The Greatest Books of All Time on Love

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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
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
496 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
502 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
504 Her Lover Albert Cohen 1968 Swiss French
507 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1826 American English
510 Eugenie Grandet Honoré de Balzac 1833 French French
518 The Odes Horace 23 Roman Latin
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
523 Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós 1887 Spanish Spanish
548 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
555 The Lady with the Dog Anton Chekhov 1899 Russian Russian
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
566 I Served The King Of England Bohumil Hrabal 1983 Czech Czech
567 The French Lieutenant's Woman John Fowles 1969 British English
568 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
571 And Quiet Flows The Don Mikhail Sholokhov 1928 Russian Russian
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
590 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
591 Stories of Guy de Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
595 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
602 The Go-Between L. P. Hartley 1953 British English
605 Claudine Colette 1900 French French
612 Green Henry Gottfried Keller 1855 Swiss German
618 Poems of W. H. Auden W. H. Auden 1930 British English
622 Elective Affinities Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1809 German German
626 Promise at Dawn Romain Gary 1960 French French
628 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
631 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder 1927 American English
632 Dom Casmurro Machado de Assis 1899 Brazilian Portuguese
637 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
644 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
655 Stories of Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway 1987 American English
656 The Time Of The Doves Merce Rodoreda 1962 Spanish Catalan
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
676 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
678 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 1857 British English
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
704 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 1958 American English
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
707 Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson 1830 British English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
721 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
735 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
739 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
751 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1992 American English
752 Poems Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1898 British English
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
765 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
768 A Glastonbury Romance John Cowper Powys 1932 British English
780 Maxims François duc de La Rochefoucauld 1665 French French
785 The Stechlin Theodor Fontane 1898 German German
786 The Far Pavilions Mary Margaret Kaye 1978 British English
797 The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Jan Potocki 1805 Polish French
798 The Life Of Arseniev Ivan Bunin 1930 Russian Russian
800 The Loved One Evelyn Waugh 1948 British English
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
809 Poems by Machado Antonio Machado 1907 Spanish Spanish
810 Amadis of Gaul Garci R. de Montalvo 1508 Spanish Spanish
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
824 Rhymes And Legends Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1871 Spanish Spanish
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
845 Evelina Fanny Burney 1778 British English
854 Cane Jean Toomer 1923 American English
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
860 The Solitudes Luis de Góngora 1613 Spanish Spanish
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
879 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
883 Thaïs Anatole France 1890 French French
885 A Tale of Love and Darkness Amos Oz 2002 Israeli Hebrew
886 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 American English
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
907 Hyperion Friedrich Holderlin 1797 German German
915 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
944 Indian Summer Adalbert Stifter 1857 Austrian German
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
963 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
964 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
970 The Maias Eça de Queirós 1888 Portuguese Portuguese
972 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
974 The Poems of John Keats John Keats 1817 British English
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
978 The History Of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray 1852 British English
997 Julie, or the New Heloise Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1761 French French
1008 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1013 Green Mansions W. H. Hudson 1904 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1016 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1029 Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon Jorge Amado 1958 Brazilian Portuguese
1034 The Bostonians Henry James 1886 American English
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
1061 First Love Ivan Turgenev 1860 Russian Russian
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English