The Greatest International Books of All Time

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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
375 Kolyma Stories Varlam Shalamov 1954 Russian Russian
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
1025 Ambiguous Adventure Cheikh Hamidou Kane 1961 Senegalese French
1163 The Road to Oxiana Robert Byron 1937 British English
1349 Gitanjali Rabindranath Tagore 1910 Indian Bengali
2010 The War Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
2149 The Book of Songs China -600 Chinese Classical chinese
3077 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3388 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3610 The Blue Lotus Hergé 1936 Belgian French
4624 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
5443 Ida Regénye Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5502 Warsaw Diary Kazimierz Brandys 1978 Polish Polish
5531 Africa Jiří Hanzelka, Miroslav Zikmund 1952 Czech Czech
5531 Maminka Jaroslav Seifert 1966 Czech Czech
5599 Bloodlands Timothy Snyder 2010 American English
6382 A Voyage Round The World Georg Forster 1777 German German
6436 Sex And Temperament In Three Primitive Societies Margaret Mead 1935 American English
6455 The Arrivants Kamau Brathwaite 1973 Barbadian English
6465 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6882 The Haunted Land Tina Rosenberg 1995 American English
7663 East Wind Pearl S. Buck 1930 American English
7756 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7791 Sandstorms Peter Theroux 1990 American English
7881 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
7999 Journey To Diaspora Seo Kyung-sik 2006 Unknown Korean
8032 A View Of The World Norman Lewis 1959 British English
8144 Secrets Nuruddin Farah 1998 Somali English
8198 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8211 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8218 Bells In Winter Czesław Miłosz 1978 Polish Polish
8293 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8342 The Poems Of Li Po Li Po -750 Chinese Classical chinese
8549 Down Under Bill Bryson 2000 American English
8636 The Dragon's Gift Deborah Brautigam 2009 Unknown English
8783 Among The Cities Jan Morris 1985 British English
9010 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9254 Arabs And Israelis Abdel Monem Said Aly, Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki 2013 Multiple English
9338 Confronting Income Inequality In Japan Toshimasa Tachibanaki 2009 Japanese Japanese
9551 Poems Of Nicolás Guillén Nicolás Guillén 1972 Cuban Spanish
9745 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
10019 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10069 The Mountain People Colin M. Turnbull 1972 British English
10082 Give People Money Annie Lowrey 2018 American English
10212 The Little Hotel Christina Stead 1973 Australian English
10241 Putin's World Angela Stent 2019 American English
10286 A Bag Of Marbles Joseph Joffo 1973 French French
10454 Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number Jacobo Timerman 1981 Argentinian Spanish
10608 Someone Like Us Dinaw Mengestu 2024 American English
10763 A Moonless, Starless Sky Alexis Okeowo 2017 American English
10763 Notes On A Foreign Country Suzy Hansen 2017 American English
10810 La Montagne Jean-Noël Pancrazi 2012 French French
10885 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
11045 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11134 Imaginary Homelands Salman Rushdie 1991 British English
11181 Juletane Myriam Warner-Vieyra 1982 Senegalese French
11346 Best Loved Folktales Of The World Joanna Cole 1982 Unknown English
11412 The Egyptian, Syrian, And Iraqi Revolutions Hanna Batatu 1984 American Unknown
11547 Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral Gabriela Mistral 1922 Chilean Spanish
11663 The Ordeal Of Elizabeth Marsh Linda Colley 2007 British English
12073 The Afghans Asne Seierstad, Seán Kinsella 2022 Norwegian English
12326 To End A War Richard Holbrooke 1998 American English
12619 The History Of We Nikkolas Smith American English
12795 The Red Star Anthoninthasan Jesuthasan Unknown Unknown
12834 Veils Nahid Rachlin 1992 Iranian English
13057 Sons And Daughters Chaim Grade 2025 American Yiddish
13351 The Shadow Of The Sun Ryszard Kapuscinski 1998 Polish Polish
13524 Perception And Misperception In International Politics Robert Jervis 1976 American English
13600 The Soul Of Malaya H. Fauconnier 1930 French French
13712 Doctor Antonio Giovanni Ruffini 1855 Italian English
14852 City Of The Queen Shin Shu-ching 1994 Chinese Chinese
14985 War Without Mercy John W. Dower 1986 American English
14985 People Who Eat Darkness Richard Lloyd Parry 2010 British English
16610 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
17164 Stuff Happens David Hare 2004 British English
17164 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
17164 The Picador Book Of Modern Indian Literature Amit Chaudhuri 2001 Indian English
17164 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17164 France Tyler Brûlé 2024 Unknown Unknown
17164 Lonely Planet Amazing Train Journeys Lonely Planet 2024 Unknown English
17164 The Viceroy Of Ouidah Bruce Chatwin 1980 British English
17164 Blue Light Hours Bruna Dantas Lobato 2024 Unknown English
17164 Missing Persons Clair Wills 2024 Unknown English
17164 Fathers And Fugitives SJ Naudé 2024 Unknown Afrikaans
17164 The Other City Michal Ajvaz 1993 Czech Czech
17164 The Land Of Hope And Fear Isabel Kershner 2023 Unknown English
17164 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17164 Great Spanish Stories Margaret Jull Costa 2014 Unknown Spanish
17164 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17164 All Played Out Pete Davies 1995 British English
17164 The Orphan Sky Ella Leya 2015 Unknown English
17164 Eastbound Maylis de Kerangal 2023 French French
17164 The Crusades Through Arab Eyes Amin Maalouf 1983 French French
17164 From The Country Of Eight Islands Hiroaki Sato, Burton Watson 1981 Multiple English
17164 Selected Translations 1948–1968 W. S. Merwin 1969 American English
17164 Concerning My Daughter Hye-Jin Kim 2017 South Korean Korean
17164 Common Wealth Jeffrey D. Sachs 2008 American English
17164 The Magpie At Night Li Qingzhao Chinese Chinese
17164 Ireland In The Medieval World, Ad400–1000 Bhreathnach, Edel Irish English
17164 Poland Adam Zamoyski 2009 British English
17164 Wednesday’s Child Yiyun Li 2013 American English
17164 Drift Caroline Bergvall 2014 Unknown English
17164 The Pink Line Mark Gevisser 2020 South African English