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
2009 The War Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
2148 The Book of Songs China -600 Chinese Classical chinese
3076 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3611 The Blue Lotus Hergé 1936 Belgian French
4623 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
5441 Ida Regénye Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5500 Warsaw Diary Kazimierz Brandys 1978 Polish Polish
5529 Africa Jiří Hanzelka, Miroslav Zikmund 1952 Czech Czech
5529 Maminka Jaroslav Seifert 1966 Czech Czech
5596 Bloodlands Timothy Snyder 2010 American English
6379 A Voyage Round The World Georg Forster 1777 German German
6433 Sex And Temperament In Three Primitive Societies Margaret Mead 1935 American English
6453 The Arrivants Kamau Brathwaite 1973 Barbadian English
6463 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6882 The Haunted Land Tina Rosenberg 1995 American English
7662 East Wind Pearl S. Buck 1930 American English
7755 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7790 Sandstorms Peter Theroux 1990 American English
7880 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
7998 Journey To Diaspora Seo Kyung-sik 2006 Unknown Korean
8031 A View Of The World Norman Lewis 1959 British English
8142 Secrets Nuruddin Farah 1998 Somali English
8196 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8209 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8216 Bells In Winter Czesław Miłosz 1978 Polish Polish
8291 The Author Of Himself Marcel Reich-Ranicki 1999 German German
8340 The Poems Of Li Po Li Po -750 Chinese Classical chinese
8546 Down Under Bill Bryson 2000 American English
8633 The Dragon's Gift Deborah Brautigam 2009 Unknown English
8779 Among The Cities Jan Morris 1985 British English
9007 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9252 Arabs And Israelis Abdel Monem Said Aly, Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki 2013 Multiple English
9335 Confronting Income Inequality In Japan Toshimasa Tachibanaki 2009 Japanese Japanese
9548 Poems Of Nicolás Guillén Nicolás Guillén 1972 Cuban Spanish
9741 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
10014 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10064 The Mountain People Colin M. Turnbull 1972 British English
10077 Give People Money Annie Lowrey 2018 American English
10207 The Little Hotel Christina Stead 1973 Australian English
10236 Putin's World Angela Stent 2019 American English
10282 A Bag Of Marbles Joseph Joffo 1973 French French
10450 Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number Jacobo Timerman 1981 Argentinian Spanish
10604 Someone Like Us Dinaw Mengestu 2024 American English
10758 A Moonless, Starless Sky Alexis Okeowo 2017 American English
10758 Notes On A Foreign Country Suzy Hansen 2017 American English
10805 La Montagne Jean-Noël Pancrazi 2012 French French
10880 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
11040 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11129 Imaginary Homelands Salman Rushdie 1991 British English
11176 Juletane Myriam Warner-Vieyra 1982 Senegalese French
11341 Best Loved Folktales Of The World Joanna Cole 1982 Unknown English
11408 The Egyptian, Syrian, And Iraqi Revolutions Hanna Batatu 1984 American Unknown
11544 Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral Gabriela Mistral 1922 Chilean Spanish
11660 The Ordeal Of Elizabeth Marsh Linda Colley 2007 British English
12072 The Afghans Asne Seierstad, Seán Kinsella 2022 Norwegian English
12324 To End A War Richard Holbrooke 1998 American English
12617 The History Of We Nikkolas Smith American English
12793 The Red Star Anthoninthasan Jesuthasan Unknown Unknown
12832 Veils Nahid Rachlin 1992 Iranian English
13054 Sons And Daughters Chaim Grade 2025 American Yiddish
13347 The Shadow Of The Sun Ryszard Kapuscinski 1998 Polish Polish
13522 Perception And Misperception In International Politics Robert Jervis 1976 American English
13599 The Soul Of Malaya H. Fauconnier 1930 French French
13711 Doctor Antonio Giovanni Ruffini 1855 Italian English
14851 City Of The Queen Shin Shu-ching 1994 Chinese Chinese
14984 War Without Mercy John W. Dower 1986 American English
14984 People Who Eat Darkness Richard Lloyd Parry 2010 British English
16579 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
17120 Stuff Happens David Hare 2004 British English
17120 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
17120 The Picador Book Of Modern Indian Literature Amit Chaudhuri 2001 Indian English
17120 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17120 France Tyler Brûlé 2024 Unknown Unknown
17120 Lonely Planet Amazing Train Journeys Lonely Planet 2024 Unknown English
17120 The Viceroy Of Ouidah Bruce Chatwin 1980 British English
17120 Blue Light Hours Bruna Dantas Lobato 2024 Unknown English
17120 Missing Persons Clair Wills 2024 Unknown English
17120 Fathers And Fugitives SJ Naudé 2024 Unknown Afrikaans
17120 The Other City Michal Ajvaz 1993 Czech Czech
17120 The Land Of Hope And Fear Isabel Kershner 2023 Unknown English
17120 Great Italian Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown Italian
17120 Great Spanish Stories Margaret Jull Costa 2014 Unknown Spanish
17120 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17120 All Played Out Pete Davies 1995 British English
17120 The Orphan Sky Ella Leya 2015 Unknown English
17120 Eastbound Maylis de Kerangal 2023 French French
17120 The Crusades Through Arab Eyes Amin Maalouf 1983 French French
17120 From The Country Of Eight Islands Hiroaki Sato, Burton Watson 1981 Multiple English
17120 Selected Translations 1948–1968 W. S. Merwin 1969 American English
17120 Concerning My Daughter Hye-Jin Kim 2017 South Korean Korean
17120 Common Wealth Jeffrey D. Sachs 2008 American English
17120 The Magpie At Night Li Qingzhao Chinese Chinese
17120 Ireland In The Medieval World, Ad400–1000 Bhreathnach, Edel Irish English
17120 Poland Adam Zamoyski 2009 British English
17120 Wednesday’s Child Yiyun Li 2013 American English
17120 Drift Caroline Bergvall 2014 Unknown English
17120 The Pink Line Mark Gevisser 2020 South African English