The Greatest Books of All Time on Loneliness

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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
4493 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4574 Moominvalley In November Tove Jansson 1970 Finnish Swedish
4594 Last Night James Salter 2005 American English
4631 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
4642 Memoirs Of A Midget Walter de la Mare 1921 British English
4654 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4665 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4786 Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan 1985 American English
4828 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4829 Blaming Elizabeth Taylor 1976 British English
4940 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4978 Klara And The Sun Kazuo Ishiguro 2021 British English
4982 New Poems Rainer Maria Rilke 1907 German German
4988 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
5031 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5113 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5155 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
5261 Death And The Penguin Andrey Kurkov 1996 Ukrainian Russian
5290 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5342 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5348 Collected Stories Of V. S. Pritchett V. S. Pritchett 1982 British English
5360 The Portable Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker 1944 American English
5420 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5578 The Puttermesser Papers Cynthia Ozick 1997 American English
5621 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5829 The Easter Parade Richard Yates 1976 American English
6004 A Love Affair Dino Buzzati 1963 Italian Italian
6132 The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson 1991 British English
6149 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6187 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6311 Dance, Dance, Dance Haruki Murakami 1988 Japanese Japanese
6361 Во сне ты горько плакал Yuri Kazakov 1995 Russian Russian
6402 The Chairs Eugène Ionesco 1952 French French
6421 Typical Padgett Powell 1991 American English
6441 The Magic Barrel Bernard Malamud 1958 American English
6537 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6584 Mrs. Caliban Rachel Ingalls 1982 American English
6586 Im Bach Des Wals Paul Nizon 1983 Swiss German
6603 Collected Stories Elizabeth Bowen 1980 Irish English
6668 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez 1992 Colombian Spanish
6695 The Times Are Never So Bad Andre Dubus 1983 American English
6761 Difficult Loves Italo Calvino 1958 Italian Italian
6799 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
6846 King Solomon's Carpet Barbara Vine 1991 British English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7216 The Desert Of Love François Mauriac 1925 French French
7216 Death In The Woods And Other Stories Sherwood Anderson 1933 American English
7737 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
7772 Summer And Smoke Tennessee Williams 1948 American English
7812 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery 2006 French French
7839 The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue V. E. Schwab 2020 American English
7941 The Book Of Ebenezer Le Page G. B. Edwards 1981 British English
7980 Berta Isla Javier Marias 2017 Spanish Spanish
8009 Poems Of Elizabeth Jennings Elizabeth Jennings 1953 British English
8065 Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby Van Pelt 2022 American English
8107 After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie Jean Rhys 1930 British English
8166 Child Of God Cormac McCarthy 1973 American English
8175 A Demon In My View Ruth Rendell 1976 British English
8388 Our Souls At Night Kent Haruf 2015 American English
8394 Eventide Kent Haruf 2004 American English
8638 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8685 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8765 Spill Simmer Falter Wither Sara Baume 2015 Irish English
8880 Mockingbird Walter Tevis 1980 American English
8910 The Night Guest Fiona McFarlane 2013 Australian English
8916 All Grown Up Jami Attenberg 2017 American English
9008 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9020 Love Hanne Ørstavik 1997 Norwegian Norwegian
9069 The Lonely City Olivia Laing 2016 British English
9115 The Heron Giorgio Bassani 1968 Italian Italian
9131 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9184 Complete Poems Randall Jarrell 1969 American English
9241 Tirra Lirra By The River Jessica Anderson 1978 Australian English
9349 Eileen Ottessa Moshfegh 2015 American English
9370 Moldy Strawberries Caio Fernando Abreu 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
9616 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9770 The Night Bookmobile Audrey Niffenegger 2010 American English
9770 In A Strange Room Damon Galgut 2010 South African English
9833 Poems Of Stevie Smith Stevie Smith 1975 British English
9857 Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky Patrick Hamilton 1935 British English
9897 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9908 Women Charles Bukowski 1978 American English
9927 Poems Of Umberto Saba Umberto Saba 1976 Italian Italian
10053 Diablo Guardián Xavier Velasco 2003 Mexican Spanish
10072 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10096 Every Day David Levithan 2012 American English
10167 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10179 B Utterfield 8 John O'Hara 1935 American English
10187 The Woman Upstairs Claire Messud 2013 American English
10242 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10380 Memories Of My Melancholy Whores Gabriel García Márquez 2004 Colombian Spanish
10500 Redhill Rococo Shena Mackay 1986 British English
10593 Varieties of Disturbance Lydia Davis 2007 American English
10734 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10750 Selected Stories Robert Walser 1982 Swiss German
10893 The Odd Woman And The City Vivian Gornick 2015 American English
10910 Grief Andrew Holleran 2022 American English
10941 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
11027 Four Novels Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
11051 The Lone Pilgrim Laurie Colwin 1981 American English
11255 Distant View Of A Minaret Alifa Rifaat 1983 Egyptian Arabic
11275 A Monkey In Winter Antoine Blondin 1959 French French
11356 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11365 The Watch Nikos Kavvadias Greek Greek
11572 Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway 1927 American English
11614 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11629 Everyman Philip Roth 2006 American English
11652 The Continuous Life Mark Strand 1990 American English
11652 All Of Us Raymond Carver 1996 American English
11794 Felicia's Journey William Trevor 1994 British English
11662 The New Yorker Stories Ann Beattie 2010 American English
11662 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy 2009 American English
12201 The Solitude Of Prime Numbers Paolo Giordano 2008 Italian Italian
12214 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
12250 The Golden Gate Vikram Seth 1986 Indian English
12259 Lantern Slides Edna O'Brien 1990 Irish English
12323 Worsted Garielle Lutz 2025 American English
12326 The Journals Of John Cheever John Cheever 1991 American English
12326 Two Lives William Trevor 1991 Irish English