The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Iran

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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
604 The Blind Owl Ṣādiq Hidāyat 1937 Iranian Persian
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian
1400 The Great Railway Bazaar Paul Theroux 1975 American English
1931 The Way Of The World Nicolas Bouvier 1963 French French
2032 The History Of Rome Theodor Mommsen 1854 German German
2450 Bostan Saadi 1257 Persian Persian
2558 Alamut Vladimir Bartol 1938 Slovenian Slovene
3102 Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi 2003 Iranian English
3288 Savushun Simin Daneshvar 1969 Iranian Persian
3638 The Tootinameh; Or, Tales of a Parrot India, Iran 1300 Indian Persian
3638 The Bible As History Werner Keller 1955 German German
4409 The Essential Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1995 Persian Persian
4981 The Emperor Ryszard Kapuscinski 1978 Polish Polish
4998 Persepolis Two Marjane Satrapi 2004 Iranian French
5448 Imperium Ryszard Kapuscinski 1993 Polish Polish
5704 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
5805 Martyr! Kaveh Akbar 2024 American English
6408 In Xanadu William Dalrymple 1989 British English
6444 Mystical Dimensions Of Islam Annemarie Schimmel 1975 Unknown English
6600 Shah Of Shahs Ryszard Kapuscinski 1982 Polish Polish
6967 The Boat Nam Le 2008 Australian English
7563 Compass Mathias Enard 2015 French French
7999 The Great Transformation Karen Armstrong 2006 British English
8027 Among The Believers V. S. Naipaul 1981 British English
8250 Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas 2003 Iranian English
9192 A Sliver Of Light Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd 2014 American English
9332 Embroideries Marjane Satrapi 2003 Iranian French
9659 The Silk Road Sven Hedin 2012 Swedish Swedish
9801 No Friend But The Mountains Behrouz Boochani 2018 Unknown Persian
10065 Persepolis 1 & 2 — The Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
10577 The Half Known Life Pico Iyer 2023 British English
10612 King Of Kings Scott Anderson 2025 American English
10993 Not Without My Daughter Betty Mahmoody 1987 American English
11056 Darius The Great Is Not Okay Adib Khorram 2018 Iranian-American English
11061 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11223 The Teacher Of Nomad Land Daniel Nayeri American English
11365 The Jasmine Of The Lovers Rūzbihān Baqlī Shīrāzī Persian Persian
11516 If You Could Be Mine Sara Farizan 2013 Iranian English
11534 Countdown To Zero Day Kim Zetter 2014 American English
11612 The Next Christendom Philip Jenkins 2002 American English
11636 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11662 All Fall Down Gary Sick 1985 American English
12132 The House Of The Mosque Kader Abdolah 2005 Dutch Dutch
12442 Liquid Mariam Rahmani 2025 Unknown English
12834 Daughter Of Persia Sattareh Farman-Farmaian 1992 Iranian English
12834 Veils Nahid Rachlin 1992 Iranian English
13362 Gulistan Saadi 1258 Gulistan Persian
13362 The Adventures Of Hajji Baba Of Ispahan James Morier 1824 British English
13762 Everything Sad Is Untrue Daniel Nayeri 2020 American English
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
14170 The Valleys of the Assassins Freya Stark 1934 British English
14232 Disoriental Négar Djavadi 2016 French French
14429 1979 Christian Kracht 2001 German German
14721 The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire Volume Ii Edward Gibbon 1781 British English
14788 Eastern Approaches Fitzroy Maclean 1949 British English
14833 The Perfect Weapon David E. Sanger 2018 American English
14985 The Enlightenment Of The Greengage Tree Shokoofeh Azar 2017 Iranian Persian
14985 Women Without Men Shahrnush Parsipur 1989 Iranian Persian
15915 Avesta Zoroastrian scripture -1200 Iranian Avestan
15915 Canon of Medicine Avicenna 1025 Persian Arabic
15915 A History Of India Romila Thapar 1966 Indian English
