The Greatest Books of All Time on Narrative

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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
318 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
357 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
501 W, or the Memory of Childhood Georges Perec 1975 French French
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1683 The Life Written By Himself the Archpriest Avvakum 1666 Russian Russian
1737 Exercises in Style Raymond Queneau 1947 French French
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
2258 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2717 The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell 1975 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3883 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
4115 For a New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet 1963 French French
4207 The Castle of Crossed Destinies Italo Calvino 1969 Italian Italian
4473 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood 1996 Canadian English
4663 Dusklands J. M. Coetzee 1974 South African English
5478 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5493 The Lost Daniel Mendelsohn 2006 American English
5502 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5783 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5994 Writing Degree Zero Roland Barthes 1953 French French
6000 After Virtue Alasdair MacIntyre 1981 British English
6005 An Anecdoted Topography Of Chance Daniel Spoerri 1962 Multiple French
6005 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6125 Inland Gerald Murnane 1988 Australian English
6145 Oreille Rouge Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
6284 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6400 La Grande Juan José Saer 2012 Argentinian Spanish
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6714 Diccionario De Autores Latinoamericanos César Aira 2001 Argentinian Spanish
6737 Political Fictions Joan Didion 2001 American English
6846 Three Georges Perec 1991 French French
6873 The End of the Story Lydia Davis 1995 American English
6980 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Joan Didion 2006 American English
7216 On The Historical Novel Alessandro Manzoni 1800 Italian Italian
7683 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7744 My Life and My Life in the Nineties Lyn Hejinian 1980 American English
7861 The Plains Gerald Murnane 1982 Australian English
8107 The History Of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Mary Prince 1831 British English
8167 In A State Of Memory Tununa Mercado 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8336 Fable Robert Pinget 1958 French French
8445 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8473 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8706 Strategies Of Fantasy Brian Attebery 1992 American English
9009 T Zero Italo Calvino 1967 Italian Italian
9009 The Sense Of An Ending Frank Kermode 1967 British English
9136 How To Write About Africa Binyavanga Wainaina 2005 Kenyan English
9703 Extra Lives Tom Bissell 2010 American English
9730 Wait Five Minutes Shelley Ingram, Willow G. Mullins 2019 Unknown English
9743 Alphabetical Africa Walter Abish 1974 American English
9930 Dimensions Of History Jay Wright 1976 American English
10097 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10308 Mimesis Erich Auerbach 1946 German German
10308 Film Form Sergei Eisenstein 1949 Russian Russian
10308 A History Of Russian Literature Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky 1926 Russian English
10308 Morphology Of The Folktale Vladimir Aioakovlevich Propp 1928 Russian Russian
10712 The Dress Diary Kate Strasdin 2023 Unknown English
10946 Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston 2018 American English
11035 Cinema And History Marc Ferro 1977 French French
11499 What The Colonists Never Knew Dennis Foley, Peter Read 2020 Unknown English
11828 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11900 Writing A Woman's Life Carolyn G. Heilbrun 1988 American English
11940 God Jack Miles 1995 American English
12010 Mr. Mani A. B. Yehoshua 1990 Israeli Hebrew
12046 Chimera John Barth 1972 American English
12326 A Way In The World V. S. Naipaul 1994 American English
13288 Nocilla Dream Agustín Fernández Mallo 2006 Spanish Spanish
13818 La Memoria Giambattista Angioletti 1939 Italian Unknown
14435 Lost In The Funhouse John Barth 1968 American English
14499 Fiction and the Figures of Life William H. Gass 1970 American English
14599 The Pleasure of the Text Roland Barthes 1973 French French
14650 Superfiction Joe David Bellamy 1975 American English
14680 Letters To A Young Novelist Mario Vargas Llosa 2002 Peruvian Spanish
14731 The World Within the Word William H. Gass 1978 American English
14857 Anatomy Of Criticism Northrop Frye 1957 Canadian English
14947 Double Or Nothing Raymond Federman 1971 American English
14985 Red Memory Tania Branigan 2023 Chinese English
14985 Understanding Comics Scott McCloud 1993 American English
14985 The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs Jon Scieszka 1989 American English
15660 The Outline Of Literature John Drinkwater 1923 British English
15734 Infortunios De Alonso Ramirez / The Misfortunes Of Alonso Ramirez José F. Buscaglia-Salgado, Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora 1690 Mexican Spanish
15914 The Singer Of Tales Albert Bates Lord 1960 American English
17159 Take It Or Leave It Raymond Federman 1976 American English
17159 Up Ronald Sukenick 1968 American English
17159 When Dreams Travel Githa Hariharan 1999 Indian English
17159 Faith Healer Brian Friel 1979 Irish English
17159 Orbits of the East Nabil Suleiman 1993 Syrian Unknown
17159 Time And Narrative (Time & Narrative) Paul Ricœur 1983 French French
17159 Playing In The Dark Toni Morrison 1992 American English
17159 Reading Like A Writer Francine Prose 2006 American English
17159 Soccer In Sun And Shadow Eduardo Galeano 1995 Uruguayan Spanish
17159 Sources Of The Self Charles Taylor 1989 Canadian English
17159 The Republic Of Dreams Nélida Piñon 1984 Brazilian Portuguese
17159 Loop Brenda Lozano 2014 Mexican Spanish
17159 The Art Of Fiction David Lodge 1992 British English
17159 The Great Movies Roger Ebert 2003 American English
17159 The Art Of Fiction John Gardner 1983 American English
17159 The Bright Book Of Life Harold Bloom 2020 American English
17159 What Tech Calls Thinking Daub, Adrian 2020 Unknown English
17159 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17159 Threshold Rob Doyle 2020 Irish English
17159 Sphinx Anne Garréta 1986 French French
17159 Still Pictures Janet Malcolm 2023 American English
17159 Audience Of One James Poniewozik 2019 American English
17159 What ʿīsā Ibn Hishām Told Us Muhammad Salih al-Jabri Unknown Arabic
17159 To Name The Bigger Lie Sarah Viren 2023 Unknown English
17159 Ordinary Notes Christina Sharpe 2023 Unknown English
17159 About Ed Robert Gluck 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Long Form Kate Briggs 2023 Unknown English
17159 What The Taliban Told Me Ian Fritz 2023 Unknown Unknown
17159 The Lies Of The Land Steven Conn 2023 Unknown English
17159 Why The Bible Began Jacob L. Wright 2023 Unknown Unknown
17159 The Deadline Jill Lepore 2023 Unknown Unknown
17159 Writers And Missionaries Adam Shatz 2023 Unknown English
17159 Still Pictures Janet Malcolm 2023 American English
17159 The Life And Times Of Hannah Crafts Gregg Hecimovich 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Big Break Ben Terris 2023 Unknown English
17159 The Melancholy Of Untold History Minsoo Kang Unknown Unknown
17159 All Sorts Of Lives Claire Harman 2023 Unknown English
17159 El Nervio óptico Maria Gainza 2014 Argentinian Spanish
17159 Love’s Knowledge Martha Nussbaum 1990 American English