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
3461 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3470 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3479 The Use Of Man Aleksandar Tišma 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3492 The Claw Of The Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981 American English
3502 Borges Adolfo Bioy Casares 2006 Argentine Spanish
3532 An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine 2013 Lebanese English
3534 The Birthday Party Harold Pinter 1958 British English
3553 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3563 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3571 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3574 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3578 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3579 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3581 Call Me By Your Name André Aciman 2007 Italian English
3586 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3594 The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years Chinghiz Aitmatov 1980 Kyrgyz Russian
3624 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3625 The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Alistair MacLeod 1976 Canadian English
3638 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Thomas de Quincey 1821 British English
3638 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3638 The Portable Faulkner William Faulkner 1946 American English
3638 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3638 Days In The Caucasus Banine 1945 French French
3638 Childe Harold Of Dysna Moyshe Kulbak 1939 Belarusian Yiddish
3638 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3638 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3638 So Tender Was Suleyken Siegfried Lenz 1955 German German
3638 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
3934 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3940 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
3946 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3954 The Only Journey Of His Life Georgios Vizyinos 1887 Greek Greek
3954 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3954 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
3954 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3954 Στου Χατζηφράγκου Kosmas Politis 1929 Greek Greek
3954 Λεμονοδάσος Kosmas Politis 1930 Greek Greek
3954 The Moonlight Sonata Yannis Ritsos 1956 Greek Greek
3954 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3954 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
3954 The End Of Our Small Town Dimitris Hatzis 1963 Greek Greek
3954 The Poems Of Dinos Christianopoulos Dinos Christianopoulos 1958 Greek Greek
4057 The Tunnel William H. Gass 1995 American English
4074 The Song Of Everlasting Sorrow Wang Anyi 1995 Chinese Chinese
4081 The White Hotel D. M. Thomas 1981 British English
4106 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4106 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4106 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4121 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4126 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4127 Le Parole Tra Noi Leggere Lalla Romano 1969 Italian Italian
4133 Dark Avenues Ivan Bunin 1943 Russian Russian
4134 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4137 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4138 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4140 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
4141 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4146 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4153 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4154 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4154 Like A Tear In The Ocean Manès Sperber 1961 Unknown German
4159 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4172 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4208 Heartbreak Tango Manuel Puig 1969 Argentinian Spanish
4208 The Castle of Crossed Destinies Italo Calvino 1969 Italian Italian
4222 The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
4224 The Spectre Of Alexander Wolf Gaito Gazdanov 1947 French Russian
4265 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4266 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
4267 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4273 The Noise Of Time Osip Mandelstam 1925 Russian Russian
4281 Poem Of The Mountain Marina Tsvetayeva 1924 Russian Russian
4282 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4282 The Place Of The Star Patrick Modiano 1968 French French
4282 Air Of Solitude Gustave Roud 1945 Swiss French
4286 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4287 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4300 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4309 Mrs. Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing May Sarton 1965 American English
4310 A Girl In Winter Philip Larkin 1947 British English
4372 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4372 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4436 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English
4437 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities And Other Stories Delmore Schwartz 1938 American English
4443 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4453 Zurita Raul Zurita 1979 Chilean Spanish
4470 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4474 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood 1996 Canadian English
4481 Revenge Of The Lawn Richard Brautigan 1971 American English
4482 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4503 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4515 The Rattle Bag Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney 1982 British English
4545 The Collected Poems Of Odysseus Elytis Odysseas Elytis 1971 Greek Greek
4545 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4567 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4568 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4575 Moominvalley In November Tove Jansson 1970 Finnish Swedish
4579 Time Shelter Georgi Gospodinov 2020 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4582 The Autobiography Of A Runaway Slave Miguel Barnet 1966 Cuban Spanish
4596 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
4598 The Fourth Dimension Yannis Ritsos 1972 Greek Greek
4610 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4611 Las Personas Del Verbo Jaime Gil de Biedma
 1975 Spanish Spanish
4622 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4625 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4642 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4655 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4666 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4682 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4683 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew