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
9289 Spoiler Alert Olivia Dade 2020 American English
9294 A River Called Time Mia Couto 2002 Mozambican Portuguese
9300 The Imaginary Lives Of James Poneke Tina Makereti 2018 New Zealand English
9310 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9311 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
9317 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
9317 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9323 The Beautiful Room Is Empty Edmund White 1988 American English
9329 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9341 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9352 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9356 The Old Garden Hwang Sok-yong 2000 Korean Korean
9372 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9370 A Line Made By Walking Sara Baume 2017 Irish English
9377 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
9377 Saint Leon William Godwin 1799 British English
9377 Plain Tales From The Hills Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
9377 Here And Beyond Edith Wharton 1926 American English
9524 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
9537 Love's End Pascal Rambert 2011 French French
9562 Zuckerman Unbound Philip Roth 1981 American English
9562 Continuous Tony Harrison 1981 British English
9577 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
9588 Old School Tobias Wolff 2003 American English
9597 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9602 Girl Edna O'Brien 2019 Irish English
9603 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9618 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9648 Selected Poems Czesław Miłosz 1973 Polish Polish
9654 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9658 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9659 Spring Moon Betty Bao Lord 1981 Chinese English
9660 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9660 The Cell Horst Bienek German Unknown
9660 The Story Of The Just Casper And Fair Annie Clemens Brentano German German
9660 Schubumkehr Robert Menasse 2013 Austrian German
9660 Nedokoro No Kyoudai Kenzaburō Ōe Japanese Japanese
9660 The Unlucky Murderer Håkan Nesser Swedish Swedish
9700 The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes 1994 American English
9731 Wait Five Minutes Shelley Ingram, Willow G. Mullins 2019 Unknown English
9744 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
9755 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9767 The Reign Of Greed José Rizal 1891 Filipino Spanish
9777 Collected Poems Derek Walcott 1986 Saint Lucian English
9784 Chef’s Kiss TJ Alexander 2022 Unknown English
9784 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9802 The Shepherd's Hut Tim Winton 2018 Australian English
9810 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9810 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9812 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
9828 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9829 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9830 His Family Ernest Poole 1917 American English
9832 Country Girl Edna O'Brien 2012 Irish English
9833 Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh 2008 Indian English
9834 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
9836 An Interrupted Life Etty Hillesum 1981 Dutch Dutch
9851 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9860 Nationalism Rabindranath Tagore 1917 Indian English
9860 The Delicate Prey Paul Bowles 1950 American English
9895 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9900 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9900 Modern Lovers Emma Straub 2016 American English
9906 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9914 Thera Zeruya Shalev 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9918 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
9921 Critical Race Theory Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas 1995 American English
9946 Medicine Walk Richard Wagamese 2014 Canadian English
9946 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9948 El Testigo Juan Villoro 2004 Mexican Spanish
9973 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
9975 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9985 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
9989 I Know This Much Is True Wally Lamb 1998 American English
10003 Seeing Like A Feminist Nivedita Menon 2012 Indian English
10006 Where Tigers Are At Home Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès 2008 French French
10014 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10017 The Zafarani Files Jamal al- Ghitani 1976 Egyptian Arabic
10018 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10024 Race Matters Cornel West 1993 American English
10022 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10021 Mending Bodies Hon Lai-Chu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10027 Wounds Of Passion bell hooks 1997 American English
10040 Goat Days Benyamin 2008 Indian Malayalam
10038 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds In This Strange World Elif Shafak 2019 Turkish English
10060 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10060 Stars And Bars William Boyd 1984 British English
10068 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10085 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10098 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10099 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10106 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10111 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10112 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10113 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10114 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10140 Sir Thomas Wyatt Thomas Wyatt 1978 British English
10140 Dinner Along The Amazon Timothy Findley 1984 Canadian English
10158 So Big Edna Ferber 1924 American English
10168 A River Sutra Gita Mehta 1993 Indian English
10171 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10174 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10173 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10185 Harmada João Gilberto Noll 1993 Brazilian Portuguese
10189 Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar 2017 American English
10200 Une Enfance De Reve Catherine Millet 2014 French French
10205 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10205 From Hell Alan Moore 1991 British English
10211 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10216 Hjortronlandet Sara Lidman 1955 Swedish Swedish
10221 V. Tony Harrison 1985 British English
10221 What's Bred In The Bone Robertson Davies 1985 Canadian English
10224 Great Granny Webster Caroline Blackwood 1977 English English
10229 The Trees Percival Everett 2021 American English
10232 The Museum Of Modern Love Heather Rose 2018 Australian English
10236 Que Cavalos São Aqueles Que Fazem Sombra No Mar? António Lobo Antunes 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
10246 Protestant, Catholic, Jew Will Herberg 1955 American English
10264 The Warrior Who Carried Life Geoff Ryman 1985 British English
10276 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10282 The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson 1995 American English