The Greatest Books of All Time on Illness

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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
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
25 The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann 1924 German German
57 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
90 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
261 Wings of the Dove Henry James 1902 American English
338 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
496 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
728 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1039 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1099 The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald 1995 British English
1166 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1369 Veronica Mary Gaitskill 2005 American English
1406 The Life of Charlotte Brontë Elizabeth Gaskell 1857 British English
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1420 The October Country Ray Bradbury 1955 American English
1426 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1522 Cancer Ward Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1967 Russian Russian
1643 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
1768 Carmilla Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1853 The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams 1922 British English
1918 The Lady Of The Camellias Alexandre Dumas 1848 French French
2010 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks 1996 American English
2012 The Habit of Being Flannery O'Connor 1979 American English
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2125 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2187 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish
2238 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2270 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
2470 The Grey King Susan Cooper 1975 British English
2530 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2537 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2558 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2594 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2747 Poor Henry Hartmann von Aue 1190 German Middle high german
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2838 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
3073 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3100 Diary Of A Mad Old Man Junichiro Tanizaki 1961 Japanese Japanese
3380 The Shadow Line Joseph Conrad 1917 British English
3384 The Plague-Sower Gesualdo Bufalino 1981 Italian Italian
3501 Family Matters Rohinton Mistry 2002 Canadian English
3604 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3810 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3846 Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson 1992 British English
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4207 Heartbreak Tango Manuel Puig 1969 Argentinian Spanish
4309 The Victorian Chaise Longue Marghanita Laski 1953 British English
4420 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4624 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4819 Hotel De Dream Emma Tennant 1976 British English
4896 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
5030 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5081 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5100 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5152 Quarantine Jim Crace 1997 British English
5274 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams 1955 American English
5344 Epileptic David B 1996 French French
5391 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions John Donne 1624 British English
5433 A Journey Round My Skull Frigyes Karinthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5460 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5677 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
5993 The Green Road Anne Enright 2015 Irish English
6077 John Keats Robert Gittings 1968 British English
6270 Cold Nights Ba Jin 1947 Chinese Chinese
6515 Ghost Image Hervé Guibert 1981 French French
6535 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6667 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez 1992 Colombian Spanish
6873 Love's Work Gillian Rose 1995 British English
6902 Autobiography Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
7119 The Optic Nerve Maria Gainza 2015 Argentinian Spanish
7122 Margot en de engelen Kristien Hemmerechts 1997 Belgian Dutch
7562 Compass Mathias Enard 2015 French French
7650 Angels In America Tony Kushner 1991 American English
7653 Tropical Night Falling Manuel Puig 1988 Argentinian Spanish
7829 Purple America Rick Moody 1997 American English
7995 Black Rain Masuji Ibuse 1965 Japanese Japanese
8006 The Eye Of The Storm Patrick White 1973 Australian English
8075 The Blackwater Lightship Colm Toibin 1999 Irish English
8238 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8492 Paula Isabel Allende 1994 Chilean Spanish
8501 Collected Poems Jane Kenyon 2005 American English
8625 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
8630 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman 2022 American English
8670 Peace Like A River Leif Enger 2001 American English
8798 Time Regained Marcel Proust 1927 French French
8845 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8975 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
8988 Tinkers Paul Harding 2009 American English
9033 The Thibaults Roger Martin du Gard 1922 French French
9130 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9191 Cost Roxana Robinson 2008 American English
9184 Bruno's Dream Iris Murdoch 1969 British English
9515 C John Diamond 1998 British English
9651 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9936 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
9986 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10305 The Summer Of The Great Grandmother Madeleine L'Engle 1974 American English
10619 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon 2015 American English
10676 A Living Remedy Nicole Chung 2023 American English
10837 The Story Of The Night Colm Toibin 1996 Irish English
10851 Modern Baptists James Wilcox 1983 American English
11136 The Undying Anne Boyer 2019 American English
11209 The Lily Of The Valley Honoré de Balzac 1835 French French
11214 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11422 Me And Earl And The Dying Girl Jesse Andrews 2012 American English
11579 Plaintext Nancy Mairs 1986 American English
11627 Everyman Philip Roth 2006 American English
11660 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11872 Awakenings Oliver Sacks 1973 British English
11881 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
11939 Sontag Benjamin Moser 2019 American English