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
8008 Moles Günter Eich 1953 German German
8073 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8075 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8104 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8105 After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie Jean Rhys 1930 British English
8105 New Islands And Other Stories María Luisa Bombal 1939 Chilean Spanish
8142 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8164 Child Of God Cormac McCarthy 1973 American English
8175 Cuando Ya No Importe Juan Carlos Onetti 1993 Uruguayan Spanish
8176 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8176 Lilith J.R. Salamanca 1961 American English
8201 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8235 Strange Heaven Lynn Coady 1998 Canadian English
8236 Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters J. D. Salinger 1963 American English
8262 Rosie Carpe & Hilda Marie NDiaye 2001 French French
8334 The Bat Poet Randall Jarrell 1964 American English
8355 Tracks Robyn Davidson 1980 Australian English
8386 In The Labyrinth Alain Robbe-Grillet 1959 French French
8399 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
8438 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8440 Journal Mireille Havet 2003 French French
8442 The Diary Of A Gulag Prison Guard 1935 6 Ivan Chistyakov 2016 Russian Russian
8442 Willenbrock Christoph Hein 2000 German German
8442 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8469 Collected Poems Weldon Kees 1960 American English
8469 Ceremony In Lone Tree Wright Morris 1960 American English
8498 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8521 The Outermost House Henry Beston 1928 American English
8621 The Storm And Other Things Eugenio Montale 1978 Italian Italian
8628 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8626 Custody Of The Eyes Diamela Eltit 1994 Chilean Spanish
8635 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8682 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8710 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
8735 Second Skin John Hawkes 1964 American English
8769 Inland Téa Obreht 2019 American English
8797 World Light Halldor Laxness 1937 Icelandic Icelandic
8841 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
8886 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8942 Wolf in White Van John Darnielle 2014 American English
8989 Collected Stories Frank O'Connor 1981 Irish English
9000 Circe's Mountain Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1959 German Unknown
9000 Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos Margret Wittmer 1959 German German
9003 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
9006 That Voice Robert Pinget 1967 French French
9018 Love Hanne Ørstavik 1997 Norwegian Norwegian
9026 Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver 2000 American English
9029 The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa 1987 Peruvian Spanish
9033 Them Old Cowboy Songs Annie Proulx 2008 American English
9033 Yama Loka Terminus Léo Henry, Jacques Mucchielli 2008 French French
9043 L'amour, La Mer Pascal Quignard 2002 French French
9066 The Lonely City Olivia Laing 2016 British English
9069 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9075 Event Factory Renee Gladman 2010 American English
9094 Rock, Paper, Scissors And Other Stories Maxim Osipov 2019 Russian Russian
9124 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9135 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9156 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9156 La Blessure Et La Soif Laurence Plazenet 2009 French French
9189 A Sliver Of Light Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd 2014 American English
9226 Sun Dancing Geoffrey Moorhouse 1997 British English
9243 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9242 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9244 An Audience Of Chairs Joan Clark 2005 Canadian English
9325 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9329 Decoded Mai Jia 2002 Chinese Chinese
9337 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9348 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9362 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9368 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9366 A Line Made By Walking Sara Baume 2017 Irish English
9503 False Years Josefina Vicens 1964 Mexican Unknown
9373 Saint Leon William Godwin 1799 British English
9546 The Libera Me Domine Robert Pinget 1972 French Unknown
9546 Collected Poems A. R. Ammons 1972 American English
9593 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9621 Suddenly In The Depth Of The Forest Amos Oz 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9626 Largo Desolato Vaclav Havel 1985 Czech Czech
9644 Forgetting Elena Edmund White 1973 American English
9656 The Cell Horst Bienek German Unknown
9656 Nedokoro No Kyoudai Kenzaburō Ōe Japanese Japanese
9656 Sebastian Dreaming Georg Trakl Austrian German
9694 I Heard The Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven 1967 Canadian English
9717 Tales of H. P. Lovecraft H. P. Lovecraft 1997 American English
9766 The Narrow Land Christine Dwyer Hickey 2019 Irish English
9778 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9798 The Shepherd's Hut Tim Winton 2018 Australian English
9806 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9808 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
9824 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9832 Poems Of Stevie Smith Stevie Smith 1975 British English
9882 The Wall Jean Paul Sartre 1939 French French
9892 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
9941 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9953 Big Girl, Small Town Michelle Gallen 2020 Irish English
9960 Winner Of The National Book Award Jincy Willett 2003 American English
9960 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9960 Mailman J. Robert Lennon 2003 American English
9970 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9980 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
9985 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10003 Lone Women Victor LaValle 2023 American English
10009 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10034 Goat Days Benyamin 2008 Indian Malayalam
10054 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10062 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10079 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10080 Falling in Place Ann Beattie 1980 American English
10093 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10099 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
10106 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10107 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10116 Through The Woods Emily Carroll 2014 Canadian English
10135 A Lesson From Aloes Athol Fugard 1978 South African English
10135 Dinner Along The Amazon Timothy Findley 1984 Canadian English
10157 Transmission Hari Kunzru 2004 British English
10169 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10168 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10187 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10206 The Little Hotel Christina Stead 1973 Australian English