The Greatest Books of All Time on Music

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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
91 The Tin Drum Günter Grass 1959 German German
135 Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann 1947 German German
171 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1927 German German
207 Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis 1946 Greek Greek
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
496 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
672 Three Trapped Tigers Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1965 Cuban Spanish
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
1090 The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoy 1889 Russian Russian
1113 The Christmas Oratorio Göran Tunström 1983 Swedish Swedish
1176 Carmen Prosper Mérimée 1845 French French
1187 Jean Christophe Romain Rolland 1904 French French
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1221 Thank You, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1934 British English
1253 Absolute Beginners Colin MacInnes 1959 British English
1316 The Fountain Overflows Rebecca West 1956 British English
1387 Gödel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1979 American English
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1595 The Garden Where the Brass Band Played Simon Vestdijk 1950 Dutch Dutch
1623 Corregidora Gayl Jones 1975 American English
1672 Pulphead John Jeremiah Sullivan 2011 American English
1810 The Weary Blues Langston Hughes 1926 American English
1934 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
2115 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American English
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2214 Mozart On His Way To Prague Eduard Mörike 1856 German German
2333 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2394 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos 1989 American English
2395 Maurice Guest Henry Handel Richardson 1908 Australian English
2431 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2472 Fall On Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald 1996 Canadian English
2536 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
2547 Death in Rome Wolfgang Koeppen 1954 German German
2680 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2731 Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 1992 American English
2858 A Ballad for Georg Henig Viktor Paskov 1987 Bulgarian Bulgarian
2983 The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice 1985 American English
3039 The Good Companions J. B. Priestley 1929 British English
3060 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3072 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
3398 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
3435 On Wings Of Song Thomas M. Disch 1979 American English
3600 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
3631 Really The Blues Bernard Wolfe, Milton Mezz Mezzrow 1946 American English
3638 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
3638 The Poor Musician Franz Grillparzer 1848 Austrian German
3638 The Road Into The Open Arthur Schnitzler 1908 Austrian German
3638 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3820 The Commitments Roddy Doyle 1987 Irish English
3937 All The World's Mornings Pascal Quignard 1991 French French
3953 Το Σόλο του Φίγκαρο Yiannis Skarimbas 1938 Greek Greek
3953 A Bach Concert Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu 1927 Romanian Romanian
4227 Introduction To The Sociology Of Music Theodor Adorno 1962 German English
4292 Conversations With Igor Stravinsky Robert Craft 1959 American English
4309 The Parasites Daphne du Maurier 1949 British English
4521 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
4587 The Loser Thomas Bernhard 1983 Austrian German
4663 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4669 Beethoven's Letters Ludwig van Beethoven 1866 German German
4675 The Time of Our Singing Richard Powers 2003 American English
4797 The Fish Can Sing Halldor Laxness 1957 Icelandic Icelandic
4824 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4856 The Gift Horse Hildegard Knef 1970 German German
4870 Music and Silence Rose Tremain 1999 British English
5003 Feel Free Zadie Smith 2018 British English
5171 Best Tales E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
5235 Memories And Commentaries Igor Stravinsky 1960 Russian English
5241 Concierto Barroco Alejo Carpentier 1974 Cuban Spanish
5317 Eleanor And Park Rainbow Rowell 2012 American English
5844 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
5936 Music As Speech Nikolaus Harnoncourt 1982 Austrian German
5999 The Classical Style Charles Rosen 1971 American English
6337 China Pop Jianying Zha 1995 Unknown English
6522 Le Coq Et L'arlequin Jean Cocteau 1918 French French
6563 Candy Mian Mian 2000 Chinese Chinese
6574 Ingrid Caven Jean-Jacques Schuhl 2000 French French
6747 Psalm At Journey's End Erik Fosnes Hansen 1990 Norwegian Norwegian
6759 Bold As Love Gwyneth Jones 2001 British English
6808 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
6810 Down A Dark Hall Lois Duncan 1974 American English
6974 Death At La Fenice Donna Leon 1992 American English
6987 Just Listen Sarah Dessen 2006 American English
7086 The Virtuoso Margriet de Moor 1993 Dutch Dutch
7101 The Glenn Gould Reader Glenn Gould 1984 Canadian English
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7215 The Works Of Thomas Campion Thomas Campion 1909 British English
7215 A Song To David Christopher Smart 1763 British English
7215 Poems Of Sidney Lanier Sidney Lanier 1884 American English
7215 Selected Poems Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
7215 The Nightingale Sholem Aleichem 1917 Yiddish Yiddish
7215 Poems Of Vachel Lindsay Vachel Lindsay 1913 American English
7562 Compass Mathias Enard 2015 French French
7564 Selected Poems Frank O'Hara 1974 American English
7610 Winter In Lisbon Antonio Muñoz Molina 1987 Spanish Spanish
7634 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
7687 The Rest is Noise Alex Ross 2007 American English
7806 Lick Kylie Scott 2013 Australian English
7845 Kingdom Cons Yuri Herrera 2008 Mexican Spanish
7914 Musicophilia Oliver Sacks 2007 British English
7961 Tenderwire Claire Kilroy 2006 Irish English
8008 Collected Poems Conrad Aiken 1953 American English
8031 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8172 Life Keith Richards 2010 British English
8291 Fredman's Epistles Carl Michael Bellman 1999 Swedish Swedish
8344 Swing Time Zadie Smith 2016 British English
8384 Ella Cantaba Boleros Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1992 Cuban Spanish
8443 Der Geliebte Der Mutter Urs Widmer 2000 Swiss German
8753 Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys Viv Albertine 2014 British English
8784 Natasha’s Dance Orlando Figes 2002 British English
8890 Chronicles Bob Dylan 2004 American English
9020 The Fall Of A Sparrow Robert Hellenga 1998 American English
9043 Blues People Leroi Jones 1963 American English
9090 Consuelo George Sand 1842 French French
9240 Soul Music Terry Pratchett 1994 British English