The Greatest Books of All Time on Novels
Click to learn how this list is calculated.
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.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12611 | Too Soon | Betty Shamieh | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12619 | We Computers | Hamid Ismailov, Shelley Fairweather-Vega | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12634 | A New New Me | Helen Oyeyemi | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12755 | Maidenhair | Mikhail Shishkin | 2005 | Russian | Russian | |
| 12753 | Lay Your Armor Down | Michael Smith | Unknown | English | ||
| 12796 | At Last | Marisa Silver | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12814 | Theft | Abdulrazak Gurnah | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12816 | Bad Bad Girl | Gish Jen | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12813 | Intemperance | Sonora Jha | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12890 | Pan | Michael Clune | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12906 | Cécé | Emmelie Prophète | 2025 | Haitian | French | |
| 12927 | God And Sex | Jon Raymond | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12949 | The Gossip Columnist's Daughter | Peter Orner | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12943 | Jesus Christ Kinski | Benjamin Myers | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12953 | Moderation | Elaine Castillo | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12964 | Good Girl | Aria Aber | 2025 | American | English | |
| 13199 | The High Heaven | Joshua Wheeler | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 13118 | Gunk | Saba Sams | 2025 | British | English | |
| 13121 | Eden's Shore | Oisin Fagan | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 13122 | The Benefactors | Wendy Erskine | 2025 | Scottish | English | |
| 13124 | We Pretty Pieces Of Flesh | Colwill Brown | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 13125 | To Rest Our Minds And Bodies | Harriet Armstrong | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 13257 | The Corpse Washer | Sinan Antoon | 2010 | Iraqi | Arabic | |
| 13338 | Project X | Jim Shepard | 2004 | American | English | |
| 13351 | Si | Bob Ong | 2014 | Filipino | Filipino | |
| 13360 | The Gate | Natsume Sōseki | 1910 | Japanese | Japanese | |
| 13360 | The Time Regulation Institute | Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar | 1954 | Turkish | Turkish | |
| 13360 | The Slave | Isaac Bashevis Singer | 1962 | Polish | Yiddish | |
| 13360 | The Unpossessed | Tess Slesinger | 1934 | American | English | |
| 13360 | Night Shift | Maritta Wolff | 1942 | American | English | |
| 13512 | Indecision | Benjamin Kunkel | 2005 | American | English | |
| 13600 | Enemy Force | John Antoine Nau | 1903 | French | French | |
| 13600 | Hath Not The Potter | Maxence Van Der Meersch | 1936 | French | English | |
| 13600 | The Forests Of The Night | Jean-Louis Curtis | 1992 | French | French | |
| 13600 | The Rise Of Simon Lachaume | Maurice Druon | 1948 | French | English | |
| 13600 | The Fruits Of Winter | Bernard Clavel | 1968 | French | French | |
| 13600 | John L'enfer | Didier Decoin | 1977 | French | French | |
| 13600 | The Wedding | Yann Queffélec | 1985 | French | French | |
| 13600 | The Rock Of Tanios | Amin Maalouf | 1993 | French | French | |
| 13600 | The Battle | Patrick Rambaud | 1997 | French | French | |
| 13600 | Brecht's Lover | Jacques-Pierre Amette | 2003 | French | French | |
| 13600 | Alabama Song | Gilles Leroy | 2007 | French | French | |
| 13600 | Cry, Mother Spain | Lydie Salvayre | 2014 | French | French | |
| 13600 | And Their Children After Them | Nicolas Mathieu | 2018 | French | French | |
| 13716 | The God Of Animals | Aryn Kyle | 2007 | American | English | |
| 13716 | When We Were Romans | Matthew Kneale | 2007 | British | English | |
| 13716 | Kintu | Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | 2014 | Ugandan | English | |
| 13760 | This Book Will Save Your Life | A. M. Homes | 2006 | American | English | |
| 13772 | All Souls | Christine Schutt | 2008 | American | English | |
| 13772 | The Flowers | Dagoberto Gilb | 2008 | American | English | |
| 13772 | When We Get There | Shauna Seliy | 2008 | Unknown | English | |
| 13772 | The Sunken Cathedral | Kate Walbert | 2015 | American | English | |
| 13986 | I'm Dying Laughing | Christina Stead | 1986 | Australian | English | |
| 14011 | The Houseguest | Thomas Berger | 1988 | American | English | |
| 14025 | Miss New India | Bharati Mukherjee | 2011 | American | English | |
| 14025 | Pigeon English | Stephen Kelman | 2011 | British | English | |
| 14410 | Auntie Mame | Patrick Dennis | 1955 | American | English | |
| 14434 | Train | Pete Dexter | 2003 | American | English | |
| 14730 | The Death Of Rex Nhongo | C. B. George | 2015 | Unknown | English | |
