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
6005 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6005 Someone Robert Pinget 1965 French French
6076 The Voyeur Alain Robbe-Grillet 1955 French French
6092 Herr Gustafsson Himself Lars Gustafsson 1983 Swedish Swedish
6122 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6125 The First Garden Anne Hébert 1988 Canadian French
6125 Obabakoak Bernardo Atxaga 1988 Spanish Basque
6125 Inland Gerald Murnane 1988 Australian English
6128 Selected Poems, 1965-1975 Margaret Atwood 1976 Canadian English
6136 Country Of My Skull Antjie Krog 1998 South African Afrikaans
6156 Use Of Weapons Iain Banks 1990 Scottish English
6169 The Tower Uwe Tellkamp 2008 German German
6189 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6190 Kein Schöner Land Silvio Blatter 1984 Swiss German
6194 Stumbling On Happiness Daniel Gilbert 2006 American English
6197 Bezzeg Az én Időmben Klára Fehér 1966 Hungarian Hungarian
6202 The Elegies Of Oxopetra Odysseas Elytis 1991 Greek Greek
6204 The Bridge Iain Banks 1986 Scottish English
6218 The Sound Of Our Steps Ronit Matalon 2008 Israeli Hebrew
6219 Holocaust Charles Reznikoff 1975 American English
6219 The Origin Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
6228 Happening Annie Ernaux 2000 French French
6237 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6243 The Chaneysville Incident David Bradley 1981 American English
6259 Moments Of Being Virginia Woolf 1976 British English
6275 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6277 The Narrow Road To The Deep North Richard Flanagan 2013 Australian English
6284 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6289 Visitation Jenny Erpenbeck 2008 German German
6292 Amers Saint-John Perse 1957 French French
6304 Les Lieux De Marguerite Duras Marguerite Duras 1977 French French
6312 Dance, Dance, Dance Haruki Murakami 1988 Japanese Japanese
6342 Nothing Holds Back The Night Delphine de Vigan 2011 French French
6343 Another Country Karel Schoeman 1984 South African Afrikaans
6343 Repetition Peter Handke 1986 Austrian German
6343 Reise Durch Die Nacht Friederike Mayröcker 1986 Austrian German
6350 A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami 1982 Japanese Japanese
6353 The Shallows Nicolas Carr 2010 American English
6358 Heroes' Shrine For Sale or The Elegant Toilet Marios Hakkas 1993 Greek Greek
6361 The Library Book Susan Orlean 2018 American English
6366 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
6362 Во сне ты горько плакал Yuri Kazakov 1995 Russian Russian
6370 All Aunt Hagar’s Children Edward P. Jones 2006 American English
6375 The Feeling Of What Happens Antonio Damasio 1999 Portuguese English
6378 Asterios Polyp David Mazzucchelli 2009 American English
6400 La Grande Juan José Saer 2012 Argentinian Spanish
6403 The Chairs Eugène Ionesco 1952 French French
6411 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6418 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6422 Astradeni Eugenia Fakinou 1991 Greek Greek
6420 Collected Poems Dalia Rabikovitch 2009 Israeli Hebrew
6441 Who Will Run The Frog Hospital Lorrie Moore 1994 American English
6448 Kapo Aleksandar Tišma 1987 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6450 The Half Brother Lars Saabye Christensen 2001 Norwegian Norwegian
6451 Orthokostá Thanassis Valtinos 1994 Greek Greek
6461 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6467 The Overseer's Cabin Edouard Glissant 1981 French French
6471 The Day Of Judgment Salvatore Satta 1977 Italian Italian
6508 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6508 Memories of Rain Sunetra Gupta 1992 Indian English
6508 The Triple Mirror of the Self Zulfikar Ghose 1992 Pakistani English
6517 Ghost Image Hervé Guibert 1981 French French
6517 A Frozen Woman Annie Ernaux 1981 French French
6522 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
6528 The Painter Of Battles Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2006 Spanish Spanish
6533 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
6541 Hold Still Sally Mann 2015 American English
6548 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6548 Kindheit In Ostpreußen Marion Gräfin Dönhoff 1988 German German
6581 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6586 Im Bach Des Wals Paul Nizon 1983 Swiss German
6589 The Works Of Johannes Bobrowski Johannes Bobrowski 1969 German German
6603 Collected Stories Elizabeth Bowen 1980 Irish English
6616 The Poetics Of Space Gaston Bachelard 1958 French French
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6623 Looking For The Possible Dance A. L. Kennedy 1993 British English
6623 The Invention of Curried Sausage Uwe Timm 1993 German German
6623 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
6629 No Man's Land Harold Pinter 1975 British English
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6632 Confessions Jaume Cabré 2011 Spanish Catalan
6637 Savannah Bay Marguerite Duras 1983 French French
6637 The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1983 French French
6637 The Stadium Of Wimbledon Daniele del Giudice 1983 Italian Italian
6651 Tratado das Paixões da Alma António Lobo Antunes 1990 Portuguese Portuguese
6657 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6664 How The Word Is Passed Clint Smith 2021 American English
6665 Crying In H Mart Michelle Zauner 2021 American English
6668 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez 1992 Colombian Spanish
6676 Three Apples Fell From The Sky Narine Abgaryan 2015 Armenian Russian
6686 Pain Zeruya Shalev 2015 Israeli Hebrew
6698 Landscapes After the Battle Juan Goytisolo 1982 Spanish Spanish
6710 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
6711 Ooga-Booga Frederick Seidel 2006 American English
6717 Stories of Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter 1801 Austrian German
6731 The Afterlife Donald Antrim 2006 American English
6737 Room Temperature Nicholson Baker 1990 American English
6748 Infanta Bodo Kirchhoff 1990 German German
6764 The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke Theodore Roethke 1966 American English
6803 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
6821 The Swimmer John Cheever 1964 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
6841 Rapture Carol Ann Duffy 2005 British English
6845 For Those I Loved Martin Gray 1971 French French
6846 Three Georges Perec 1991 French French
6867 Collected Poems Philip Larkin 1988 British English
6869 Captain Nemo's Library Per Olov Enquist 1991 Swedish Swedish
6871 The Field of Vision Wright Morris 1956 American English
6873 The End of the Story Lydia Davis 1995 American English
6878 Lettres Aux Années De Nostalgie Kenzaburō Ōe 1987 Japanese Japanese
6893 Régimódi Történet Szabó, Magda 1977 Hungarian Hungarian
6899 Exhalation Ted Chiang 2019 American English
6903 Selected Poems II Margaret Atwood 1987 Canadian English
6902 Autobiography Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
6907 Spies Michael Frayn 2002 British English
6912 Herrumbrosas Lanzas Juan Benet 1983 Spanish Spanish
6916 The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories Ken Liu 2016 American English
6927 Travesties Tom Stoppard 1974 British English
6929 Jayber Crow Wendell Berry 2000 American English
6980 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Joan Didion 2006 American English