The Greatest Magical Realism and Speculative Fiction Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
44 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
48 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
53 Fictions Jorge Luis Borges 1944 Argentinian Spanish
333 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
379 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
444 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
489 The Aleph And Other Stories Jorge Luis Borges 1949 Argentinian Spanish
508 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
694 Rhymes And Legends Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1871 Spanish Spanish
767 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
933 Winter's Tale Mark Helprin 1983 American English
1094 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
1145 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1178 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1210 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
1238 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
1262 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1300 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1441 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
1609 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
1647 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1667 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
1670 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
1764 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1799 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
1863 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
1969 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
2382 The Castle of Crossed Destinies Italo Calvino 1969 Italian Italian
2514 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
2581 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2739 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Amos Tutuola 1954 Nigerian English
2800 Dictionary of the Khazars Milorad Pavic 1984 Serbian Serbian
2817 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2841 Wizard of the Crow Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 2006 Kenyan English
2844 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English
2872 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3357 The Arabian Nightmare Robert Irwin 1983 British English
3426 Life and a Half Sony Labou Tansi 1979 French French
3545 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
3735 Stone Junction Jim Dodge 1990 American English
3859 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
3893 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
3937 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
3945 Indigo Marina Warner 1992 British English
4026 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
4072 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson 2010 American English
4102 The Stone Raft José Saramago 1986 Portuguese Portuguese
4153 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
4163 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
4174 Proză Fantastică Mircea Eliade 1963 Romanian Romanian
4266 L'iguana Anna Maria Ortese 1965 Italian Italian
4421 City of the Beasts Isabel Allende 2002 Chilean Spanish
5440 Aegypt John Crowley 1987 American English
4709 The Venetian Glass Nephew Elinor Wylie 1925 American English
4977 Sleepwalking Land Mia Couto 1992 Mozambican Portuguese
5051 Stranger Things Happen Kelly Link 2001 American English
5134 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
5133 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
5177 Signs Preceding the End of the World Yuri Herrera 2009 Mexican Spanish
5179 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
5226 Green Grass, Running Water Thomas King 1993 Canadian English
5339 Mount Analogue René Daumal 1952 French French
5424 Night Circus And Other Stories Ursula Kovalyk 2014 Slovak Unknown
5430 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
5653 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
6026 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
6322 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
6654 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
6720 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
6732 Shadowshaper Daniel José Older 2015 American English
7403 Galore Michael Crummey 2009 Canadian English
7455 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
7503 The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater 2011 American English
7565 Blanca & Roja Anna-Marie McLemore 2018 American English
7690 La Orilla Oscura José María Merino 1985 Spanish Spanish
7784 Gods Of Jade And Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2019 Mexican English
7790 Not Wanted On The Voyage Timothy Findley 1984 Canadian English
7859 The Tricksters Margaret Mahy 1986 New Zealand English
7887 The Jaguar Hunter Lucius Shepard 1987 American English
7897 The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker 2013 American English
7965 Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger 2020 American English
8126 Bones Of The Moon Jonathan Carroll 1987 American English
8150 When The Moon Was Ours Anna-Marie McLemore 2016 American English
8280 The Wise Man's Fear Patrick Rothfuss 2011 American English
8344 You Dreamed Of Empires Alvaro Enrigue 2024 Unknown English
8512 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2013 British English
8527 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
8535 The Book Of Love Kelly Link 2024 Unknown English
8978 The Husbands Holly Gramazio 2024 Unknown English
9062 Vampires In The Lemon Grove Karen Russell 2013 American English
9126 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
9145 Impossible Creatures Katherine Rundell 2023 British English
9304 The Puttermesser Papers Cynthia Ozick 1997 American English
9362 Eternal Life Dara Horn 2018 American English
9362 Everything Under Daisy Johnson 2018 British English
9362 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi 2018 Nigerian English
9453 Weaveworld Clive Barker 1987 British English
9625 Lost In A Good Book Jasper Fforde 2002 British English
9643 Craft Ananda Lima 2024 Unknown English
9661 Somewhere Beyond The Sea Tj Klune 2024 Unknown English
9693 We Need No Wings Ann Dávila Cardinal 2024 Unknown English
9700 Ours Phillip B. Williams 2024 Unknown English
9701 The Third Realm Karl Ove Knausgaard 2024 Norwegian Norwegian
9708 The City And Its Uncertain Walls Haruki Murakami 2023 Japanese Japanese
9726 The Familiar Leigh Bardugo 2024 Unknown English
9803 Ghost Mountain Rónán Hession 2024 Unknown English
9895 When The World Tips Over Jandy Nelson 2024 Unknown English
9911 Woodworm Layla Martínez 2024 Spanish Unknown
10024 A Magical Girl Retires Park Seolyeon 2024 Unknown English
10028 The Morningside Téa Obreht 2024 Unknown English
10108 A Love Song For Ricki Wilde Tia Williams 2024 Unknown English
10241 The Memo Rachel Dodes, Lauren Mechling 2024 Unknown English
10340 Flowers From The Void Gianni Washington 2024 Unknown English
10504 The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue V. E. Schwab 2020 American English
10618 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
10643 Practical Magic Alice Hoffman 1995 American English
14371 Love And Sleep John Crowley 1994 American English
10703 Air Geoff Ryman 2005 British English
10825 Angosta Héctor Abad Faciolince 2003 Colombian Spanish
11008 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English