The Greatest Books of All Time on Novels

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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
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
89 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
665 The Family Moskat Isaac Bashevis Singer 1950 Polish Yiddish
2751 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2780 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2790 The Island Of Second Sight Albert Vigoleis Thelen 1953 German English
2933 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
3172 A Simple Story S.Y. Agnon 1935 Israeli Hebrew
3460 Captain Pantoja And The Special Service Mario Vargas Llosa 1973 Peruvian Spanish
3571 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3584 Married Life David Vogel 1986 Jewish English
3638 The Thaw Ilya Ehrenburg 1954 Russian Russian
3638 Who Once Eats Out Of The Tin Bowl Hans Fallada 1934 German German
3638 Jew Süss Lion Feuchtwanger 1925 German German
3638 On The Marble Cliffs Ernst Jünger 1939 German German
3638 The Marquise Of O Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
3638 The Second Wife E. Marlitt 1899 German German
3638 Die Feuerzangenbowle Heinrich Spoerl 1933 German German
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4177 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4294 The Castle franz kafka 1926 German German
4371 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4371 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4371 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4488 The Bears' Famous Invasion Of Sicily Dino Buzzati 1945 Italian Italian
4856 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4888 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4938 Stone Yard Devotional Charlotte Wood 2023 Australian English
4949 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
5019 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5241 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5446 Così Parlò Bellavista Luciano De Crescenzo 1977 Italian Italian
5446 The Lover A. B. Yehoshua 1977 Israeli Hebrew
5500 The Trip To Panama Janosch 1978 German German
5605 A Man Oriana Fallaci 1979 Italian Italian
5646 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5803 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
5915 The Tale Of The 1002nd Night Joseph Roth 1938 Austrian German
6002 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6002 Marginalia On Casanova Miklós Szentkuthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
6002 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6002 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6002 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6002 The Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6002 The Golden Fruits Nathalie Sarraute 1963 French French
6002 The Sailor From Gibraltar Marguerite Duras 1952 French French
6002 The Story Of My Wife Milán Füst 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
6146 My Tender Matador Pedro Lemebel 2001 Chilean Spanish
6182 Fish Tales Nettie Jones 1983 American English
6233 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6263 Sozaboy Ken Saro-Wiwa 1985 Nigerian English
6263 Burning Patience Antonio Skármeta 1985 Chilean Spanish
6281 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6301 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English
6340 Repetition Peter Handke 1986 Austrian German
6445 Kapo Aleksandar Tišma 1987 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6519 The Escaped Cock D. H. Lawrence 1929 British English
6546 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6579 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6635 Life With Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1983 British English
6635 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6747 Psalm At Journey's End Erik Fosnes Hansen 1990 Norwegian Norwegian
6747 Hoffman's Hunger Leon de Winter 1990 Dutch Dutch
6747 Sturmzeit Charlotte Link 1990 German German
6760 Difficult Loves Italo Calvino 1958 Italian Italian
6790 The True Deceiver Tove Jansson 1982 Finnish Swedish
6806 Maudit Manège Philippe Djian 1986 French French
6819 Killing Stella Marlen Haushofer 1958 Austrian German
6857 Hell Has No Limits José Donoso 1965 Chilean Spanish
6878 Lettres Aux Années De Nostalgie Kenzaburō Ōe 1987 Japanese Japanese
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
6990 House Of Day, House Of Night Olga Tokarczuk 1998 Polish Polish
6996 Dina's Book Herbjørg Wassmo 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
6996 You Don't Love Yourself Nathalie Sarraute 1989 French French
7056 Write To Kill Daniel Pennac 1990 French Unknown
7086 Lajja Taslima Nasrin 1993 Bangladeshi Bengali
7086 The Crocodile Bird Ruth Rendell 1993 British English
7147 Captains And The Kings Taylor Caldwell 1972 American English
7154 The Loneliness Of Sonia And Sunny Kiran Desai 2025 Unknown English
7205 Het Meesterstuk Anna Enquist 1994 Dutch Dutch
7205 The Pharmacist Ingrid Noll 1994 German German
7215 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Horace McCoy 1948 American English
7215 A Compass Error Sybille Bedford 1968 British English
7215 A Mind At Peace Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1949 Turkish Turkish
7215 Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane 1974 Australian English
7215 The Bloater Rosemary Tonks 1968 English English
7215 The Fortnight In September R. C. Sherriff 1931 British English
7215 The Long View Elizabeth Jane Howard 1956 British English
7611 Aunt Julia And The Script Writer Mario Vargas Llosa 1977 Peruvian Spanish
7655 The Sunday Of Life Raymond Queneau 1952 French French
7691 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7715 The Southpaw Mark Harris 1953 American English
7734 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
7741 Flesh David Szalay 2025 British English
7818 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
7831 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
7860 The Barbarous Coast Ross Macdonald 1956 American English
7876 Baumgartner Paul Auster 2023 American English
7890 Love Toni Morrison 2003 American English
7956 The House Gun Nadine Gordimer 1997 South African English
7966 Mountolive Lawrence Durrell 1958 British English
8068 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8075 Clea Lawrence Durrell 1960 British English
8104 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8142 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8343 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8357 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8393 Audition Katie Kitamura 2025 Unknown English
8428 Heart The Lover Lily King 2025 Unknown English
8438 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8442 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8469 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8498 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8519 The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible Rabih Alameddine 2025 American English
8576 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8590 Sonnenschein Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
8635 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8644 The Raj Quartet Paul Scott 1976 British English
8668 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English