The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Paris

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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
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
20 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 1857 French French
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
42 The Red and the Black Stendhal 1830 French French
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
62 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway 1926 American English
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
98 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
116 A Sentimental Education Gustave Flaubert 1869 French French
119 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
167 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
168 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
188 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
213 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
239 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
275 The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
276 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
292 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
316 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
354 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
366 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Victor Hugo 1831 French French
371 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
394 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
395 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
403 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
410 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
432 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
449 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
478 Alcools Guillaume Apollinaire 1913 French French
501 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
511 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
533 Cousin Bette Honoré de Balzac 1846 French French
538 Zazie in the Metro Raymond Queneau 1959 French French
568 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
583 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
626 Promise at Dawn Romain Gary 1960 French French
638 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
661 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 1976 American English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
759 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
790 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
923 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
936 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
996 Journey by Moonlight Antal Szerb 1937 Hungarian Hungarian
1046 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1051 The Phenomenon Of Man Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1955 French French
1052 Treatise on Radioactivity Marie Curie 1910 French French
1061 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1065 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1074 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1140 Nana Émile Zola 1880 French French
1148 The Werewolf Of Paris Guy Endore 1933 American English
1167 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Anita Loos 1925 American English
1187 Jean Christophe Romain Rolland 1904 French French
1191 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1209 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
1228 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
1241 The Life Before Us Romain Gary 1975 French French
1245 Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell 1933 British English
1296 The Works of Moliere Molière 1666 French French
1308 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
1413 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 2014 American English
1430 The Wandering Jew Eugène Sue 1844 French French
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1471 Aurélien Louis Aragon 1944 French French
1492 The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Vladimir Nabokov 1941 Russian English
1500 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1508 Surrealist Manifesto André Breton 1924 French French
1511 The Strange Case of Peter the Lett Georges Simenon 1931 Belgian French
1556 The Poems of Francois Villon François Villon 1489 French Middle french
1593 Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys 1939 British English
1627 Dora Bruder Patrick Modiano 1997 French French
1709 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1713 Encyclopédie Denis Diderot 1751 French French
1725 A Harlot High And Low Honoré de Balzac 1839 French French
1727 Down There J. K. Huysmans 1891 French French
1731 Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin 1977 French English
1737 Exercises in Style Raymond Queneau 1947 French French
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
1785 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1872 To the Finland Station Edmund Wilson 1940 American English
1895 Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris 2000 American English
1918 The Lady Of The Camellias Alexandre Dumas 1848 French French
1923 The Conquest Of Gaul Gaius Julius Caesar -51 Roman Latin
1924 Pages From The Goncourt Journal Edmond de Goncourt 1887 French French
1960 The Provincial Letters Blaise Pascal 1656 French French
1976 Towards A New Architecture Le Corbusier 1923 French French
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
2029 Nobody's Boy Hector Malot 1878 French French
2031 History Of The Reformation In Germany Leopold von Ranke 1834 German German
2031 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2031 Gedanken Und Erinnerungen Otto von Bismarck 1898 German German
2052 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
2088 Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans 1939 Austrian English
2103 Someone Like You Roald Dahl 1953 British English
2175 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French