The Greatest Books of All Time on Memory

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
9073 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9098 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9116 Poems For People Who Don't Read Poems Hans Magnus Enzensberger 1968 German German
9116 Selected Poems Zbigniew Herbert 1968 Polish Polish
9116 Poems Of Daryl Hine Daryl Hine 1968 Canadian English
9132 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
9136 The Dream Life Of Sukhanov Olga Grushin 2005 Russian English
9139 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9142 My Mother's Castle Marcel Pagnol 1957 French French
9160 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9168 Stars Outside Nathan Alterman Israeli Hebrew
9175 Homeland Fernando Aramburu 2016 Spanish Spanish
9185 Bruno's Dream Iris Murdoch 1969 British English
9185 Selected Poems Vasko Popa 1969 Serbian Serbian
9185 Complete Poems Randall Jarrell 1969 American English
9185 Untitled Subjects Richard Howard 1969 American English
9185 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9228 That's How It Was Natalia Ginzburg Italian Italian
9227 Poems Jorge Luis Borges 2010 Argentinian Spanish
9233 Jadviga Párnája Pál Závada 1996 Hungarian Hungarian
9242 Tirra Lirra By The River Jessica Anderson 1978 Australian English
9246 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9261 The Memory Police Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
9262 Nothing to be Frightened Of Julian Barnes 2008 British English
9262 The Candy House Jennifer Egan 2022 American English
9262 The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers 2012 American English
9294 Poems Of J. V. Foix J. V. Foix 1970 Catalan Catalan
9294 The Double Dream Of Spring John Ashbery 1970 American English
9294 Findings Richard Howard 1970 American Unknown
9294 A River Called Time Mia Couto 2002 Mozambican Portuguese
9317 Russia Is Burning Maria Bloshteyn 2020 Russian English
9317 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
9324 The Butterfly’s Burden Mahmoud Darwish 2007 Palestinian Arabic
9334 Acceptance Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
9342 Rails Under My Back Jeffery Renard Allen 2000 American English
9354 Our Story Rao Pingru 2013 Chinese Chinese
9356 The Old Garden Hwang Sok-yong 2000 Korean Korean
9365 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9358 Selected Poems Marina Tsvetayeva 1971 Russian Russian
9358 Spring Shade Robert Fitzgerald 1971 American English
9358 Selected Poems Jean Garrigue 1971 American English
9358 Poems Of Howard Moss Howard Moss 1971 American English
9537 Love's End Pascal Rambert 2011 French French
9550 The Owl's Insomnia Rafael Alberti 1972 Spanish Spanish
9550 The Libera Me Domine Robert Pinget 1972 French Unknown
9550 Peppercanister Poems Thomas Kinsella 1972 Irish English
9550 Selected Poems Lars Gustafsson 1972 Swedish Swedish
9550 Selected Poems Jacob Glatstein 1972 Polish Yiddish
9562 Continuous Tony Harrison 1981 British English
9597 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9603 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9606 Meteor In The Madhouse Leon Forrest 2001 American English
9613 The Three Paradoxes Paul Hornschemeier 2007 American English
9643 Time's Arrow Martin Amis 1991 British English
9647 Poems Of Donald Davie David Donald 1973 British Unknown
9647 Selected Poems Osip Mandelstam 1973 Russian Russian
9647 Selected Poems Czesław Miłosz 1973 Polish Polish
9647 Forgetting Elena Edmund White 1973 American English
9647 Living Together Edgar Bowers 1973 American English
9653 The Memory Chalet Tony Judt 2010 British English
9657 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9672 Strange Shores Arnaldur Indriðason 2010 Icelandic Icelandic
9659 Nedokoro No Kyoudai Kenzaburō Ōe Japanese Japanese
9680 Ordesa Manuel Vilas 2018 Spanish Spanish
9743 Something I've Been Meaning To Tell You Alice Munro 1974 Canadian English
9743 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
9754 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9762 The Armies Evelio Rosero 2007 Colombian Spanish
9768 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
9776 Collected Poems Derek Walcott 1986 Saint Lucian English
9772 The Night Bookmobile Audrey Niffenegger 2010 American English
9772 In A Strange Room Damon Galgut 2010 South African English
9783 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9795 Crossings Chuang Hua 1968 American English
9801 Axiomatic Maria Tumarkin 2018 Australian English
9809 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9809 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9828 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9833 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
9835 Poems Of Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy 1975 French French
9835 Poems Of John Montague John Montague 1975 Irish English
9835 Exile And Return Yannis Ritsos 1975 Greek Greek
9835 Fountain And Tomb Naguib Mahfouz 1975 Egyptian Arabic
9835 Fully Empowered Pablo Neruda 1975 Chilean Spanish
9835 Poems Of Donald Hall Donald Hall 1975 American English
9850 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9886 The Memory Of War James Fenton 1983 British English
9894 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9904 A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine 2019 American English
9905 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9912 The Past Alan Pauls 2003 Argentinian Spanish
9930 Poems Of Umberto Saba Umberto Saba 1976 Italian Italian
9930 A Dress Of Fire Dalia Ravikovitch 1976 Israeli Hebrew
9930 Collected Poems Richard Eberhart 1976 American English
9930 Dimensions Of History Jay Wright 1976 American English
9945 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9947 El Testigo Juan Villoro 2004 Mexican Spanish
9952 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
9963 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
9964 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9964 San Remo Drive Leslie Epstein 2003 American English
9984 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
10002 Narcopolis Jeet Thayil 2012 Indian English
10013 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10021 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10020 Mending Bodies Hon Lai-Chu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10037 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds In This Strange World Elif Shafak 2019 Turkish English
10041 Poems Of Eugénio De Andrade Eugénio de Andrade 1977 Portuguese Portuguese
10041 A Part Of Speech Joseph Brodsky 1977 American Russian
10041 Houseboat Days John Ashbery 1977 American English
10041 Poems Of John Ashbery John Ashbery 1977 American English
10059 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10067 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10072 New And Collected Poems Richard Wilbur 1988 American English
10095 Time Enough For Love Robert A. Heinlein 1973 American English
10096 Twenty Years And A Day Jorge Semprún 2003 Spanish Spanish
10105 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10110 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10114 There Was Never A Once Upon A Time Carmen Naranjo 1972 Costa Rican Unknown
10129 El Tiempo De Las Mujeres Ignacio Martínez de Pisón 2003 Spanish Spanish