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
3460 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3478 The Use Of Man Aleksandar Tišma 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3491 The Claw Of The Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981 American English
3501 Borges Adolfo Bioy Casares 2006 Argentine Spanish
3531 An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine 2013 Lebanese English
3533 The Birthday Party Harold Pinter 1958 British English
3552 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3562 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3570 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3577 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3578 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3580 Call Me By Your Name André Aciman 2007 Italian English
3585 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3593 The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years Chinghiz Aitmatov 1980 Kyrgyz Russian
3623 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3624 The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Alistair MacLeod 1976 Canadian English
3637 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Thomas de Quincey 1821 British English
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3637 The Portable Faulkner William Faulkner 1946 American English
3637 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3637 Days In The Caucasus Banine 1945 French French
3637 Childe Harold Of Dysna Moyshe Kulbak 1939 Belarusian Yiddish
3637 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3637 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3637 So Tender Was Suleyken Siegfried Lenz 1955 German German
3637 Stopfkuchen Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1891 German German
3809 A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro 1982 British English
3833 Invocation Of The Great Bear Ingeborg Bachmann 1956 Austrian German
3833 Повесть о жизни Konstantin Paustovsky 1956 Russian Russian
3845 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3880 Garden, Ashes Danilo Kiš 1965 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3910 Water For Elephants Sara Gruen 2006 American English
3926 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
3933 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3939 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
3945 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3953 The Only Journey Of His Life Georgios Vizyinos 1887 Greek Greek
3953 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3953 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
3953 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3953 Στου Χατζηφράγκου Kosmas Politis 1929 Greek Greek
3953 Λεμονοδάσος Kosmas Politis 1930 Greek Greek
3953 The Moonlight Sonata Yannis Ritsos 1956 Greek Greek
3953 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3953 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
3953 The End Of Our Small Town Dimitris Hatzis 1963 Greek Greek
3953 The Poems Of Dinos Christianopoulos Dinos Christianopoulos 1958 Greek Greek
4056 The Tunnel William H. Gass 1995 American English
4073 The Song Of Everlasting Sorrow Wang Anyi 1995 Chinese Chinese
4080 The White Hotel D. M. Thomas 1981 British English
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4105 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4120 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4125 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4126 Le Parole Tra Noi Leggere Lalla Romano 1969 Italian Italian
4132 Dark Avenues Ivan Bunin 1943 Russian Russian
4133 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4137 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4139 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
4140 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4145 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4152 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4153 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4153 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German
4158 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4171 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4207 Heartbreak Tango Manuel Puig 1969 Argentinian Spanish
4207 The Castle of Crossed Destinies Italo Calvino 1969 Italian Italian
4221 The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
4223 The Spectre Of Alexander Wolf Gaito Gazdanov 1947 French Russian
4264 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4265 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
4266 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4272 The Noise Of Time Osip Mandelstam 1925 Russian Russian
4280 Poem Of The Mountain Marina Tsvetayeva 1924 Russian Russian
4281 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4281 The Place Of The Star Patrick Modiano 1968 French French
4281 Air Of Solitude Gustave Roud 1945 Swiss French
4285 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4286 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4299 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4308 Mrs. Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing May Sarton 1965 American English
4309 A Girl In Winter Philip Larkin 1947 British English
4371 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4371 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4435 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English
4436 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities And Other Stories Delmore Schwartz 1938 American English
4442 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4452 Zurita Raul Zurita 1979 Chilean Spanish
4468 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4472 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood 1996 Canadian English
4479 Revenge Of The Lawn Richard Brautigan 1971 American English
4480 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4501 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4513 The Rattle Bag Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney 1982 British English
4543 The Collected Poems Of Odysseus Elytis Odysseas Elytis 1971 Greek Greek
4543 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4565 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4566 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4573 Moominvalley In November Tove Jansson 1970 Finnish Swedish
4577 Time Shelter Georgi Gospodinov 2020 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4580 The Autobiography Of A Runaway Slave Miguel Barnet 1966 Cuban Spanish
4594 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
4596 The Fourth Dimension Yannis Ritsos 1972 Greek Greek
4608 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4609 Las Personas Del Verbo Jaime Gil de Biedma
 1975 Spanish Spanish
4620 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4623 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4640 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4653 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4664 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4680 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4681 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew