The Greatest Books of All Time on Memory

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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
17119 Orfeo Richard Powers 2014 American English
17119 Hannah Coulter Wendell Berry 2004 American English
17119 Palestinian Walks Raja Shehadeh 2008 Palestinian English
17119 The Country Without A Post Office Agha Shahid Ali 1997 Indian English
17119 Certainty Madeleine Thien 2006 Canadian English
17119 Elizabeth And After Matt Cohen 1999 Canadian English
17119 The Book Of Secrets M.G. Vassanji 1994 Canadian English
17119 Latro In The Mist Gene Wolfe 2003 American English
17119 Running In The Family Michael Ondaatje 1982 Canadian English
17119 Nona The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2022 New Zealand English
17119 House Of Suns Alastair Reynolds 2008 British English
17119 A Woman's Story Annie Ernaux 1988 French French
17119 An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 American English
17119 Crazy Brave Joy Harjo 2012 American English
17119 In Country Bobbie Ann Mason 1985 American English
17119 Soccer In Sun And Shadow Eduardo Galeano 1995 Uruguayan Spanish
17119 The Garden Of Evening Mists Tan Twang Eng 2012 Malaysian English
17119 The Gift Of Rain Tan Twang Eng 2007 Malaysian English
17119 The Republic Of Dreams Nélida Piñon 1984 Brazilian Portuguese
17119 Ostrovy Nepamäti Alta Vášová 2008 Slovak Slovak
17119 The Penguin Book Of First World War Poetry George Walter 1979 British English
17119 What Is All This? Stephen Dixon 2010 American English
17119 Kingdom Animalia Aracelis Girmay 2011 American English
17119 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
17119 Will And Testament Vigdis Hjorth 2016 Norwegian Norwegian
17119 Loop Brenda Lozano 2014 Mexican Spanish
17119 Ramifications Daniel Saldaña París 2018 Mexican Spanish
17119 Umami Laia Jufresa 2015 Mexican Spanish
17119 On Lighthouses Jazmina Barrera 2017 Mexican Spanish
17119 The House On Calle Sombra Marga Ortigas 2021 Philippine English
17119 Joy Angelo Lacuesta Philippine English
17119 Three Elegies For Kosovo Ismail Kadare 1998 Albanian Albanian
17119 The Walnut Mansion Miljenko Jergović 2003 Croatian Croatian
17119 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17119 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17119 Flesh Coloured Dominoes Zigmunds Skujiņš 1999 Latvian Latvian
17119 Those Whom I Would Like To Meet Again Giedra Radvilavičiūtė 2013 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17119 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17119 Great Spanish Stories Margaret Jull Costa 2014 Unknown Spanish
17119 Blood Sisters Kim Yideum 2019 Korean Korean
17119 The Unseen World Liz Moore 2016 American English
17119 Ancient Light John Banville 2012 Irish English
16813 The Silent Cry Kenzaburō Ōe 1967 Japanese Japanese
17119 Saltatempo Stefano Benni 2001 Italian Italian
17119 The Rook Daniel O'Malley 2012 Australian English
17119 Strange The Dreamer Laini Taylor 2017 American English
17119 The Right To Oblivion Lowry Pressly 2024 Unknown English
17119 Piranesi Jonathan Scott 2020 Unknown English
17119 Mayakovsky's Revolver Matthew Dickman 2012 American English
17119 The Book Of Sand And Shakespeare's Memory Jorge Luis Borges 1977 Argentinian Spanish
17119 August Blue Deborah Levy 2023 British English
17119 Trick Domenico Starnone 2016 Italian Italian
17119 The Idiot Brain Dean Burnett 2016 British English
17119 Misericórdia Lídia Jorge Portuguese Portuguese
17119 Soviet Milk Nora Ikstena 2015 Latvian Latvian
17119 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17119 Un Monde à Portée De Main Maylis de Kerangal 2018 French French
17119 Out Of Mesopotamia Salar Abdoh 2020 Iranian English
