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
4740 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 American English
4764 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
4784 Ice Anna Kavan 1967 British English
4848 A Season In Sinji J. L. Carr 1967 British English
4893 The Short Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1886 Russian Russian
4896 Abel Alone Áron Tamási 1932 Hungarian Hungarian
4934 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
4941 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4985 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
5000 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
5002 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
5013 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5014 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
5019 Broken April Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
5022 The Werewolf Aksel Sandemose 1958 Norwegian Norwegian
5025 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5083 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5114 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5127 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5154 Quarantine Jim Crace 1997 British English
5155 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5156 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
5170 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5233 Dark Feasts Ramsey Campbell 1987 British English
5234 Mouth Full Of Earth Branimir Scepanovic 1975 Montenegrin Serbo-croatian
5262 Death And The Penguin Andrey Kurkov 1996 Ukrainian Russian
5271 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5291 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5293 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5293 The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories From The Portuguese Joyce Carol Oates 1975 American English
5305 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5314 A General Theory Of Oblivion José Eduardo Agualusa 2012 Angolan Portuguese
5316 The Vampire Tapestry Suzy McKee Charnas 1980 American English
5331 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5343 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5355 New Hampshire Robert Frost 1923 American English
5362 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5362 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5409 Melancholy Jon Fosse 1995 Norwegian Norwegian
5413 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
5421 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5448 A Winter In Hakkari Ferit Edgü 1977 Turkish Turkish
5463 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5474 The Unicorn Iris Murdoch 1963 British English
5500 After the Flood P. C. Jersild 1982 Swedish Swedish
5513 Riders In The Chariot Patrick White 1961 Australian English
5514 The Shadow Over Innsmouth H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
5519 The Willows Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
5527 Not After Midnight Daphne du Maurier 1971 British English
5531 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5531 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5591 How It Is Samuel Beckett 1961 Irish French
5604 Canada Richard Ford 2012 American English
5622 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5634 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5668 The Little Misery François Mauriac 1951 French French
5668 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5682 The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury 1951 American English
5705 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
5709 Ο Λουσίας Nikos Houliaras 1987 Greek Greek
5714 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
5716 The Twin Gerbrand Bakker 2006 Dutch Dutch
5749 Open Secrets Alice Munro 1994 Canadian English
5753 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5759 Come Closer Sara Gran 2003 American English
5774 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
5783 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5806 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
5863 Poems Of John Clare John Clare 1820 British English
5889 House With The Green Shutters George Douglas Brown 1901 Scottish English
5901 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5906 The First Men In The Moon H. G. Wells 1901 British English
5909 Thomas The Obscure Maurice Blanchot 1941 French French
5905 Notes From Underground & Other Stories Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
5939 Spätestens Im November Hans Erich Nossack 1982 German German
5951 The Afternoon of a Writer Peter Handke 1987 Austrian German
5979 The Ogre Michel Tournier 1970 French French
5988 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6005 The Children Of The Sea Joseph Conrad 1897 British English
6005 A Balcony In The Forest Julien Gracq 1958 French French
6005 Chekhov's Selected Stories Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
6005 Collected Stories Franz Kafka 1931 Austrian German
6005 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6005 A Certain Plume Henri Michaux 1930 French English
6005 Batailles Dans La Montagne Jean Giono 1937 French French
6005 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6005 Le Bavard Louis-René Des Forêts 1946 French French
6005 Les Murs De Fresnes Henri Calet 1945 French French
6005 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6005 Master And Man Leo Tolstoy 1895 Russian Russian
6005 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6005 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6005 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6005 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French
6005 Seven Gothic Tales Karen Blixen 1934 Danish Danish
6005 Someone Robert Pinget 1965 French French
6005 The Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6005 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6005 The Motorcycle André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1963 French French
6005 The Sailor From Gibraltar Marguerite Duras 1952 French French
6005 The Story Of My Wife Milán Füst 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
6005 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6086 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
6092 Herr Gustafsson Himself Lars Gustafsson 1983 Swedish Swedish
6125 Obabakoak Bernardo Atxaga 1988 Spanish Basque
6128 Selected Poems, 1965-1975 Margaret Atwood 1976 Canadian English
6134 L'hiver De Force Réjean Ducharme 1973 Canadian French
6144 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
6150 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6178 Notebooks Albert Camus 1935 French French
6180 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6189 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6219 The Origin Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
6237 Tar Baby Toni Morrison 1981 American English
6257 Omensetter's Luck William H. Gass 1966 American English
6266 Pan In Oslo Knut Faldbakken 1985 Norwegian German
6275 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6285 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6303 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6304 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English