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
1306 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
2011 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks 1996 American English
2013 The Habit of Being Flannery O'Connor 1979 American English
2114 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2126 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2188 No One Writes to the Colonel Gabriel García Márquez 1961 Colombian Spanish
2239 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2271 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
2472 The Grey King Susan Cooper 1975 British English
2532 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2539 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2559 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2595 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2748 Poor Henry Hartmann von Aue 1190 German Middle high german
2828 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2841 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
3075 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3101 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
3809 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3845 Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson 1992 British English
4137 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4208 Heartbreak Tango Manuel Puig 1969 Argentinian Spanish
4310 The Victorian Chaise Longue Marghanita Laski 1953 British English
4421 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4625 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4820 Hotel De Dream Emma Tennant 1976 British English
4897 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
5033 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5083 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5102 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5154 Quarantine Jim Crace 1997 British English
5275 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tennessee Williams 1955 American English
5345 Epileptic David B 1996 French French
5393 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions John Donne 1624 British English
5435 A Journey Round My Skull Frigyes Karinthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5462 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5680 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
5996 The Green Road Anne Enright 2015 Irish English
6080 John Keats Robert Gittings 1968 British English
6273 Cold Nights Ba Jin 1947 Chinese Chinese
6517 Ghost Image Hervé Guibert 1981 French French
6537 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6668 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
7563 Compass Mathias Enard 2015 French French
7651 Angels In America Tony Kushner 1991 American English
7654 Tropical Night Falling Manuel Puig 1988 Argentinian Spanish
7830 Purple America Rick Moody 1997 American English
7996 Black Rain Masuji Ibuse 1965 Japanese Japanese
8007 The Eye Of The Storm Patrick White 1973 Australian English
8076 The Blackwater Lightship Colm Toibin 1999 Irish English
8240 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8494 Paula Isabel Allende 1994 Chilean Spanish
8503 Collected Poems Jane Kenyon 2005 American English
8627 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
8632 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman 2022 American English
8672 Peace Like A River Leif Enger 2001 American English
8801 Time Regained Marcel Proust 1927 French French
8847 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8977 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
8990 Tinkers Paul Harding 2009 American English
9035 The Thibaults Roger Martin du Gard 1922 French French
9132 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9192 Cost Roxana Robinson 2008 American English
9185 Bruno's Dream Iris Murdoch 1969 British English
9517 C John Diamond 1998 British English
9653 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9939 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
9989 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10308 The Summer Of The Great Grandmother Madeleine L'Engle 1974 American English
10623 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon 2015 American English
10680 A Living Remedy Nicole Chung 2023 American English
10841 The Story Of The Night Colm Toibin 1996 Irish English
10855 Modern Baptists James Wilcox 1983 American English
11140 The Undying Anne Boyer 2019 American English
11213 The Lily Of The Valley Honoré de Balzac 1835 French French
11218 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11425 Me And Earl And The Dying Girl Jesse Andrews 2012 American English
11581 Plaintext Nancy Mairs 1986 American English
11629 Everyman Philip Roth 2006 American English
11662 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11873 Awakenings Oliver Sacks 1973 British English
11882 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
11940 Sontag Benjamin Moser 2019 American English