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
4738 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Peter Matthiessen 1965 American English
4762 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
4782 Ice Anna Kavan 1967 British English
4846 A Season In Sinji J. L. Carr 1967 British English
4891 The Short Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1886 Russian Russian
4894 Abel Alone Áron Tamási 1932 Hungarian Hungarian
4931 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
4938 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4981 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
4996 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
4998 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
5009 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5010 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
5015 Broken April Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
5018 The Werewolf Aksel Sandemose 1958 Norwegian Norwegian
5021 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5080 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5111 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5124 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5151 Quarantine Jim Crace 1997 British English
5152 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5153 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
5167 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5230 Dark Feasts Ramsey Campbell 1987 British English
5232 Mouth Full Of Earth Branimir Scepanovic 1975 Montenegrin Serbo-croatian
5260 Death And The Penguin Andrey Kurkov 1996 Ukrainian Russian
5269 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5289 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5291 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5291 The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories From The Portuguese Joyce Carol Oates 1975 American English
5303 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5312 A General Theory Of Oblivion José Eduardo Agualusa 2012 Angolan Portuguese
5314 The Vampire Tapestry Suzy McKee Charnas 1980 American English
5329 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5341 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5353 New Hampshire Robert Frost 1923 American English
5360 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5360 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5406 Melancholy Jon Fosse 1995 Norwegian Norwegian
5410 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
5418 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5445 A Winter In Hakkari Ferit Edgü 1977 Turkish Turkish
5460 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5471 The Unicorn Iris Murdoch 1963 British English
5497 After the Flood P. C. Jersild 1982 Swedish Swedish
5510 Riders In The Chariot Patrick White 1961 Australian English
5511 The Shadow Over Innsmouth H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
5516 The Willows Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
5525 Not After Midnight Daphne du Maurier 1971 British English
5529 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5529 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5601 Canada Richard Ford 2012 American English
5619 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5631 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5665 The Little Misery François Mauriac 1951 French French
5665 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5679 The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury 1951 American English
5702 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
5706 Ο Λουσίας Nikos Houliaras 1987 Greek Greek
5711 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
5713 The Twin Gerbrand Bakker 2006 Dutch Dutch
5746 Open Secrets Alice Munro 1994 Canadian English
5750 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5756 Come Closer Sara Gran 2003 American English
5771 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
5780 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5803 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
5860 Poems Of John Clare John Clare 1820 British English
5886 House With The Green Shutters George Douglas Brown 1901 Scottish English
5898 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5902 The First Men In The Moon H. G. Wells 1901 British English
5907 Thomas The Obscure Maurice Blanchot 1941 French French
5903 Notes From Underground & Other Stories Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
5935 Spätestens Im November Hans Erich Nossack 1982 German German
5947 The Afternoon of a Writer Peter Handke 1987 Austrian German
5975 The Ogre Michel Tournier 1970 French French
5984 Ham On Rye Charles Bukowski 1982 American English
6002 The Children Of The Sea Joseph Conrad 1897 British English
6002 A Balcony In The Forest Julien Gracq 1958 French French
6002 Chekhov's Selected Stories Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
6002 Collected Stories Franz Kafka 1931 Austrian German
6002 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6002 A Certain Plume Henri Michaux 1930 French English
6002 Batailles Dans La Montagne Jean Giono 1937 French French
6002 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6002 Le Bavard Louis-René Des Forêts 1946 French French
6002 Les Murs De Fresnes Henri Calet 1945 French French
6002 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6002 Master And Man Leo Tolstoy 1895 Russian Russian
6002 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6002 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6002 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6002 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French
6002 Seven Gothic Tales Karen Blixen 1934 Danish Danish
6002 Someone Robert Pinget 1965 French French
6002 The Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6002 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6002 The Motorcycle André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1963 French French
6002 The Sailor From Gibraltar Marguerite Duras 1952 French French
6002 The Story Of My Wife Milán Füst 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
6002 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6083 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
6089 Herr Gustafsson Himself Lars Gustafsson 1983 Swedish Swedish
6122 Obabakoak Bernardo Atxaga 1988 Spanish Basque
6125 Selected Poems, 1965-1975 Margaret Atwood 1976 Canadian English
6131 L'hiver De Force Réjean Ducharme 1973 Canadian French
6141 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
6147 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6175 Notebooks Albert Camus 1935 French French
6177 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6185 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6215 The Origin Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
6233 Tar Baby Toni Morrison 1981 American English
6254 Omensetter's Luck William H. Gass 1966 American English
6263 Pan In Oslo Knut Faldbakken 1985 Norwegian German
6272 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6282 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6300 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6301 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English
6301 Les Lieux De Marguerite Duras Marguerite Duras 1977 French French