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
2752 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2781 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2792 The Island Of Second Sight Albert Vigoleis Thelen 1953 German English
2935 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
3173 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
4106 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4178 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4295 The Castle franz kafka 1926 German German
4372 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4372 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4372 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4489 The Bears' Famous Invasion Of Sicily Dino Buzzati 1945 Italian Italian
4857 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4889 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4940 Stone Yard Devotional Charlotte Wood 2023 Australian English
4951 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
5022 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5242 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5448 Così Parlò Bellavista Luciano De Crescenzo 1977 Italian Italian
5448 The Lover A. B. Yehoshua 1977 Israeli Hebrew
5502 The Trip To Panama Janosch 1978 German German
5608 A Man Oriana Fallaci 1979 Italian Italian
5648 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5806 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
5918 The Tale Of The 1002nd Night Joseph Roth 1938 Austrian German
6005 Bound To Violence Yambo Ouologuem 1968 Malian French
6005 Marginalia On Casanova Miklós Szentkuthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
6005 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6005 Pylon William Faulkner 1935 American English
6005 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6005 The Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6005 The Golden Fruits Nathalie Sarraute 1963 French French
6005 The Sailor From Gibraltar Marguerite Duras 1952 French French
6005 The Story Of My Wife Milán Füst 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
6149 My Tender Matador Pedro Lemebel 2001 Chilean Spanish
6185 Fish Tales Nettie Jones 1983 American English
6237 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6266 Sozaboy Ken Saro-Wiwa 1985 Nigerian English
6266 Burning Patience Antonio Skármeta 1985 Chilean Spanish
6284 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6304 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English
6343 Repetition Peter Handke 1986 Austrian German
6448 Kapo Aleksandar Tišma 1987 Serbian Serbo-croatian
6521 The Escaped Cock D. H. Lawrence 1929 British English
6548 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6581 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6637 Life With Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1983 British English
6637 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6748 Psalm At Journey's End Erik Fosnes Hansen 1990 Norwegian Norwegian
6748 Hoffman's Hunger Leon de Winter 1990 Dutch Dutch
6748 Sturmzeit Charlotte Link 1990 German German
6761 Difficult Loves Italo Calvino 1958 Italian Italian
6791 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
7206 Het Meesterstuk Anna Enquist 1994 Dutch Dutch
7206 The Pharmacist Ingrid Noll 1994 German German
7216 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Horace McCoy 1948 American English
7216 A Compass Error Sybille Bedford 1968 British English
7216 A Mind At Peace Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1949 Turkish Turkish
7216 Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane 1974 Australian English
7216 The Bloater Rosemary Tonks 1968 English English
7216 The Fortnight In September R. C. Sherriff 1931 British English
7216 The Long View Elizabeth Jane Howard 1956 British English
7612 Aunt Julia And The Script Writer Mario Vargas Llosa 1977 Peruvian Spanish
7656 The Sunday Of Life Raymond Queneau 1952 French French
7692 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7717 The Southpaw Mark Harris 1953 American English
7736 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
7743 Flesh David Szalay 2025 British English
7819 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
7832 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
7861 The Barbarous Coast Ross Macdonald 1956 American English
7877 Baumgartner Paul Auster 2023 American English
7891 Love Toni Morrison 2003 American English
7957 The House Gun Nadine Gordimer 1997 South African English
7967 Mountolive Lawrence Durrell 1958 British English
8069 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8076 Clea Lawrence Durrell 1960 British English
8106 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8144 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8345 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8360 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8396 Audition Katie Kitamura 2025 Unknown English
8431 Heart The Lover Lily King 2025 Unknown English
8441 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8445 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8473 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8502 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8522 The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible Rabih Alameddine 2025 American English
8579 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8593 Sonnenschein Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
8638 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8647 The Raj Quartet Paul Scott 1976 British English
8671 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English