The Greatest Books of All Time on Isolation

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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
826 Voss Patrick White 1957 Australian English
828 Lost Horizon James Hilton 1933 British English
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
861 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
886 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 American English
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
973 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
976 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
979 The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 British English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
995 Dombey and Son Charles Dickens 1846 British English
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1013 Green Mansions W. H. Hudson 1904 British English
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1026 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
1031 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1073 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
1086 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
1089 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
1125 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1132 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1135 The Tunnel Ernesto Sábato 1948 Argentinian Spanish
1137 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1153 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
1157 Twice-Told Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne 1837 American English
1168 The Diaries Franz Kafka 1948 Czech German
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1191 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1238 The Age of Anxiety W. H. Auden 1947 British English
1254 Death and the Dervish Meša Selimović 1966 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1285 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
1286 The Invention Of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares 1940 Argentinian Spanish
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
1293 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1312 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1321 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1324 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1332 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1334 Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton 1941 British English
1352 The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton 1969 American English
1372 The Horror Horn And Other Stories E. F. Benson 1931 British English
1379 The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty Eudora Welty 1980 American English
1385 The Bell Iris Murdoch 1958 British English
1407 The Golovlyov Family Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin 1880 Russian Russian
1408 Amongst Women John McGahern 1990 Irish English
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1424 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1428 The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett 1896 American English
1451 The Children of Men P. D. James 1992 British English
1453 The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1950 American English
1458 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers 1951 American English
1468 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner William Faulkner 1950 American English
1470 Wind, Sand and Stars Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1939 French French
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1487 Kokoro Natsume Sōseki 1914 Japanese Japanese
1490 The Garden Party And Other Stories Katherine Mansfield 1922 New Zealand English
1498 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1506 Selected Stories William Trevor 1992 Irish English
1516 The Alberta Trilogy Cora Sandel 1926 Norwegian Norwegian
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1522 Cancer Ward Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1967 Russian Russian
1532 Arturo's Island Elsa Morante 1957 Italian Italian
1562 Burnt Offerings Robert Marasco 1973 American English
1567 To Build A Fire Jack London 1902 American English
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1582 Quicksand Nella Larsen 1928 American English
1593 Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys 1939 British English
1595 The Forbidden Kingdom Jan Jacob Slauerhoff 1932 Dutch Dutch
1607 Pan Knut Hamsun 1894 Norwegian Norwegian
1609 The Drowned World J. G. Ballard 1962 British English
1615 Giants in the Earth Ole Edvart Rolvaag 1927 Norwegian Norwegian
1633 In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1968 American English
1635 The Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel García Márquez 1975 Colombian Spanish
1636 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1651 The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1892 American English
1652 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
1659 The Americans Robert Frank 1959 American English
1668 Solitude Caterina Albert 1905 Spanish Catalan
1684 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1688 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
1697 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
1705 The Sea-Wolf Jack London 1904 American English
1718 The Fixer Bernard Malamud 1966 American English
1743 Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee 1983 South African English
1748 The Fox Was Ever The Hunter Herta Müller 1992 German German
1760 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
1761 Lady into Fox David Garnett 1922 British English
1766 The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1771 British English
1769 Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas 1954 British English
1773 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore 1955 Irish English
1776 Flowering Nettle Harry Martinson 1935 Swedish Swedish
1795 Victory Joseph Conrad 1915 British English
1836 Grendel John Gardner 1971 American English
1859 Angel Elizabeth Taylor 1957 British English
1877 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
1897 The Ice People René Barjavel 1968 French French
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1910 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1937 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English