15915 Alberuni's India Al-Biruni, Edward C. Sachau 1030 Multiple Arabic
16607 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
16669 Khosrow And Shirin Nezami Ganjavi 1180 Persian Persian
17161 Executive Orders Tom Clancy 1996 American English
17161 Language For A New Century Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, Ravi Shankar 2008 Multiple English
17161 Islam And The West Bernard Lewis 1993 British English
17161 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17161 The Jakarta Method Vincent Bevins 2020 American English
17161 Diplomacy Henry A. Kissinger 1994 American English
17161 Only Sound Remains Hossein Asgari 2024 Unknown English
17161 1177 B.C. Eric H. Cline 2014 American English
17161 The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan 2015 British English
17161 In Search Of The Cradle Of Civilization David Frawley, Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak 1995 Multiple English
17161 The Wages Of Destruction Adam Tooze 2006 British English
17161 The Closing Of The Western Mind Charles Freeman 2002 British English
17161 جای خالی سلوچ Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 1979 Iranian Persian
17161 Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World Jack Weatherford 2004 American English
17161 Cyclonopedia Reza Negarestani 2008 Unknown English
17115 Vis And Ramin Fakhraddin Gorgani 1048 Persian Persian
17161 Out Of Mesopotamia Salar Abdoh 2020 Iranian English
17161 Censoring An Iranian Love Story Shahriar Mandanipour 2009 Iranian Persian
17161 The Silk Road Valerie Hansen 2012 Unknown English
16806 دایی جان ناپلئون Iraj Pezeshkzad 1973 Iranian Persian
17161 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17161 My Part Of Her Javad Djavahery 2017 Unknown French
17161 A Door Between Us Ehsaneh Sadr 2020 Unknown English
17161 Then The Fish Swallowed Him Amir Ahmadi Arian 2020 Iranian English
17161 Aria Nazanine Hozar 2019 Unknown English
17161 The Immortals Of Tehran Ali Araghi 2020 Unknown English
17161 The Drowned Moniro Ravanipour 1989 Unknown Persian
17161 The Woman Who Read Too Much Bahiyyih Nakhjavani 2015 Unknown English
17161 To Keep The Sun Alive Rabeah Ghaffari 2019 Unknown English
17161 Song Of A Captive Bird Jasmin Darznik 2018 American English
17161 A Good Country Laleh Khadivi 2017 American English
17161 The Last Days Of Cafe Leila Donia Bijan 2017 Unknown English
17161 The Gardens Of Consolation Parisa Reza 2015 Unknown French
17161 Rituals Of Restlessness Yaghoub Yadali 2016 Iranian Persian
17161 Space Between Us Zoya Pirzad 1997 Iranian Persian
17161 Children Of The Jacaranda Tree Sahar Delijani 2013 Unknown English
17161 The Luminous Heart Of Jonah S. Gina B. Nahai 2014 American English
17161 Brief Encounters With The Enemy Saïd Sayrafiezadeh 2013 American English
17161 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17161 The Neighbors Ahmad Mahmoud 1974 Unknown Persian
17161 The Colonel Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 2009 Iranian Persian
17161 Equal Of The Sun Anita Amirrezvani 2012 Unknown English
16904 A History Of Civilizations Fernand Braudel 1963 French French
17161 Funeral Games Mary Renault 1981 British English
17161 The Genius Of Their Age S. Frederick Starr 2023 Unknown English
17161 Grand Delusion Steven Simon 2023 Unknown English
17161 The Half Known Life Pico Iyer 2023 British English
17161 The Scythian Empire Christopher I. Beckwith 2023 Unknown English
17161 I Will Greet The Sun Again Khashayar J. Khabushani 2023 Unknown English
17161 Islam In History Bernard Lewis 1973 British English
17161 In The Deserts Of This Earth Uwe George 1983 German German
16922 The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire Volume Iii Edward Gibbon 1781 British English
17161 Like Hidden Fire: The Plot To Bring Down The British Empire hopkirk 1994 Unknown English
17161 The Walking Drum Louis L'Amour 1984 American English