The Greatest Books of All Time on Loss

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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
9 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1929 American English
67 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
302 The Lost Estate Henri Alain-Fournier 1913 French French
331 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
335 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Giorgio Bassani 1962 Italian Italian
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
416 Out of Africa Isak Dinesen 1937 Danish Danish
426 The Moon and the Bonfires Cesare Pavese 1950 Italian Italian
466 A Death in the Family James Agee 1957 American English
524 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
539 So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell 1980 American English
576 Complete Poems Elizabeth Bishop 1969 American English
598 Night Elie Wiesel 1958 French French
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
779 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
914 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
936 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
981 It Stephen King 1986 American English
995 Dombey and Son Charles Dickens 1846 British English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
1197 Light Years James Salter 1975 American English
1302 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1315 Voices from Chernobyl Svetlana Alexievich 1997 Belarusian Russian
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1499 Three Comrades Erich Maria Remarque 1936 German German
1627 Dora Bruder Patrick Modiano 1997 French French
1675 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
1684 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1752 Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward 2013 American English
1776 Flowering Nettle Harry Martinson 1935 Swedish Swedish
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1815 The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman A. E. Housman 1939 British English
1910 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
1969 Poppy And Memory Paul Celan 1950 German German
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
2080 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2134 Farewell To Matyora Valentin Rasputin 1976 Russian Russian
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2201 Arch Of Triumph Erich Maria Remarque 1945 German German
2316 The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monsarrat 1951 British English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
2363 The Sorrow Of War Bao Ninh 1990 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2533 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
2588 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
2639 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
2653 The Skeleton Amrita Pritam 1950 Indian Punjabi
2660 The Years with Laura Diaz Carlos Fuentes 1999 Mexican Spanish
2678 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2694 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2695 Dalva Jim Harrison 1988 American English
2816 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2828 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2846 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2902 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2955 Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels 1996 Canadian English
2956 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2958 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
2965 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
3054 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
3090 On Death and Dying Elisabeth Kübler-Ross 1969 Swiss English
3110 Anagrams Lorrie Moore 1986 American English
3127 Attis And Other Poems Catullus -53 Roman Latin
3143 Poems Hayyim Nahman Bialik 1901 Israeli Hebrew
3184 Moon Palace Paul Auster 1989 American English
3324 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3324 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3420 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
3419 Taipei People Pai Hsien-yung 1971 Chinese Chinese
3576 Carrie's War Nina Bawden 1973 British English
3622 A Small, Good Thing Raymond Carver 1981 American English
3625 The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Alistair MacLeod 1976 Canadian English
3638 Bicycle Thieves Luigi Bartolini 1946 Italian Italian
3846 Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson 1992 British English
3881 Garden, Ashes Danilo Kiš 1965 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3953 Eroica Kosmas Politis 1937 Greek Greek
3953 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
4074 The Bronze Horseman Alexander Pushkin 1837 Russian Russian
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4124 A Very Long Engagement Sebastien Japrisot 1991 French French
4266 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4285 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4306 Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls 1961 American English
4393 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4468 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4566 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4630 The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2006 American English
4632 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle 1993 Irish English
4664 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4935 Dreaming in Cuban Cristina García 1992 Cuban English
4941 The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro 2015 British English
4978 The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal 2010 British English
4993 Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay 1990 Canadian English
5129 All But My Life Gerda Weissmann Klein 1957 American English
5130 The Snows Of Yesteryear Gregor von Rezzori 1989 Austrian German
5185 Kincskereső Kisködmön Ferenc Móra 1918 Hungarian Hungarian
5186 Stay True Hua Hsu 2022 Chinese English
5240 Abschied Johannes R. Becher 1974 German German
5253 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5256 Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5266 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
5291 Der Mädchenkrieg Manfred Bieler 1975 German German
5405 A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra 2013 American English
5445 The Lover A. B. Yehoshua 1977 Israeli Hebrew
5490 The Lost Daniel Mendelsohn 2006 American English
5594 The Sound Of Things Falling Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2011 Colombian Spanish
5613 Vuk István Fekete 1965 Hungarian Hungarian
5622 Wave Sonali Deraniyagala 2013 Sri Lankan English
5631 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5651 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5724 Simple Passion Annie Ernaux 1991 French French
5729 In The Presence Of Absence Mahmoud Darwish 2006 Palestinian Arabic