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
2287 The History of the Siege of Lisbon José Saramago 1989 Portuguese Portuguese
2288 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2301 Le Roman Inachevé Louis Aragon 1956 French French
2303 Machine Dreams Jayne Anne Phillips 1984 American English
2305 Stockholm series Per Anders Fogelström 1960 Swedish Swedish
2306 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2312 Room At The Top John Braine 1957 British English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
3090 The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross St. John of the Cross 1578 Spanish Spanish
2328 Romola George Eliot 1863 British English
2333 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2342 Song of Songs Christian Church -500 Jewish Hebrew
2347 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2353 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie 2000 Chinese French
2354 Enemies, A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer 1972 American Yiddish
2363 The Sorrow Of War Bao Ninh 1990 Vietnamese Vietnamese
2366 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
2370 Happiness, as Such Natalia Ginzburg 1973 Italian Italian
2372 The Tales Of Hoffmann E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
2372 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2385 Viper’s Tangle François Mauriac 1932 French French
2394 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos 1989 American English
2395 Maurice Guest Henry Handel Richardson 1908 Australian English
2402 The Poems Of John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester John Wilmot 1680 British English
2415 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2421 Phaedrus Plato -370 Greek Ancient greek
2427 A View From The Bridge Arthur Miller 1955 American English
2439 Poems Of Anna Akhmatova Anna Akhmatova 1912 Russian Russian
2440 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2441 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn 1939 British English
2446 The Rector's Daughter F. M. Mayor 1924 British English
2454 By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
2458 Shirley Charlotte Brontë 1849 British English
2462 Poems Of William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant 1821 American English
2466 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
2469 Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2472 Fall On Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald 1996 Canadian English
2482 The Cider House Rules John Irving 1985 American English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2488 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 1965 British English
2492 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2493 Miramar Naguib Mahfouz 1967 Egyptian Arabic
2496 Mortals Norman Rush 2003 American English
2509 Curial e Güelfa Unknown 1450 Spanish Catalan
2514 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2516 Hippolytus Euripides -428 Greek Ancient greek
2521 The Happy Prince And Other Tales Oscar Wilde 1888 British English
2526 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong 2019 American English
2533 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
2536 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
2542 Camilla Fanny Burney 1796 British English
2543 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2546 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2556 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2565 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2567 Poesías Completas Antonio Machado 1940 Spanish Spanish
2572 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2576 The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 Anaïs Nin 1966 French English
2577 Complete Poems E. E. Cummings 1960 American English
2578 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
2586 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2587 Red Shift Alan Garner 1973 British English
2588 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
2589 Sir Charles Grandison Samuel Richardson 1753 British English
2594 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2595 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2608 The Gambler Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
2614 The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare 1600 British English
2622 Border Town Shen Congwen 1934 Chinese Chinese
2625 The Captain's Daughter Alexander Pushkin 1836 Russian Russian
2635 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
2636 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2649 The House of Scorta Laurent Gaudé 2004 French French
2653 The Skeleton Amrita Pritam 1950 Indian Punjabi
2660 The Years with Laura Diaz Carlos Fuentes 1999 Mexican Spanish
2661 Daughters of Fire Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
2676 Anne Of The Island L. M. Montgomery 1915 Canadian English
2682 Twilight Stephenie Meyer 2005 American English
2692 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
2693 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
2695 Dalva Jim Harrison 1988 American English
2696 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2702 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah 2015 American English
2704 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin 1901 Australian English
2726 Last Poems A. E. Housman 1922 British English
2731 Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 1992 American English
2741 Jerusalem Selma Lagerlöf 1901 Swedish Swedish
2743 Ved Vejen Herman Bang 1886 Danish Danish
2744 Dialogues of the Courtesans Lucian of Samosata 150 Unknown Ancient greek
2745 Erec And Enide Chrétien de Troyes 1160 French Old french
2746 The Romance of the Rose Guillaume (de Lorris) 1230 French Old french
2750 Castle Gripsholm Kurt Tucholsky 1931 German German
2747 Poor Henry Hartmann von Aue 1190 German Middle high german
2750 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2767 The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories Yasunari Kawabata 1926 Japanese Japanese
2770 The Book Of Divine Consolation Meister Eckhart 1308 German Middle high german
2775 Gedichte Walther von der Vogelweide 1200 German Middle high german
2778 Carmina Burana Unknown 1230 Multiple Latin
2786 By Night Under The Stone Bridge Leo Perutz 1953 Austrian German
2798 Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth 1959 American English
2804 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2814 The Golden Apples Eudora Welty 1949 American English
2815 The Belkin Tales Alexander Pushkin 1831 Russian Russian
2817 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2828 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2858 Jamila Chinghiz Aitmatov 1958 Kyrgyz Kyrgyz
2874 The Horseman on the Roof Jean Giono 1951 French French
2875 River of Fire Qurratulain Hyder 1959 Indian Urdu
2877 The Patriot Antonio Fogazzaro 1906 Italian Italian
2897 Indigo Beverly Jenkins 1996 American English
2899 A Private Affair Beppe Fenoglio 1963 Italian Italian
2902 Waverley Sir Walter Scott 1814 British English
2910 Ruth Elizabeth Gaskell 1853 British English
2912 Délie Maurice Scève 1544 French French
2912 A Simple Soul Gustave Flaubert 1877 French French
2915 The Broken Sword Poul Anderson 1954 American English
2922 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
2937 Jauche Und Levkojen Christine Brückner 1975 German German