The Second Wife E. Marlitt 1899 German German
3638 Jürg Jenatsch Conrad Ferdinand Meyer 1876 Swiss German
3638 Stopfkuchen Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1891 German German
3638 Mitte Des Lebens Luise Rinser 1950 German German
3638 The Questionnaire Ernst von Salomon 1951 German German
3638 The Story Of My Life George Sand 1855 French French
3638 The Roads To Freedom Jean Paul Sartre 1945 French French
3638 The Road Into The Open Arthur Schnitzler 1908 Austrian German
3638 Die Feuerzangenbowle Heinrich Spoerl 1933 German German
3638 Franz Sternbald's Wanderings Ludwig Tieck 1798 German German
3638 The Ringer Edgar Wallace 1925 British English
3638 The Assistant Robert Walser 1908 Swiss German
3638 Caspar Hauser Or The Inertia Of The Heart Jakob Wassermann 1908 German German
3638 The Captain Of Köpenick Carl Zuckmayer 1931 German German
3833 Stories Of Three Decades Thomas Mann 1936 German German
3834 Invocation Of The Great Bear Ingeborg Bachmann 1956 Austrian German
3834 Повесть о жизни Konstantin Paustovsky 1956 Russian Russian
3856 Breath Tim Winton 2008 Australian English
3870 Sansibar Or The Last Reason Alfred Andersch 1957 German German
3874 The Alienist Caleb Carr 1994 American English
3876 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
3878 Subconscious Opens Like A Fan Yona Wallach 1985 Israeli Hebrew
3893 Oriental Tales Marguerite Yourcenar 1938 French French
3908 Med Ana Schwoazzn Dintn Hans Carl Artmann 1958 Austrian German
3908 Homo Sociologicus Ralf Dahrendorf 1958 German German
3917 The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore Marianne Moore 1967 American English
3918 January Sara Gallardo 1971 Argentinian Spanish
3920 Staying Power Peter Fryer 1984 British English
3920 Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg 1984 American English
3928 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
3944 Doña Bárbara Rómulo Gallegos 1929 Venezuelan Spanish
3946 The Arrival Shaun Tan 2006 Australian English
3947 Antériorité Des Civilisations Nègres Cheikh Anta Diop 1954 Senegalese French
3953 The Complete Works Dionysios Solomos 1818 Greek Greek
3953 For Two Thousand Years Mihail Sebastian 1934 Romanian Romanian
3953 Adventures In Immediate Irreality M. Blecher 1936 Romanian Romanian
3953 Căderea în Lume Constantin Țoiu 1968 Romanian Romanian
4078 Children Of Blood And Bone Tomi Adeyemi 2018 Nigerian English
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4105 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4105 Wolfskin Hans Lebert 1960 Austrian German
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4134 The Nonexistent Knight Italo Calvino 1959 Italian Italian
4153 Ankunft Im Alltag Brigitte Reimann 1961 German German
4153 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German