The Greatest Books of All Time on Madness

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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
7734 Despair Vladimir Nabokov 1934 Russian Russian
7820 Selected Writings Henri Michaux 1949 French French
7883 Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2020 Mexican English
7930 Winterwood Patrick McCabe 2006 Irish English
8166 Child Of God Cormac McCarthy 1973 American English
8177 Cuando Ya No Importe Juan Carlos Onetti 1993 Uruguayan Spanish
8178 Lilith J.R. Salamanca 1961 American English
8191 The Fisherman John Langan 2016 American English
8467 La Dama Número Trece José Carlos Somoza 2003 Spanish Spanish
8633 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8677 Selected Plays And Libretti Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1963 Austrian German
8741 The Dalkey Archive Flann O'Brien 1964 Irish English
8899 I Have Not Seen Mandu Swadesh Deepak 2003 Indian Hindi
9011 That Voice Robert Pinget 1967 French French
9194 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9378 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
9378 Can Such Things Be? Ambrose Bierce 1893 American English
9632 Dagon, And Other Macabre Tales H. P. Lovecraft 1934 American English
9722 Tales of H. P. Lovecraft H. P. Lovecraft 1997 American English
9783 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9962 Asylum Patrick McGrath 1996 British English
10109 Don Quixote's Delusions Miranda France 2001 British English
10121 Through The Woods Emily Carroll 2014 Canadian English
10193 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10205 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10205 From Hell Alan Moore 1991 British English
10521 Father Of Frankenstein Christopher Bram 1995 American English
10559 Seven Plays Sam Shepard 1981 American English
10736 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10752 Selected Stories Robert Walser 1982 Swiss German
10927 Fools of Fortune William Trevor 1983 Irish English
10964 Radiant Terminus Antoine Volodine 2014 French French
10966 Heartsnatcher Boris Vian 1953 French French
11029 Four Novels Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
11034 The Weird Ann VanderMeer 2011 American English
11225 Malpertuis Jean Ray 1943 Belgian French
11238 The Horla Guy de Maupassant 1887 French French
11332 The Abominations Of Yondo Clark Ashton Smith 1960 American English
11470 Furnace Livia Llewellyn 2016 American English
11537 Thyestes Seneca 62 Roman Latin
11547 A Madman's Diary 狂人日記 Lu Xun 1918 Chinese Chinese
11802 The Ballad Of Black Tom Victor LaValle 2016 American English
11851 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
11923 The Ritual Adam Nevill 2011 British English
12050 The Visit Of The Royal Physician Per Olov Enquist 1999 Swedish Swedish
12071 Night Shift Stephen King 1978 American English
12146 The Book Of Evidence John Banville 1989 Irish English
12515 The Gates Of Ivory Margaret Drabble 1991 British English
12551 Minimosca Gustavo Faverón Patriau 2024 Peruvian Spanish; castilian
12703 Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol 2002 Spanish Catalan
12821 Rage Steve Gerlach 2006 Australian English
12880 Birchwood John Banville 1973 Irish English
13006 Thus Were Their Faces Silvina Ocampo 1988 Argentinian Spanish
13239 Harrow The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2020 New Zealand English
13304 Maze Of Blood Marly Youmans 2015 American English
13362 The First Folio Of Shakespeare William Shakespeare 1623 English Early modern english
13533 The Height Of The Scream Ramsey Campbell 1976 British English
13582 The Spire William Golding 1964 British English
13600 A Father's Love Jacques Chessex 1973 Swiss French
13600 Enemy Force John Antoine Nau 1903 French French
13600 Rabevel Ou Le Mal Des Ardents Lucien Fabre French French
13600 Le Supplice De Phèdre Henri Deberly French French
13742 Darconville's Cat Alexander Theroux 1981 American English
13789 Ocean Sea Alessandro Baricco 1993 Italian Italian
13993 The Year's Best Horror Stories: Viii Karl Edward Wagner 1980 American English
14001 Conquest Of The Useless Werner Herzog 2009 German German
14063 The Troika Stepan Chapman 1997 American English
14195 Barnaby Rudge Charles Dickens 1841 British English
14204 High-Rise J. G. Ballard 1975 British English
14732 The Changeling Joy Williams 1978 American English
14825 Necronomicon H. P. Lovecraft 1927 American English
14870 Henry Iv Luigi Pirandello 1922 Italian Italian
14866 Donovan's Brain Curt Siodmak 1942 American English
14899 Devil Take The Blue Tail Fly John Franklin Bardin 1948 American English
14887 Tales Of The Grotesque And Arabesque Edgar Allan Poe 1840 American English
14986 Going Native Stephen Wright 1994 American English
14986 Nightfall Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg 1990 American English
14986 Cujo Stephen King 1981 American English
15889 Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers Pierre Guyotat 1967 French French
15919 Above The Dark Circus Hugh Walpole 1931 British English
15914 The Complete Stories Edgar Allan Poe 1832 American English
16511 William Shakespeare Complete Works William Shakespeare 1623 English English
16604 Zama Antonio di Benedetto 1956 Argentinian Spanish
16611 The Complete Works Of Shakespeare William Shakespeare 1623 British English
16544 The Red Laugh Leonid Andreyev 1904 Russian English
16614 The Oxford Complete Shakespeare, 2nd Edition Oxford University Press 1623 British English
16794 Caligula Albert Camus 1944 French French
16736 The Colour Out Of Space H. P. Lovecraft 1927 American English
16771 The Collected Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
16800 The Complete Works Of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
17171 The Jade Cabinet Rikki Ducornet 1993 American English
17171 The Fountains of Neptune Rikki Ducornet 1992 American English
17171 Ray Barry Hannah 1980 American English
17171 Alice Christina Henry 2015 American English
17171 Darkness Visible William Golding 1979 British English
17171 Justine Alice Thompson 1996 British English
17171 Delirium Laura Restrepo 2004 Colombian Spanish
17171 Doctor Rat William Kotzwinkle 1976 American English
17171 The Physiognomy Jeffrey Ford 1997 American English
17171 The Murderer Roy Heath 1978 Guyanese English
17171 My Idea Of Fun Will Self 1993 British English
17171 The Darkness That Comes Before R. Scott Bakker 2003 Canadian English
17171 Amadeus Peter Shaffer 1979 British English
17171 Magic Or Madness Justine Larbalestier 2005 Australian English
17171 The Grin Of The Dark Ramsey Campbell 2007 British English
17171 One Conrad Williams 2009 British English
17171 The Fishermen Chigozie Obioma 2015 Nigerian English
16926 The Alienist Machado de Assis 1882 Brazilian Portuguese
17171 Gone To See The River Man Kristopher Triana 2020 American English
17171 The A26 Pascal Garnier 1999 French French
17171 Marco E Mattio Sebastiano Vassalli 1992 Italian Italian
16948 Set This House On Fire William Styron 1960 American English
17171 Berserk Volume 7 Kentaro Miura 1995 Japanese Japanese
17171 The Ark Sakura Kobo Abé 1984 Japanese Japanese
17171 Gould's Book Of Fish Richard Flanagan 2001 Australian English
17171 Heartless Marissa Meyer 2016 American English
16960 Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1909 American English
17171 The Twenty Days Of Turin Giorgio De Maria 1977 Italian Italian
17171 The Call Of Cthulhu And Other Weird Stories H. P. Lovecraft 1999 American English
17171 Dracula Jon J. Muth Unknown Unknown