The Greatest Books of All Time on Imagination

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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
8 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
165 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
200 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
202 Invisible Cities Italo Calvino 1972 Italian Italian
225 Fairy Tales and Stories Hans Christian Andersen 1835 Danish Danish
243 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 American English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
267 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
270 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
465 Collected Poems Wallace Stevens 1954 American English
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
590 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
727 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
778 The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss 1957 American English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
974 The Poems of John Keats John Keats 1817 British English
1112 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
1134 The Neverending Story Michael Ende 1979 German German
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1359 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French
1363 The Liberal Imagination Lionel Trilling 1950 American English
1377 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
1417 Karlson On The Roof Astrid Lindgren 1955 Swedish Swedish
1508 Surrealist Manifesto André Breton 1924 French French
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1680 Harold and the Purple Crayon Crockett Johnson 1955 American English
1707 The House at Pooh Corner A. A. Milne 1928 British English
1736 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
1744 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
1838 Just William Richmal Crompton 1922 British English
1853 The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams 1922 British English
1962 The Prose Of The Trans Siberian Blaise Cendrars 1913 French French
2017 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
2052 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
2081 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2127 Life In The Folds Henri Michaux 1949 French French
2162 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2165 Essays Charles Lamb 1823 British English
2267 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2400 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
2417 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2428 The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr 1968 British English
2592 Emily of New Moon L. M. Montgomery 1923 Canadian English
2607 Poems And Prose Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1797 British English
2638 The Adventures of Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey 1997 American English
2641 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2888 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2990 The Robber Hotzenplotz Otfried Preußler 1962 German German
3041 Baron Munchausen's Narrative Of His Marvelous Travels And Campaigns In Russia Rudolf Erich Raspe 1785 German German
3076 One Writer's Beginnings Eudora Welty 1984 American English
3084 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 1930 British English
3175 Spring And All William Carlos Williams 1923 American English
3229 Phantastes George McDonald 1858 British English
3244 The Thurber Carnival James Thurber 1945 American English
3324 The Female Quixote Charlotte Lennox 1752 British English
3324 Impressions of Africa Raymond Roussel 1910 French French
3431 The Stories of Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury 1980 American English
3461 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3593 The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson 1999 British English
3636 Odes John Keats 1820 British English
3638 The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen Gottfried Burger 1785 German German
3638 The Golden Pot E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
3954 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
3954 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
4500 Mister Pip Lloyd Jones 2006 New Zealand English
4514 Comet In Moominland Tove Jansson 1946 Finnish Swedish
4515 The Rattle Bag Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney 1982 British English
4541 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
4656 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
4661 Poets Of The English Language W. H. Auden, Norman Holmes Pearson 1950 American English
4724 My Book House Olive Beaupré Miller 1920 American English
4810 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4863 The Snowman Raymond Briggs 1978 British English
4957 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
4957 Thunder On The Left Christopher Morley 1925 American English
5046 Selected Poems Of George Sterling George Sterling 1923 American English
5158 Coleridge Richard Holmes 1989 British English
5241 The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty James Thurber 1983 American English
5264 The Golden Key George MacDonald 1980 British English
5393 The Poems of Emily Bronte Emily Brontë 1846 British English
5502 The Trip To Panama Janosch 1978 German German
5571 Imaginary Portraits Walter Pater 1887 British English
5641 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
5829 On The Sublime Longinus -50 Greek Greek
5863 At The Back Of The North Wind George MacDonald 1871 Scottish English
5903 Poems Of George Darley George Darley 1840 Irish English
5917 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5927 Sylvester And The Magic Pebble William Steig 1969 American English
6005 Divagations Stéphane Mallarmé 1897 French French
6005 The Red Balloon Iela Mari 1967 Unknown Italian
6005 The Return Of Münchausen Sigismund Krzyzanowski 1927 Russian Russian
6005 The Wonderful Farm Marcel Aymé 1939 French French
6125 Inland Gerald Murnane 1988 Australian English
6133 The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson 1991 British English
6180 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6282 The Mirror and the Lamp Meyer Howard Abrams 1953 American English
6371 The Candle Of Vision George William Russell 1974 Irish English
6555 Alchemy Of The Word Jan Parandowski 1951 Polish Polish
6616 The Poetics Of Space Gaston Bachelard 1958 French French
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6637 Autonauts Of The Cosmoroute Julio Cortazar 1983 Argentinian Spanish
6637 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6821 Tracy's Tiger William Saroyan 1951 American English
6869 Captain Nemo's Library Per Olov Enquist 1991 Swedish Swedish
7216 An Apology For Poetry Philip Sidney 1595 British English
7216 A Philosophical Enquiry Into...The Sublime And Beautiful Edmund Burke 1757 British English
7216 The Poems Of William Collins William Collins 1746 British English
7216 A Defence Of Poetry Percy Bysshe Shelley 1840 British English
7216 Nepenthe George Darley 1835 Irish English
7216 Modern Painters John Ruskin 1843 British English
7216 Complete Works Lewis Carroll 1939 British English
7216 Aphorisms Novalis 1798 German German
7216 Dialogue On Poetry And Literary Aphorisms Friedrich Schlegel 1800 German German
7216 The Art Of Poetry Paul Valéry 1939 French French