17119 The Sea Came In At Midnight Steve Erickson 1999 American English
17119 Rosalie Lightning Tom Hart 2016 American English
17119 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17119 Outsmart Your Brain Daniel T. Willingham 2023 American English
17119 Limitless Jim Kwik 2020 American English
17119 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17119 Day Michael Cunningham American Unknown
17119 A Shining Jon Fosse Unknown Norwegian
17119 Zpověď Maxe Tivoliho Andrew Sean Greer 2004 American English
17119 Let Me Tell You What I Mean Joan Didion 2021 American English
17119 The Phone Booth At The Edge Of The World Laura Imai Messina 2020 Italian Italian
17119 Time Song Julia Blackburn 2019 British English
17119 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17119 The Seducer Jan Kjærstad 1993 Norwegian Norwegian
17119 Communion Town Sam Thompson 2012 British English
17119 The Year Of The Ladybird Graham Joyce 2013 British English
17119 Wolves Simon Ings 2014 British English
17119 The Race Nina Allan 2014 British English
17119 Universal Harvester John Darnielle 2017 American English
17119 Our Ecstatic Days Steve Erickson 2005 American English
17119 Still Pictures Janet Malcolm 2023 American English
17119 The World And All That It Holds Aleksandar Hemon 2023 Bosnian English
17119 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17119 The Bartender's Tale Ivan Doig 2012 American English
17119 My Father, The Pornographer Andrew J. Offutt 2016 American English
17119 The Red Parts Maggie Nelson 2007 American English
17119 Night Etel Adnan 2016 Unknown English
17119 You Don't Have To Say You Love Me Sherman Alexie 2017 American English
17119 White Egrets Derek Walcott 2010 Saint Lucian English
17119 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17119 My Part Of Her Javad Djavahery 2017 Unknown French
17119 The Last Days Of Cafe Leila Donia Bijan 2017 Unknown English
17119 Children Of The Jacaranda Tree Sahar Delijani 2013 Unknown English
17119 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17119 The Colonel Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 2009 Iranian Persian
17119 Fresh Water For Flowers Valerie Perrin 2018 French French
17119 The Secret History Of Twin Peaks Robert Frost 2016 Unknown English
17119 Homunculus 1 Hideo Yamamoto 2003 Japanese Japanese
17119 Thunderclap Laura Cumming 2023 British English
17119 Kick The Latch Kathryn Scanlan 2022 American English
17119 The Weight Of Things Marianne Fritz 1978 Austrian German
17119 Dandelions Yasunari Kawabata Japanese Japanese
16941 Dievų Miškas Balys Sruoga 1957 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17119 I, The Supreme Augusto Roa Bastos 1974 Paraguayan Spanish
17119 The Man With Night Sweats Thom Gunn 1992 British English
17119 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17119 Ghosts Unknown 2017 Unknown English
17119 The Child That Books Built Francis Spufford 2002 British English
17119 Ruan Bryher 1960 British English
17119 This January Tale Bryher 1966 British English
17119 The Silent Tarn Hannah Closs 1963 Unknown English
17119 The Last Englishman Hebe Weenolson Unknown Unknown
17119 When The War Is Over Stephen Becker 1968 Unknown English
17119 The Three Days Don Robertson 1959 American English
17119 A Very Small Remnant Michael Straight 1976 American English
17119 Eleni Or Nobody Rhea Galanaki 1998 Greek Greek
17119 Requiem For The Living Alan Cherchesov 2005 Unknown Russian
17119 The Fleeting City Hovhannes Tekgyozan Unknown Unknown
17119 Solar Plexus Rustam Ibragimbekov 1996 Azerbaijani English
17119 The Legacy Of Lost Things Aida Zilalian 2016 Unknown English
17119 Moshi Moshi Banana Yoshimoto 2010 Japanese Japanese
17119 The River Has Roots Amal El Mohtar 2025 Unknown Unknown