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
9290 A River Called Time Mia Couto 2002 Mozambican Portuguese
9296 The Imaginary Lives Of James Poneke Tina Makereti 2018 New Zealand English
9306 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9307 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
9313 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
9313 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9319 The Beautiful Room Is Empty Edmund White 1988 American English
9325 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9337 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9348 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9352 The Old Garden Hwang Sok-yong 2000 Korean Korean
9368 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9366 A Line Made By Walking Sara Baume 2017 Irish English
9373 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
9373 Saint Leon William Godwin 1799 British English
9373 Plain Tales From The Hills Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
9373 Here And Beyond Edith Wharton 1926 American English
9520 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
9533 Love's End Pascal Rambert 2011 French French
9558 Zuckerman Unbound Philip Roth 1981 American English
9558 Continuous Tony Harrison 1981 British English
9573 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
9584 Old School Tobias Wolff 2003 American English
9593 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9598 Girl Edna O'Brien 2019 Irish English
9599 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9614 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9644 Selected Poems Czesław Miłosz 1973 Polish Polish
9650 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9654 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9655 Spring Moon Betty Bao Lord 1981 Chinese English
9656 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9656 The Cell Horst Bienek German Unknown
9656 The Story Of The Just Casper And Fair Annie Clemens Brentano German German
9656 Schubumkehr Robert Menasse 2013 Austrian German
9656 Nedokoro No Kyoudai Kenzaburō Ōe Japanese Japanese
9656 The Unlucky Murderer Håkan Nesser Swedish Swedish
9696 The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes 1994 American English
9727 Wait Five Minutes Shelley Ingram, Willow G. Mullins 2019 Unknown English
9740 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
9751 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9763 The Reign Of Greed José Rizal 1891 Filipino Spanish
9773 Collected Poems Derek Walcott 1986 Saint Lucian English
9780 Chef’s Kiss TJ Alexander 2022 Unknown English
9780 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9798 The Shepherd's Hut Tim Winton 2018 Australian English
9806 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9806 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9808 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
9824 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9825 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9826 His Family Ernest Poole 1917 American English
9828 Country Girl Edna O'Brien 2012 Irish English
9829 Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh 2008 Indian English
9830 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
9832 An Interrupted Life Etty Hillesum 1981 Dutch Dutch
9847 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9856 Nationalism Rabindranath Tagore 1917 Indian English
9856 The Delicate Prey Paul Bowles 1950 American English
9891 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9896 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9896 Modern Lovers Emma Straub 2016 American English
9902 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9910 Thera Zeruya Shalev 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9914 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
9917 Critical Race Theory Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas 1995 American English
9941 Medicine Walk Richard Wagamese 2014 Canadian English
9941 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9943 El Testigo Juan Villoro 2004 Mexican Spanish
9968 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
9970 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9980 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
9984 I Know This Much Is True Wally Lamb 1998 American English
9998 Seeing Like A Feminist Nivedita Menon 2012 Indian English
10001 Where Tigers Are At Home Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès 2008 French French
10009 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10012 The Zafarani Files Jamal al- Ghitani 1976 Egyptian Arabic
10013 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10019 Race Matters Cornel West 1993 American English
10017 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10016 Mending Bodies Hon Lai-Chu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10022 Wounds Of Passion bell hooks 1997 American English
10034 Goat Days Benyamin 2008 Indian Malayalam
10054 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10054 Stars And Bars William Boyd 1984 British English
10062 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10079 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10092 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10093 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10100 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10105 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10106 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10107 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10108 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10135 Sir Thomas Wyatt Thomas Wyatt 1978 British English
10135 Dinner Along The Amazon Timothy Findley 1984 Canadian English
10153 So Big Edna Ferber 1924 American English
10163 A River Sutra Gita Mehta 1993 Indian English
10166 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10169 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10168 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10179 Harmada João Gilberto Noll 1993 Brazilian Portuguese
10183 Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar 2017 American English
10194 Une Enfance De Reve Catherine Millet 2014 French French
10199 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10199 From Hell Alan Moore 1991 British English
10205 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10210 Hjortronlandet Sara Lidman 1955 Swedish Swedish
10215 V. Tony Harrison 1985 British English
10215 What's Bred In The Bone Robertson Davies 1985 Canadian English
10218 Great Granny Webster Caroline Blackwood 1977 English English
10223 The Trees Percival Everett 2021 American English
10226 The Museum Of Modern Love Heather Rose 2018 Australian English
10230 Que Cavalos São Aqueles Que Fazem Sombra No Mar? António Lobo Antunes 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
10240 Protestant, Catholic, Jew Will Herberg 1955 American English
10259 The Warrior Who Carried Life Geoff Ryman 1985 British English
10271 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10277 The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson 1995 American English
10278 Birth Of A Bridge Maylis de Kerangal 2010 French French
10281 A Bag Of Marbles Joseph Joffo 1973 French French