The Greatest Books of All Time on Mortality

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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
1 Ulysses James Joyce 1922 Irish English
7 Moby-Dick Herman Melville 1851 American English
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
76 The Plague Albert Camus 1947 French French
77 Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman 1855 American English
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
128 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
175 Metamorphoses Ovid 8 Roman Latin
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
240 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
278 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
313 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
317 The Poems of Robert Frost Robert Frost 1913 American English
343 The Sonnets William Shakespeare 1609 British English
349 The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
405 De Rerum Natura Lucretius 55 Roman Latin
463 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
479 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
518 The Odes Horace 23 Roman Latin
593 Complete Poems of Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi 1831 Italian Italian
618 Poems of W. H. Auden W. H. Auden 1930 British English
623 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
652 Dispatches Michael Herr 1977 American English
669 Beowulf Unknown 1000 Unknown Old english
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
707 Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson 1830 British English
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
752 Poems Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1898 British English
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
767 The Tree of Man Patrick White 1955 Australian English
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
919 The Poems Of Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
974 The Poems of John Keats John Keats 1817 British English
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
1016 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1054 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
1213 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1239 The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne John Donne 1952 British English
1312 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1338 Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury 1962 American English
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1349 Gitanjali Rabindranath Tagore 1910 Indian Bengali
1355 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1373 Winter's Tale Mark Helprin 1983 American English
1379 The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty Eudora Welty 1980 American English
1408 Amongst Women John McGahern 1990 Irish English
1421 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
1423 Out Of Space And Time Clark Ashton Smith 1942 American English
1426 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
1456 Flights Olga Tokarczuk 2007 Polish Polish
1465 Narcissus And Goldmund Hermann Hesse 1930 German German
1467 Everyman Unknown 1501 Unknown Middle english
1522 Cancer Ward Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1967 Russian Russian
1567 To Build A Fire Jack London 1902 American English
1635 The Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel García Márquez 1975 Colombian Spanish
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
1815 The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman A. E. Housman 1939 British English
1876 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1969 Poppy And Memory Paul Celan 1950 German German
2013 Poems Of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
2014 A Journal Of The Plague Year Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
2016 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2026 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2078 The Major Plays Anton Chekhov 1964 Russian Russian
2161 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2172 Poems Of Robert Burns Robert Burns 1786 Scottish Scots
2238 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2324 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014 American English
2360 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
2402 The Poems Of John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester John Wilmot 1680 British English
2423 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
2462 Poems Of William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant 1821 American English
2501 Popol Vuh Dennis Tedlock 1985 Mayan K'iche'
2512 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2513 Deathbird Stories Harlan Ellison 1975 American English
2592 The Gods Of Pegana Lord Dunsany 1905 Irish English
2643 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
2651 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2719 Richard Ii William Shakespeare 1595 British English
2726 Last Poems A. E. Housman 1922 British English
2750 Gods And Heroes Gustav Schwab 1838 German German
2780 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2782 Mountain Interval Robert Frost 1916 American English
2851 The Counterlife Philip Roth 1986 American English
2863 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
2880 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2885 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2910 The Odyssey Nikos Kazantzakis 1938 Greek Greek
2915 Legend David Gemmell 1984 British English
2922 The Poems of Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1855 American English
3102 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3117 Sessanta Racconti Dino Buzzati 1958 Italian Italian
3233 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3293 Sonnets Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3323 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
3386 Human Poems César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
3390 Selected Poetry Of Francisco De Quevedo Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3403 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3421 Daylight Czesław Miłosz 1975 Polish Polish
3430 The Stories of Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury 1980 American English
3485 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
3492 Selected Poems Pierre Ronsard 1501 French French
3518 Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin Friedrich Holderlin 1800 German German
3581 Selected Poems Andrew Marvell 1681 British English
3593 The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years Chinghiz Aitmatov 1980 Kyrgyz Russian
3605 The Temple George Herbert 1633 British English
3635 Odes John Keats 1820 British English
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3637 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3637 Religio Medici Sir Thomas Browne 1643 British English
3637 Sämtliche Werke Des Wandsbecker Boten Matthias Claudius 1775 German German
3637 The Tunnel Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1952 Swiss German