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
8705 What We Can Know Ian McEwan 2025 Unknown English
8798 Ann Veronica H. G. Wells 1909 British English
8798 The Valley Of The Moon Jack London 1913 American English
8798 World Light Halldor Laxness 1937 Icelandic Icelandic
8845 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8851 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
8973 Mantra Rodrigo Fresán 2001 Argentinian Spanish
9034 From A To X John Berger 2008 British English
9071 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9133 Raised From The Ground José Saramago 1980 Portuguese Portuguese
9137 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9315 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9321 The Beautiful Room Is Empty Edmund White 1988 American English
9339 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9350 That Smell Sonallah Ibrahim 1966 Egyptian Arabic
9354 The Old Garden Hwang Sok-yong 2000 Korean Korean
9356 True Confessions John Gregory Dunne 1977 American English
9584 The Director Daniel Kehlmann 2023 German English
9595 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9599 Perfection Vincenzo Latronico 2022 Italian Italian
9601 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9602 Lenin's Kisses Yan Lianke 2003 Chinese Chinese
9616 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
9741 June Rain Jabbour Douaihy 2006 Lebanese Arabic
9764 The Reign Of Greed José Rizal 1891 Filipino Spanish
9825 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9826 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9892 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9903 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9911 Thera Zeruya Shalev 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9935 The Sisters Jonas Hassen Khemiri 2023 Swedish English
9971 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9978 A Guardian And A Thief Megha Majumdar 2025 Indian English
9986 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10002 Where Tigers Are At Home Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès 2008 French French
10063 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10093 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10129 Shadow Ticket Thomas Pynchon 2025 American English
10173 The Antidote Karen Russell 2025 Unknown English
10206 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10216 What's Bred In The Bone Robertson Davies 1985 Canadian English
10279 Birth Of A Bridge Maylis de Kerangal 2010 French French
10400 Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa? Lualhati Bautista 1983 Filipino Filipino
10415 The Wayfinder Adam Johnson 2025 American English
10496 Dekada '70 Lualhati Bautista 1984 Filipino Filipino
10505 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10518 Father Of Frankenstein Christopher Bram 1995 American English
10519 Ruth Kate Riley 2025 Unknown English
10523 Endling Maria Reva 2025 Canadian English
10546 Rat Bohemia Sarah Schulman 1995 American English
10567 Palaver Bryan Washington 2025 Unknown English
10588 Fresh, Green Life Sebastian Castillo 2025 Unknown English
10621 Dream State Eric Puchner 2025 American English
10703 Dream Count Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2025 Unknown English
10697 The Great Reclamation Rachel Heng 2023 Unknown English
10712 Paradise Logic Sophie Kemp 2025 Unknown English
10699 Commitment Mona Simpson 2023 American English
10717 Minor Black Figures Brandon Taylor 2025 Unknown English
10765 Close Quarters William Golding 1987 British English
10781 Act Of The Damned António Lobo Antunes 1985 Portuguese Portuguese
10799 Kin Miljenko Jergović 2013 Croatian Croatian
10808 The Gypsy Goddess Meena Kandasamy 2014 Indian English
10807 The Summer House Masashi Matsuie 2012 Japanese English
10813 ‘Gapô Lualhati Bautista 1988 Filipino Filipino
10852 American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates 1989 American English
10903 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10945 Five Spice Street Can Xue 1988 Chinese Chinese
10959 Radiant Terminus Antoine Volodine 2014 French French
10957 The Lack Of Light Nino Haratischwili 2014 German German
10975 They Know Not What They Do Jussi Valtonen 2014 Finnish Finnish
11041 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11057 The Remembered Soldier Anjet Daanje 2019 Dutch Dutch
11064 Fire Down Below William Golding 1989 British English
11079 Theory & Practice Michelle de Kretser 2024 Unknown English
11206 Canoës Maylis de Kerangal 2021 French French
11205 The Tokyo Suite Bruna Dantas Lobato, Giovana Madalosso 2020 Brazilian English
11237 Vera, Or Faith Gary Shteyngart 2025 American English
11274 Shella Andrew Vachss 1993 American English
11274 Gospel Wilton Barnhardt 1993 American English
11313 Bad Art Mother Edwina Preston 2022 Unknown English
11480 Overstaying Ariane Koch 2021 Unknown English
11496 Ultramarine Mariette Navarro, Eve Hill-Agnus 2021 Unknown French
11506 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11513 Le Recensement Des Intellos De Gauche Giacomo Papi 2019 Unknown French
11649 Money To Burn Asta Olivia Nordenhof 2020 Danish Danish
11805 The Meursault Investigation Kamel Daoud 2013 Algerian French
11824 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11835 I Gave You Eyes And You Looked Toward Darkness Irene Solà 2023 Unknown Catalan
11859 Highwire Moon Susan Straight 2001 American English
11878 Sololand Hassan Blasim 2021 Iraqi Arabic
11931 The Land In Winter Andrew Miller 2024 British English
12017 La Danseuse Patrick Modiano 2023 French French
12044 Strange And Perfect Account From The Permafrost Donald Niedekker 2022 Unknown Dutch; flemish
12048 The Death Of Napoleon Simon Leys 1986 Belgian French
12048 The Visit Of The Royal Physician Per Olov Enquist 1999 Swedish Swedish
12048 Red April Santiago Roncagliolo 2002 Peruvian Spanish
12066 Discontent Beatriz Serrano, Mara Faye Lethem 2023 Unknown English
12076 Basti Intizar Husain 1979 Pakistani Urdu
12080 The Ten Year Affair Erin Somers 2025 Unknown English
12106 The Ferryman And His Wife Frode Grytten, Alison McCullough 2023 Norwegian English
12105 Dwelling Emily Hunt Kivel 2025 Unknown English
12148 What Girls Learn Karin Cook 1997 American English
12169 Trip Amie Barrodale 2025 American English
12173 The Catch Yrsa Daley-Ward 2025 British English
12186 The Rest Of Our Lives Benjamin Markovits 2025 American English
12230 Vulture Phoebe Greenwood 2025 Unknown English
12242 Wreck Catherine Newman 2025 American English
12306 The Seers Sulaiman Addonia 2024 British English
12320 Will There Ever Be Another You Patricia Lockwood 2025 American English
12407 The Scrapbook Heather Clark 2025 Unknown English
12428 To Smithereens Rosalyn Drexler 2025 American English
12463 Something Rotten Andrew Lipstein 2025 Unknown English
12485 Secret Lives Of The Dead Tim Lebbon 2025 British English
12494 This Mournable Body Tsitsi Dangarembga 2018 Zimbabwean English
12506 The City Changes Its Face Eimear McBride 2025 Irish English
12547 Picks And Shovels Cory Doctorow 2025 Canadian English
12559 The Stalker Paula Bomer 2025 American English
12586 How All This Started Pete Fromm 2000 American English
12586 Jim The Boy Tony Earley 2000 American English
12599 The Winter Warriors Olivier Norek 2024 French French