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
17160 The Collected Essex County Jeff Lemire 2009 Canadian English
17160 Edinburgh Alexander Chee 2001 American English
17160 Orfeo Richard Powers 2014 American English
17160 Hannah Coulter Wendell Berry 2004 American English
17160 Palestinian Walks Raja Shehadeh 2008 Palestinian English
17160 The Country Without A Post Office Agha Shahid Ali 1997 Indian English
17160 Certainty Madeleine Thien 2006 Canadian English
17160 Elizabeth And After Matt Cohen 1999 Canadian English
17160 The Book Of Secrets M.G. Vassanji 1994 Canadian English
17160 Latro In The Mist Gene Wolfe 2003 American English
17160 Running In The Family Michael Ondaatje 1982 Canadian English
17160 Nona The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2022 New Zealand English
17160 House Of Suns Alastair Reynolds 2008 British English
17160 A Woman's Story Annie Ernaux 1988 French French
17160 An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 American English
17160 Crazy Brave Joy Harjo 2012 American English
17160 In Country Bobbie Ann Mason 1985 American English
17160 Soccer In Sun And Shadow Eduardo Galeano 1995 Uruguayan Spanish
17160 The Garden Of Evening Mists Tan Twang Eng 2012 Malaysian English
17160 The Gift Of Rain Tan Twang Eng 2007 Malaysian English
17160 The Republic Of Dreams Nélida Piñon 1984 Brazilian Portuguese
17160 Ostrovy Nepamäti Alta Vášová 2008 Slovak Slovak
17160 The Penguin Book Of First World War Poetry George Walter 1979 British English
17160 What Is All This? Stephen Dixon 2010 American English
17160 Kingdom Animalia Aracelis Girmay 2011 American English
17160 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
17160 Will And Testament Vigdis Hjorth 2016 Norwegian Norwegian
17160 Loop Brenda Lozano 2014 Mexican Spanish
17160 Ramifications Daniel Saldaña París 2018 Mexican Spanish
17160 Umami Laia Jufresa 2015 Mexican Spanish
17160 On Lighthouses Jazmina Barrera 2017 Mexican Spanish
17160 The House On Calle Sombra Marga Ortigas 2021 Philippine English
17160 Joy Angelo Lacuesta Philippine English
17160 Three Elegies For Kosovo Ismail Kadare 1998 Albanian Albanian
17160 The Walnut Mansion Miljenko Jergović 2003 Croatian Croatian
17160 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17160 Border State Tõnu Õnnepalu 1993 Estonian Estonian
17160 Flesh Coloured Dominoes Zigmunds Skujiņš 1999 Latvian Latvian
17160 Those Whom I Would Like To Meet Again Giedra Radvilavičiūtė 2013 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17160 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17160 Great Spanish Stories Margaret Jull Costa 2014 Unknown Spanish
17160 Blood Sisters Kim Yideum 2019 Korean Korean
17160 The Unseen World Liz Moore 2016 American English
17160 Ancient Light John Banville 2012 Irish English
16849 The Silent Cry Kenzaburō Ōe 1967 Japanese Japanese
17160 Saltatempo Stefano Benni 2001 Italian Italian
17160 The Rook Daniel O'Malley 2012 Australian English
17160 Strange The Dreamer Laini Taylor 2017 American English
17160 The Right To Oblivion Lowry Pressly 2024 Unknown English
17160 Piranesi Jonathan Scott 2020 Unknown English
17160 Mayakovsky's Revolver Matthew Dickman 2012 American English
17160 The Book Of Sand And Shakespeare's Memory Jorge Luis Borges 1977 Argentinian Spanish
17160 August Blue Deborah Levy 2023 British English
17160 Trick Domenico Starnone 2016 Italian Italian
17160 The Idiot Brain Dean Burnett 2016 British English
17160 Misericórdia Lídia Jorge Portuguese Portuguese
17160 Soviet Milk Nora Ikstena 2015 Latvian Latvian
17160 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17160 Un Monde à Portée De Main Maylis de Kerangal 2018 French French
