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
4178 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4196 The Oppermanns Lion Feuchtwanger 1933 German German
4228 The Light Of Day Eric Ambler 1962 British English
4261 Petals of blood Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan English
4282 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4282 The Place Of The Star Patrick Modiano 1968 French French
4295 The Castle franz kafka 1926 German German
4372 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4372 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4379 A Woman Sibilla Aleramo 1906 Italian Italian
4390 James Joyce Richard Ellmann 1959 American English
4416 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4431 And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like To Meet The Milkman Peter Bichsel 1964 Swiss German
4431 Das Große Protokoll Gegen Zwetschkenbaum Albert Drach 1964 Austrian German
4437 The Dream Songs John Berryman 1964 American English
4450 Shibumi Trevanian 1979 American English
4451 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
4476 Soundjata Ou L'épopée Mandingue Djibril Tamsir Niane 1960 French French
4489 The Bears' Famous Invasion Of Sicily Dino Buzzati 1945 Italian Italian
4491 Voyage In The Dark Jean Rhys 1934 British English
4492 Niourk Stefan Wul 1957 French French
4504 Killers of the Dream Lillian Smith 1949 American English
4506 Different Seasons Stephen King 1982 American English
4511 The Aula Hermann Kant 1965 German German
4542 The Stone Of Laughter Hoda Barakat 1990 Lebanese Arabic
4549 Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor 1944 American English
4549 Restoree Anne McCaffrey 1967 American English
4560 Star Of The Sea Joseph O'Connor 2003 Irish English
4582 The Zone Sergei Dovlatov 1982 Russian Russian
4582 The Autobiography Of A Runaway Slave Miguel Barnet 1966 Cuban Spanish
4611 Las Personas Del Verbo Jaime Gil de Biedma
 1975 Spanish Spanish
4612 Complete Short Stories D. H. Lawrence 1950 British English
4633 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4656 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
4661 Poets Of The English Language W. H. Auden, Norman Holmes Pearson 1950 American English
4662 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4682 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4686 Extracts From Notes On The Bulgarian Uprisings Zahari Stoyanov 1884 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4707 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter 1965 American English
4712 My Michael Amos Oz 1968 Israeli Hebrew
4718 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
4721 The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 1982 American English
4740 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 American English
4741 Tell Me How It Ends Valeria Luiselli 2017 Mexican English
4813 Slave Old Man Patrick Chamoiseau 1997 French French
4817 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
4825 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4828 The Prestige Christopher Priest 1995 British English
4855 Ernesto Umberto Saba 1975 Italian Italian
4857 The Gift Horse Hildegard Knef 1970 German German
4879 The Wound Malick Fall 1967 Senegalese French
4889 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4890 The MaddAddam Trilogy Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
4893 The Short Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1886 Russian Russian
4936 Exile And Pride Eli Clare 1999 American English
4951 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
4957 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
4957 Thunder On The Left Christopher Morley 1925 American English
4957 Figures Of Earth James Branch Cabell 1921 American English
4957 Mr. Godly Beside Himself Gerald Bullett 1924 British English
4998 Persepolis Two Marjane Satrapi 2004 Iranian French
5006 Feel Free Zadie Smith 2018 British English
5007 In A Different Voice Carol Gilligan 1982 American English
5009 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5022 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5036 I Feel Bad About My Neck Nora Ephron 2006 American English
5083 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5100 Three To Kill Jean-Patrick Manchette 1976 French French
5101 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English
5109 Brother Of The More Famous Jack Barbara Trapido 1982 British English
5110 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5121 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5133 Die Vollidioten Eckhard Henscheid 1973 German German
5133 Triptych Claude Simon 1973 French English
5144 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 American English
5169 Bad Feminist Roxane Gay 2014 American English
5190 Armadale Wilkie Collins 1866 British English
5190 From Nine To Nine Leo Perutz 1918 Austrian German
5228 The Green Face Gustav Meyrink 1916 German German
5242 Abschied Johannes R. Becher 1974 German German
5242 Concierto Barroco Alejo Carpentier 1974 Cuban Spanish
5242 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5257 The Collected Stories Grace Paley 1994 American English
5268 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
5293 Der Mädchenkrieg Manfred Bieler 1975 German German
5293 Tadellöser & Wolff Walter Kempowski 1975 German German
5293 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5293 The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories From The Portuguese Joyce Carol Oates 1975 American English
5293 Tante Jolesch Or The Decline Of The West In Anecdotes Friedrich Torberg 1975 Austrian German
5331 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5338 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5349 Collected Stories Of V. S. Pritchett V. S. Pritchett 1982 British English
5361 The Portable Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker 1944 American English
5362 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5362 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5393 Complete Plays And Poems Christopher Marlowe 1587 British English
5417 The Brodeck Report Philippe Claudel 2007 French French
5427 At Night All Blood Is Black David Diop 2018 French French
5447 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson 2010 American English
5448 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5448 A Winter In Hakkari Ferit Edgü 1977 Turkish Turkish
5448 The Lover A. B. Yehoshua 1977 Israeli Hebrew
5475 Working Studs Terkel 1974 American English
5488 The Voices of Marrakesh Elias Canetti 1968 Bulgarian German
5493 The Lost Daniel Mendelsohn 2006 American English
5502 Warsaw Diary Kazimierz Brandys 1978 Polish Polish
5531 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5608 Die Fälschung Nicolas Born 1979 German German
5608 A Man Oriana Fallaci 1979 Italian Italian
5622 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5623 V for Vendetta Alan Moore 1982 British English
5627 Olivia Dorothy Bussy 1949 British English
5631 Ego Monster Sayd Bahodine Majrouh 1985 Afghan French
5641 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
5643 These Truths Jill Lepore 2018 American English
5668 Le Polygone Etoile Kateb Yacine 1961 French French
5668 The boys Henry de Montherlant 1969 French French
5668 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5668 Baiyun Oder Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft Adolf Muschg 1980 Swiss German
5682 The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury 1951 American English