The Greatest Picaresque Books of All Time

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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
4265 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4276 The Gypsies Alexander Pushkin 1827 Russian Russian
4302 Istorii Insolite Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4310 Ennui Maria Edgeworth 1809 Irish English
4310 The Adventures Of Ferdinand Count Fathom Tobias Smollett 1753 British English
4310 Of Love & Hunger Julian Maclaren-Ross 1947 British English
4310 The History Of Pompey The Little Francis Coventry 1751 British English
4368 The Clockmaker Thomas Chandler Haliburton 1800 Canadian English
4372 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4387 It's A Hard Life Luciano Bianciardi 1962 Italian Italian
4387 Fratelli D'italia Alberto Arbasino 1963 Italian Italian
4431 Das Große Protokoll Gegen Zwetschkenbaum Albert Drach 1964 Austrian German
4437 A Mother's Kisses Bruce Jay Friedman 1964 American English
4441 The Thief's Journal Jean Genet 1949 French French
4464 Ingeniosul Bine Temperat Mircea Horia Simionescu 1975 Romanian Romanian
4470 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4502 How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti 2010 Canadian English
4549 Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor 1944 American English
4556 A Naughty Boy G'afur G'ulоm 1940 Uzbek Uzbek
4582 The Zone Sergei Dovlatov 1982 Russian Russian
4598 Cartea Milionarului Ștefan Bănulescu 1977 Romanian Romanian
4608 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4625 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4683 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4708 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
4721 The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 1982 American English
4769 The Incomplete Enchanter L. Sprague de Camp 1940 American English
4825 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4829 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4836 The Cream Of The Jest James Branch Cabell 1917 American English
4836 Vice Versa F. Anstey 1882 British English
4874 Animale Bolnave Nicolae Breban 1981 Romanian Romanian
4874 Tache De Catifea Ștefan Agopian 1981 Romanian Romanian
4879 To The End Of The World Blaise Cendrars 1957 French French
4892 Nearer To Thee Gerard Reve 1966 Dutch Dutch
4896 Abel Alone Áron Tamási 1932 Hungarian Hungarian
4957 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
4957 Figures Of Earth James Branch Cabell 1921 American English
4957 The Venetian Glass Nephew Elinor Wylie 1925 American English
5008 The Magic Pudding Norman Lindsay 1918 Australian English
5030 Theophilus North Thornton Wilder 1973 American English
5035 I Jan Cremer Jan Cremer 1964 Dutch Dutch
5042 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5046 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5046 The Two Thieves T. F. Powys 1932 British English
5046 The Stray Lamb Thorne Smith 1929 American English
5046 In Brief Authority F. Anstey 1896 British English
5121 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5138 Poems Of Wine And Revelry Abu Nuwas 800 Multiple Arabic
5146 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5157 The Gadfly Ethel Lilian Voynich 1897 British English
5173 Humour And Fantasy F. Anstey 1931 British Unknown
5190 Caravan For China Frank Stanley Stuart 1941 British English
5190 From Nine To Nine Leo Perutz 1918 Austrian German
5242 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5242 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5259 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5261 St. Peter's Umbrella Kálmán Mikszáth 1895 Hungarian Hungarian
5273 Dirty Fred The Captain Jenő Rejtő 1935 Hungarian Hungarian
5281 At Last Edward St Aubyn 2011 British English
5305 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5305 My Search For Warren Harding Robert Plunket 1973 American English
5315 Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1867 German German
5329 Pushkin Hills Sergei Dovlatov 1983 Russian Russian
5333 The 14 Carat Roadster Jenő Rejtő 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5342 A Funtineli Boszorkány Albert Wass 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5393 Personae Ezra Pound 1909 American English
5412 Captain Alatriste Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1996 Spanish Spanish
5428 Revulsion Laszlo Németh 1937 Hungarian Unknown
5429 Squire Haggard's Journal Michael Green 1975 British English
5448 The Burn Vassily Aksyonov 1975 Russian Russian
5448 The Moscoviad Yuri Andrukhovych 1993 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5531 Marketa Lazarová Vladislav Vančura 1931 Czech Czech
5531 Nikola The Outlaw Ivan Olbracht 1933 Czech Czech
5531 Saturnin Zdeněk Jirotka 1942 Czech Czech
5531 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech
5579 The Puttermesser Papers Cynthia Ozick 1997 American English
5647 Before I Was Born And After My Death Ivailo Petrov 1968 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5668 Le Polygone Etoile Kateb Yacine 1961 French French
5709 Woof, Woof, Dear Lord Sotiris Dimitriou 1987 Greek Unknown
5724 The Rosy Crucifixion Henry Miller 1949 American English
5756 Blue Highways William Least Heat-Moon 1982 American English
5782 Among Professors W.F. Hermans 1975 Dutch Dutch
5783 Confessions Of An Italian Ippolito Nievo 1867 Italian Italian
5783 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5821 The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Gary Shteyngart 2002 American English
5901 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5916 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5950 Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon 2009 American English
5951 Cigarettes Harry Mathews 1987 American English
5964 Swords In The Mist Fritz Leiber 1968 American English
6005 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6005 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French
6005 The Return Of Münchausen Sigismund Krzyzanowski 1927 Russian Russian
6079 The Questionnaire Jiří Gruša 1975 Czech Czech
6150 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6164 Slouching Towards Kalamazoo Peter De Vries 1983 American English
6166 Till Eulenspiegel Unknown 1977 German German
6167 Peregrine Avram Davidson 1965 American English
6217 Indul A Bakterház Sándor Rideg 1973 Hungarian Hungarian
6236 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6293 Gaston André Franquin 1957 French French
6298 Stone Junction Jim Dodge 1990 American English
6300 Mark Twain's Which Was The Dream Mark Twain 1966 American English
6302 Rejection Tony Tulathimutte 2024 American English
6303 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6368 Cabbage And Kings O. Henry 1904 American English
6421 A Czech Dreambook Ludvík Vaculík 1981 Czech Czech
6434 A Very Normal Man Vincenzo Cerami 1976 Italian Italian
6513 Incest Christine Angot 1999 French French
6580 Zuckerman Bound Philip Roth 1985 American English
6647 Simion Liftnicul Petru Cimpoeșu 2001 Romanian Romanian
6680 A Fraction Of The Whole Steve Toltz 2008 Australian English
6698 Landscapes After the Battle Juan Goytisolo 1982 Spanish Spanish
6821 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
6887 The Ginger Man J. P. Donleavy 1955 Irish English
6979 Reuben, Reuben Peter De Vries 1964 American English
7014 God Save The Mark Donald E. Westlake 1967 American English
7039 The Americans Are Coming Herb Curtis 1989 Canadian English
7051 The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt 2011 Canadian English