| 14863 | Donovan's Brain | Curt Siodmak | 1942 | American | English | |
| 14881 | The Turning Wheel | Stuart Cloete | 1937 | South African | English | |
| 14958 | The High Window | Raymond Chandler | 1942 | American | English | |
| 14984 | Faces In The Crowd | Valeria Luiselli | 2011 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 14984 | Old Masters | Thomas Bernhard | 1985 | Austrian | German | |
| 14984 | Please Look After Mom | Kyung-sook Shin | 2008 | Korean | Korean | |
| 14984 | The New Confessions | William Boyd | 1987 | British | English | |
| 14984 | Harold | Steven Wright | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 14984 | Evening Edged In Gold | Arno Schmidt | 1975 | German | German | |
| 15563 | The Last Trial | Scott Turow | 2020 | American | English | |
| 15612 | Going All The Way | Dan Wakefield | 1970 | American | English | |
| 15612 | The New Centurions | Joseph Wambaugh | 1970 | American | English | |
| 15682 | River Spirit | Leila Aboulela | 2023 | Sudanese | English | |
| 15762 | The Best Of Everything | Rona Jaffe | 1958 | American | English | |
| 15779 | Deep Summer | Gwen Bristow | 1937 | American | English | |
| 15869 | The Earth Is The Lord's | Taylor Caldwell | 1940 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens | J. M. Barrie | 1906 | British | English | |
| 16500 | An Apprenticeship Or The Book Of Pleasures | Clarice Lispector | 1969 | Brazilian | Portuguese | |
| 15902 | The Fifth Queen | Ford Madox Ford | 1908 | British | English | |
| 15902 | Northwest Passage | Kenneth Roberts | 1937 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Citizen Tom Paine | Howard Fast | 1943 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Arundel | Kenneth Roberts | 1930 | American | English | |
| 15902 | House Divided | Ben Ames Williams | 1947 | American | English | |
| 15902 | So Red The Rose | Stark Young | 1934 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Cimarron | Edna Ferber | 1929 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Nightrunners Of Bengal | John Masters | 1951 | British | English | |
| 15902 | Taiko | Eiji Yoshikawa | 1941 | Japanese | Japanese | |
| 15902 | The Big Clock | Kenneth Fearing | 1946 | American | English | |
| 15902 | Brain Wave | Poul Anderson | 1954 | American | English | |
| 15902 | A Pin To See The Peepshow | F. Tennyson Jesse | 1934 | British | English | |
| 15902 | People In The Room | Norah Lange | 1950 | Argentine | Spanish | |
| 15902 | The Naked Woman | Armonía Somers | 1950 | Uruguayan | Spanish | |
| 16497 | The Chain Of Chance | Stanislaw Lem | 1976 | Polish | Polish | |
| 16536 | Roman Wall | Bryher | 1954 | British | English | |
| 16536 | Lord Grizzly | Frederick Manfred | 1954 | American | English | |
| 16531 | The Fortunate Pilgrim | Mario Puzo | 1965 | American | English | |
| 16741 | Manalive | G. K. Chesterton | 1912 | British | English | |
| 16708 | Flotsam | Erich Maria Remarque | 1939 | German | German | |
| 17126 | Ms. Hempel Chronicles | Sarah Shun-lien Bynum | 2008 | American | English | |
| 17126 | Ankomst | Gøhril Gabrielsen | 2017 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17126 | The Bird Tribunal | Agnes Ravatn | 2013 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17126 | Zero | Gine Cornelia Pedersen | 2013 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17126 | Will And Testament | Vigdis Hjorth | 2016 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17126 | A Modern Family | Helga Flatland | 2017 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17126 | Loop | Brenda Lozano | 2014 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 17126 | Ramifications | Daniel Saldaña París | 2018 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 17126 | Umami | Laia Jufresa | 2015 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 17126 | The Walnut Mansion | Miljenko Jergović | 2003 | Croatian | Croatian | |
| 17126 | Stork Mountain | Miroslav Penkov | 2016 | Bulgarian | English | |
| 17126 | Mina | Kim Sagwa | 2008 | Korean | Korean | |
| 17126 | Historia De Una Gaviota Y Del Gato Que Le Enseñó A Volar | Luis Sepúlveda | 1996 | Chilean | Spanish | |
| 17126 | Saltatempo | Stefano Benni | 2001 | Italian | Italian | |
| 17126 | The Expendable Man | Dorothy B. Hughes | 1963 | American | English | |
| 17126 | The Tremor Of Forgery | Patricia Highsmith | 1969 | American | English | |
| 17126 | The Long Shadow | Celia Fremlin | 1975 | British | English | |
| 17126 | Nobody's Perfect | Donald E. Westlake | 1977 | American | English | |
| 17126 | The Green Ripper | John D. MacDonald | 1979 | American | English | |
| 17126 | جای خالی سلوچ | Mahmoud Dowlatabadi | 1979 | Iranian | Persian | |
| 17114 | Pied Piper | Nevil Shute | 1942 | British | English | |
| 17126 | The Beast | Walter Dean Myers | 2003 | American | English | |
| 17126 | Dead Street | Mickey Spillane | 2007 | American | English |