The Greatest Books of All Time on Innocence

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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
4 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger 1951 American English
14 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 1955 American English
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
52 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
57 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
165 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
189 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
225 Fairy Tales and Stories Hans Christian Andersen 1835 Danish Danish
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
499 Platero Juan Ramón Jiménez 1914 Spanish Spanish
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
602 The Go-Between L. P. Hartley 1953 British English
637 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
992 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
1046 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1077 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee 1959 British English
1112 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1182 Poems of Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca 1921 Spanish Spanish
1230 Songs of Innocence and Experience William Blake 1789 British English
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1277 A High Wind in Jamaica Richard Hughes 1929 British English
1355 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1362 The Heart Of Midlothian Sir Walter Scott 1818 Scottish English
1391 A Separate Peace John Knowles 1959 American English
1418 The Path to the Nest of Spiders Italo Calvino 1947 Italian Italian
1490 The Garden Party And Other Stories Katherine Mansfield 1922 New Zealand English
1547 What Maisie Knew Henry James 1897 American English
1707 The House at Pooh Corner A. A. Milne 1928 British English
1815 The Ring And The Book Robert Browning 1868 British English
1828 The Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain 1916 American English
1939 The Marble Faun Nathaniel Hawthorne 1860 American English
2162 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2333 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
2346 Goblin Market Christina Georgina Rossetti 1862 British English
2351 The Inheritors William Golding 1955 British English
2417 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2438 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2623 Border Town Shen Congwen 1934 Chinese Chinese
2856 Swami and Friends R. K. Narayan 1935 Indian English
2867 Gimpel the Fool Isaac Bashevis Singer 1953 Polish Yiddish
2997 Childhood Leo Tolstoy 1852 Russian Russian
3050 A World for Julius Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1970 Peruvian Spanish
3126 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
3262 Chronicle In Stone Ismail Kadare 1971 Albanian Albanian
3409 The Birds Tarjei Vesaas 1957 Norwegian Norwegian
3638 Caspar Hauser Or The Inertia Of The Heart Jakob Wassermann 1908 German German
3954 Eroica Kosmas Politis 1937 Greek Greek
4105 Poor Liza Nikolay Karamzin 1792 Russian Russian
4310 Epitaph For A Spy Eric Ambler 1938 British English
4310 The Shrimp And The Anemone L. P. Hartley 1944 British English
4480 Perceval, Or The Story Of The Grail Chrétien de Troyes 1181 French Old french
4494 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4519 When The Wind Blows Raymond Briggs 1982 British English
4634 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle 1993 Irish English
4688 Centuries Of Meditations Thomas Traherne 1665 British English
5309 Ice-Candy-Man Bapsi Sidhwa 1988 Pakistani English
5780 Special Friendships Roger Peyrefitte 1943 French French
5863 Centuries, Poems, And Thanksgivings Thomas Traherne 1903 British English
5863 Poems And Prose Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
6266 Sozaboy Ken Saro-Wiwa 1985 Nigerian English
6481 I'm Not Scared Niccolò Ammaniti 2001 Italian Italian
6581 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6637 The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1983 French French
6717 Stories of Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter 1801 Austrian German
6936 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates 1966 American English
7216 The Poems Of William Collins William Collins 1746 British English
7216 Poems Of William Cowper William Cowper 1782 British English
7216 Odes Coventry Patmore 1868 British English
7216 Selected Poems Of Eduard Mörike Eduard Mörike 1838 German German
7216 Tales Adalbert Stifter 1840 Austrian German
7216 A Cool Million Nathanael West 1934 American English
8675 The Peanuts Treasury Charles M. Schulz 1969 American English
8725 Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog Dylan Thomas 1940 British English
9856 The War Of The Buttons Louis Pergaud 1912 French French
9859 The Delicate Prey Paul Bowles 1950 American English
10823 The Ox Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1940 American English
11324 The Children’s Crusade Rebecca Brown 2003 Unknown English
12149 Snow In August Pete Hamill 1997 American English
12310 When I Was Five I Killed Myself Howard Buten 1981 American English
12588 Jim The Boy Tony Earley 2000 American English
13359 Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein 1974 American English
13362 A Perfect Day For Bananafish J. D. Salinger 1948 American English
13600 La Maternelle Léon Frapié 1904 French French
13600 Pareil à Des Enfants Marc Bernard French French
13818 La Vita Ingenua Vittorio Gorresio 1956 Italian Unknown
14025 Pigeon English Stephen Kelman 2011 British English
14172 The Human Comedy William Saroyan 1943 American English
14212 The Fox In The Attic Richard Hughes 1961 British English
14232 Doubt John Patrick Shanley 2004 American English
14985 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne 2006 Irish English
14985 Lullabies For Little Criminals Heather O'Neill 2006 Canadian English
15797 Perrault's Fairy Tales Charles Perrault 1697 French French
15815 Paul And Virginie Bernardin de Saint-Pierre 1788 French French
15839 The Issa Valley Czesław Miłosz 1955 Polish Polish
15916 The Dispute Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1744 French French
15916 The Crescent Moon Rabindranath Tagore 1913 Indian Bengali
15916 Charlotte Temple Susanna Haswell Rowson 1791 American English
15916 Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens J. M. Barrie 1906 British English
16727 The Complete Tales And Poems Of Winnie The Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
16763 Manalive G. K. Chesterton 1912 British English
17111 Terminal Innocence Klaus Rifbjerg 1958 Danish Unknown
16917 The Complete Fairy Tales Of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde 1908 Irish English
17162 The Expendable Man Dorothy B. Hughes 1963 American English
17162 Morrer Na Primavera Ralf Rothmann 2015 German German
17054 Bambi Felix Salten 1923 Austrian German
16895 O Meu Pé De Laranja Lima José Mauro de Vasconcelos 1968 Brazilian Portuguese
17091 The Diary Of Adam And Eve Mark Twain 1904 American English
17162 The Blue Umbrella Ruskin Bond 1980 Indian English
17162 Райский сад первой любви Линь Ихань 2017 Chinese Chinese (traditional)
17162 Novels 1896–1899 Henry James American English