17160 Out Of Mesopotamia Salar Abdoh 2020 Iranian English
17160 The Sea Came In At Midnight Steve Erickson 1999 American English
17160 Rosalie Lightning Tom Hart 2016 American English
17160 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17160 Outsmart Your Brain Daniel T. Willingham 2023 American English
17160 Limitless Jim Kwik 2020 American English
17160 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17160 Day Michael Cunningham American Unknown
17160 A Shining Jon Fosse Unknown Norwegian
17160 Zpověď Maxe Tivoliho Andrew Sean Greer 2004 American English
17160 Let Me Tell You What I Mean Joan Didion 2021 American English
17160 The Phone Booth At The Edge Of The World Laura Imai Messina 2020 Italian Italian
17160 Time Song Julia Blackburn 2019 British English
17160 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17160 The Seducer Jan Kjærstad 1993 Norwegian Norwegian
17160 Communion Town Sam Thompson 2012 British English
17160 The Year Of The Ladybird Graham Joyce 2013 British English
17160 Wolves Simon Ings 2014 British English
17160 The Race Nina Allan 2014 British English
17160 Universal Harvester John Darnielle 2017 American English
17160 Our Ecstatic Days Steve Erickson 2005 American English
17160 Still Pictures Janet Malcolm 2023 American English
17160 The World And All That It Holds Aleksandar Hemon 2023 Bosnian English
17160 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17160 The Bartender's Tale Ivan Doig 2012 American English
17160 My Father, The Pornographer Andrew J. Offutt 2016 American English
17160 The Red Parts Maggie Nelson 2007 American English
17160 Night Etel Adnan 2016 Unknown English
17160 You Don't Have To Say You Love Me Sherman Alexie 2017 American English
17160 White Egrets Derek Walcott 2010 Saint Lucian English
17160 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17160 My Part Of Her Javad Djavahery 2017 Unknown French
17160 The Last Days Of Cafe Leila Donia Bijan 2017 Unknown English
17160 Children Of The Jacaranda Tree Sahar Delijani 2013 Unknown English
17160 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17160 The Colonel Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 2009 Iranian Persian
17160 Fresh Water For Flowers Valerie Perrin 2018 French French
17160 The Secret History Of Twin Peaks Robert Frost 2016 Unknown English
17160 Homunculus 1 Hideo Yamamoto 2003 Japanese Japanese
17160 Thunderclap Laura Cumming 2023 British English
17160 Kick The Latch Kathryn Scanlan 2022 American English
17160 No One Writes Back Jang Jin-sung 2013 Unknown Korean
17160 The Weight Of Things Marianne Fritz 1978 Austrian German
17160 Dandelions Yasunari Kawabata Japanese Japanese
17094 Dievų Miškas Balys Sruoga 1957 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17160 I, The Supreme Augusto Roa Bastos 1974 Paraguayan Spanish
17160 The Man With Night Sweats Thom Gunn 1992 British English
17160 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17160 Ghosts Unknown 2017 Unknown English
17160 The Child That Books Built Francis Spufford 2002 British English
17160 Ruan Bryher 1960 British English
17160 This January Tale Bryher 1966 British English
17160 The Silent Tarn Hannah Closs 1963 Unknown English
17160 The Last Englishman Hebe Weenolson Unknown Unknown
17160 When The War Is Over Stephen Becker 1968 Unknown English
17160 The Three Days Don Robertson 1959 American English
17160 A Very Small Remnant Michael Straight 1976 American English
17160 Eleni Or Nobody Rhea Galanaki 1998 Greek Greek
17160 Requiem For The Living Alan Cherchesov 2005 Unknown Russian
17160 The Fleeting City Hovhannes Tekgyozan Unknown Unknown
17160 Solar Plexus Rustam Ibragimbekov 1996 Azerbaijani English