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
8009 Moles Günter Eich 1953 German German
8074 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8076 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8106 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8107 After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie Jean Rhys 1930 British English
8107 New Islands And Other Stories María Luisa Bombal 1939 Chilean Spanish
8144 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8166 Child Of God Cormac McCarthy 1973 American English
8177 Cuando Ya No Importe Juan Carlos Onetti 1993 Uruguayan Spanish
8178 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8178 Lilith J.R. Salamanca 1961 American English
8203 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8237 Strange Heaven Lynn Coady 1998 Canadian English
8238 Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters J. D. Salinger 1963 American English
8264 Rosie Carpe & Hilda Marie NDiaye 2001 French French
8336 The Bat Poet Randall Jarrell 1964 American English
8357 Tracks Robyn Davidson 1980 Australian English
8389 In The Labyrinth Alain Robbe-Grillet 1959 French French
8402 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
8441 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8443 Journal Mireille Havet 2003 French French
8445 The Diary Of A Gulag Prison Guard 1935 6 Ivan Chistyakov 2016 Russian Russian
8445 Willenbrock Christoph Hein 2000 German German
8445 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8473 Collected Poems Weldon Kees 1960 American English
8473 Ceremony In Lone Tree Wright Morris 1960 American English
8502 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8524 The Outermost House Henry Beston 1928 American English
8624 The Storm And Other Things Eugenio Montale 1978 Italian Italian
8631 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8629 Custody Of The Eyes Diamela Eltit 1994 Chilean Spanish
8638 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8685 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8713 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
8739 Second Skin John Hawkes 1964 American English
8773 Inland Téa Obreht 2019 American English
8801 World Light Halldor Laxness 1937 Icelandic Icelandic
8844 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
8889 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8945 Wolf in White Van John Darnielle 2014 American English
8992 Collected Stories Frank O'Connor 1981 Irish English
9003 Circe's Mountain Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1959 German Unknown
9003 Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos Margret Wittmer 1959 German German
9006 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
9009 That Voice Robert Pinget 1967 French French
9021 Love Hanne Ørstavik 1997 Norwegian Norwegian
9029 Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver 2000 American English
9032 The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa 1987 Peruvian Spanish
9036 Them Old Cowboy Songs Annie Proulx 2008 American English
9036 Yama Loka Terminus Léo Henry, Jacques Mucchielli 2008 French French
9046 L'amour, La Mer Pascal Quignard 2002 French French
9070 The Lonely City Olivia Laing 2016 British English
9073 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9079 Event Factory Renee Gladman 2010 American English
9098 Rock, Paper, Scissors And Other Stories Maxim Osipov 2019 Russian Russian
9128 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9139 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9160 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9160 La Blessure Et La Soif Laurence Plazenet 2009 French French
9192 A Sliver Of Light Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd 2014 American English
9229 Sun Dancing Geoffrey Moorhouse 1997 British English
9246 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9245 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9247 An Audience Of Chairs Joan Clark 2005 Canadian English
9329 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9333 Decoded Mai Jia 2002 Chinese Chinese
9341 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9352 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9366 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9372 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9370 A Line Made By Walking Sara Baume 2017 Irish English
9507 False Years Josefina Vicens 1964 Mexican Unknown
9377 Saint Leon William Godwin 1799 British English
9550 The Libera Me Domine Robert Pinget 1972 French Unknown
9550 Collected Poems A. R. Ammons 1972 American English
9597 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9625 Suddenly In The Depth Of The Forest Amos Oz 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9630 Largo Desolato Vaclav Havel 1985 Czech Czech
9647 Forgetting Elena Edmund White 1973 American English
9659 The Cell Horst Bienek German Unknown
9659 Nedokoro No Kyoudai Kenzaburō Ōe Japanese Japanese
9659 Sebastian Dreaming Georg Trakl Austrian German
9697 I Heard The Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven 1967 Canadian English
9720 Tales of H. P. Lovecraft H. P. Lovecraft 1997 American English
9769 The Narrow Land Christine Dwyer Hickey 2019 Irish English
9781 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9801 The Shepherd's Hut Tim Winton 2018 Australian English
9809 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9811 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
9827 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9835 Poems Of Stevie Smith Stevie Smith 1975 British English
9885 The Wall Jean Paul Sartre 1939 French French
9895 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
9945 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9957 Big Girl, Small Town Michelle Gallen 2020 Irish English
9964 Winner Of The National Book Award Jincy Willett 2003 American English
9964 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9964 Mailman J. Robert Lennon 2003 American English
9974 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9984 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
9989 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10007 Lone Women Victor LaValle 2023 American English
10013 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10039 Goat Days Benyamin 2008 Indian Malayalam
10059 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10067 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10084 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10085 Falling in Place Ann Beattie 1980 American English
10098 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10104 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
10111 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10112 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10120 Through The Woods Emily Carroll 2014 Canadian English
10139 A Lesson From Aloes Athol Fugard 1978 South African English
10139 Dinner Along The Amazon Timothy Findley 1984 Canadian English
10161 Transmission Hari Kunzru 2004 British English
10173 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10172 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10192 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10211 The Little Hotel Christina Stead 1973 Australian English