The Greatest Books of All Time on Legacy

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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
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
515 Lives of the Artists Giorgio Vasari 1550 Italian Italian
623 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
1232 Children of Gebelawi Naguib Mahfouz 1959 Egyptian Arabic
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1685 Burr Gore Vidal 1973 American English
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
2026 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2082 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2418 A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 1940 British English
2649 The House of Scorta Laurent Gaudé 2004 French French
2696 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2858 A Ballad for Georg Henig Viktor Paskov 1987 Bulgarian Bulgarian
2888 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2996 Staying On Paul Scott 1977 British English
3286 The Aspern Papers Henry James 1888 American English
3300 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish
3516 In the American Grain William Carlos Williams 1925 American English
3565 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
4368 The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie 1995 British English
4420 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
4520 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
4636 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4716 A Life of Picasso John Richardson 1991 British English
4896 The Book Of Fame Lloyd Jones 2000 New Zealand English
4987 Madame Curie - A Biography by Eve Curie Eve Curie 1937 French French
5018 The King David Report Stefan Heym 1972 German German
5257 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5431 The House At Old Vine Norah Lofts 1961 British English
5480 The House At Sunset Norah Lofts 1962 British English
5646 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5665 La Famille Boussardel Philippe Heriat 1944 French French
5701 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
5930 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
6002 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6195 Girl in Hyacinth Blue Susan Vreeland 1999 American English
6245 Claudius The God Robert Graves 1935 British English
6256 The Allure Of Chanel Paul Morand 1976 French French
6498 The Black Count Tom Reiss 2012 French English
6506 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6506 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
6663 How The Word Is Passed Clint Smith 2021 American English
6766 The Charles Men Verner von Heidenstam 1897 Swedish Swedish
6812 Scorched Wajdi Mouawad 2003 French French
7067 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7073 Augustus John Williams 1972 American English
7147 Captains And The Kings Taylor Caldwell 1972 American English
7159 Midnight Sun Ramsey Campbell 1990 British English
7215 Oraisons funèbres Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet 1689 French French
7215 On Sepulchres Ugo Foscolo 1809 Italian Italian
7634 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
8142 Vor Uns Die Sintflut Urs Widmer 1998 Swiss German
8172 Life Keith Richards 2010 British English
8274 Tennyson Christopher Ricks 1972 British English
8312 Vigilia Del Almirante Augusto Roa Bastos 1992 Paraguayan Spanish
8390 de Kooning Mark Stevens, Annalyn Swan 2004 American English
8441 Der Geliebte Der Mutter Urs Widmer 2000 Swiss German
8765 John Adams David McCullough 2001 American English
8986 Tinkers Paul Harding 2009 American English
9069 Cleopatra Stacy Schiff 2010 Egyptian English
9069 Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow 2004 American English
9708 Katherine Of Aragon Alison Weir 2016 British English
9825 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9914 The Messiah Of Stockholm Cynthia Ozick 1987 American English
9948 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
9985 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10214 What's Bred In The Bone Robertson Davies 1985 Canadian English
10303 Dear Departed Marguerite Yourcenar 1974 French French
10303 Renoir, My Father Jean Renoir 1962 French French
10720 Dominion Calvin Baker 2006 American English
10782 Washington Ron Chernow 2010 American English
10975 Portrait Of An Artist Laurie Lisle 1980 American English
11029 My Life And The Beautiful Game Pele 1977 Brazilian English
11230 The Illustrious House of Ramires Eça de Queirós 1900 Portuguese Portuguese
11439 The Magnificent Spinster May Sarton 1985 American English
11660 The Patriarch David Nasaw 2012 American English
11660 The House Of Broken Angels Luis Alberto Urrea 2018 American English
11939 American Lion Jon Matteson 2008 American English
11939 George Washington Douglas Southall Freeman 1948 American English
11939 Lindbergh A. Scott Berg 1998 American English
12048 The Death Of Napoleon Simon Leys 1986 Belgian French
12241 Brother Brontë Fernando A. Flores 2023 Unknown English
12513 Family Album Claribel Alegría 1991 Nicaraguan Spanish
13359 The Lives Of The Poets Samuel Johnson 1779 British English
13566 Johnny Cash Reinhard Kleist 2006 German German
13885 Elmer Gerry Alanguilan 2009 Unknown English
14211 Queen Victoria Lytton Strachey 1921 British English
14232 Founding Brothers Joseph Ellis 2000 American English
14232 The Damned Utd David Peace 2006 British English
14347 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen 2008 American English
14434 Einstein Walter Isaacson 2007 American English
14457 A Champion's Mind Pete Sampras 2008 American English
14679 Being Nixon Evan Thomas 2015 American English
14983 The Hemingses of Monticello Annette Gordon-Reed 2008 American English
14983 Imperial Caesar Rex Warner 1960 British English
14983 Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher Timothy Egan 2012 American English
14983 The Skystone (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 1) Jack Whyte 1992 Canadian English
14983 Forward The Foundation Isaac Asimov 1993 American English
14983 In The Freud Archives Janet Malcolm 1984 American English
14983 Fatherland Burkhard Bilger 2023 Unknown English
14983 The Latecomer Jean Hanff Korelitz 2022 American English
14983 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2023 Senegalese French
14983 Above Ground Clint Smith 2023 American English
15632 舊址 Li Rui 1998 Chinese Chinese
15634 Surrender Bono 2022 Irish English
15897 A Mass For The Dead William Gibson 1968 American English
15897 The Tentmaker Julius Berstl 1935 Unknown German
15897 Conscience Of The King Alfred Duggan 1951 British English
15897 The Florentine Carl Spinatelli 1953 Unknown English
17117 The Great Man Kate Christensen 2007 American English
17117 George Mills Stanley Elkin 1982 American English
17117 Sons of Mississippi Paul Hendrickson 2003 American English
17117 Custer's Trials T. J. Stiles 2015 American English
17117 Viking Britain Thomas Williams 2017 British English
17117 Pele Pele 2006 Brazilian English