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
4264 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4275 The Gypsies Alexander Pushkin 1827 Russian Russian
4301 Istorii Insolite Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4309 Ennui Maria Edgeworth 1809 Irish English
4309 The Adventures Of Ferdinand Count Fathom Tobias Smollett 1753 British English
4309 Of Love & Hunger Julian Maclaren-Ross 1947 British English
4309 The History Of Pompey The Little Francis Coventry 1751 British English
4367 The Clockmaker Thomas Chandler Haliburton 1800 Canadian English
4371 Nobodaddy's Children Arno Schmidt 1963 German German
4386 It's A Hard Life Luciano Bianciardi 1962 Italian Italian
4386 Fratelli D'italia Alberto Arbasino 1963 Italian Italian
4430 Das Große Protokoll Gegen Zwetschkenbaum Albert Drach 1964 Austrian German
4436 A Mother's Kisses Bruce Jay Friedman 1964 American English
4440 The Thief's Journal Jean Genet 1949 French French
4463 Ingeniosul Bine Temperat Mircea Horia Simionescu 1975 Romanian Romanian
4469 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
4501 How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti 2010 Canadian English
4548 Forever Amber Kathleen Winsor 1944 American English
4555 A Naughty Boy G'afur G'ulоm 1940 Uzbek Uzbek
4581 The Zone Sergei Dovlatov 1982 Russian Russian
4597 Cartea Milionarului Ștefan Bănulescu 1977 Romanian Romanian
4607 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4624 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4682 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4707 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
4720 The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 1982 American English
4768 The Incomplete Enchanter L. Sprague de Camp 1940 American English
4824 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4828 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4835 The Cream Of The Jest James Branch Cabell 1917 American English
4835 Vice Versa F. Anstey 1882 British English
4873 Animale Bolnave Nicolae Breban 1981 Romanian Romanian
4873 Tache De Catifea Ștefan Agopian 1981 Romanian Romanian
4878 To The End Of The World Blaise Cendrars 1957 French French
4891 Nearer To Thee Gerard Reve 1966 Dutch Dutch
4895 Abel Alone Áron Tamási 1932 Hungarian Hungarian
4955 Miss Hargreaves Frank Baker 1939 British English
4955 Figures Of Earth James Branch Cabell 1921 American English
4955 The Venetian Glass Nephew Elinor Wylie 1925 American English
5005 The Magic Pudding Norman Lindsay 1918 Australian English
5027 Theophilus North Thornton Wilder 1973 American English
5032 I Jan Cremer Jan Cremer 1964 Dutch Dutch
5039 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5043 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5043 The Two Thieves T. F. Powys 1932 British English
5043 The Stray Lamb Thorne Smith 1929 American English
5043 In Brief Authority F. Anstey 1896 British English
5119 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5136 Poems Of Wine And Revelry Abu Nuwas 800 Multiple Arabic
5144 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5155 The Gadfly Ethel Lilian Voynich 1897 British English
5171 Humour And Fantasy F. Anstey 1931 British Unknown
5188 Caravan For China Frank Stanley Stuart 1941 British English
5188 From Nine To Nine Leo Perutz 1918 Austrian German
5241 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5241 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5258 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5260 St. Peter's Umbrella Kálmán Mikszáth 1895 Hungarian Hungarian
5272 Dirty Fred The Captain Jenő Rejtő 1935 Hungarian Hungarian
5280 At Last Edward St Aubyn 2011 British English
5304 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5304 My Search For Warren Harding Robert Plunket 1973 American English
5314 Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1867 German German
5328 Pushkin Hills Sergei Dovlatov 1983 Russian Russian
5332 The 14 Carat Roadster Jenő Rejtő 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5341 A Funtineli Boszorkány Albert Wass 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5392 Personae Ezra Pound 1909 American English
5411 Captain Alatriste Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1996 Spanish Spanish
5427 Revulsion Laszlo Németh 1937 Hungarian Unknown
5428 Squire Haggard's Journal Michael Green 1975 British English
5447 The Burn Vassily Aksyonov 1975 Russian Russian
5447 The Moscoviad Yuri Andrukhovych 1993 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5530 Marketa Lazarová Vladislav Vančura 1931 Czech Czech
5530 Nikola The Outlaw Ivan Olbracht 1933 Czech Czech
5530 Saturnin Zdeněk Jirotka 1942 Czech Czech
5530 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech
5578 The Puttermesser Papers Cynthia Ozick 1997 American English
5645 Before I Was Born And After My Death Ivailo Petrov 1968 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5666 Le Polygone Etoile Kateb Yacine 1961 French French
5707 Woof, Woof, Dear Lord Sotiris Dimitriou 1987 Greek Unknown
5722 The Rosy Crucifixion Henry Miller 1949 American English
5754 Blue Highways William Least Heat-Moon 1982 American English
5780 Among Professors W.F. Hermans 1975 Dutch Dutch
5781 Confessions Of An Italian Ippolito Nievo 1867 Italian Italian
5781 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5818 The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Gary Shteyngart 2002 American English
5899 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5913 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5948 Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon 2009 American English
5949 Cigarettes Harry Mathews 1987 American English
5962 Swords In The Mist Fritz Leiber 1968 American English
6003 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6003 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French
6003 The Return Of Münchausen Sigismund Krzyzanowski 1927 Russian Russian
6077 The Questionnaire Jiří Gruša 1975 Czech Czech
6148 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6162 Slouching Towards Kalamazoo Peter De Vries 1983 American English
6164 Till Eulenspiegel Unknown 1977 German German
6165 Peregrine Avram Davidson 1965 American English
6214 Indul A Bakterház Sándor Rideg 1973 Hungarian Hungarian
6233 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6291 Gaston André Franquin 1957 French French
6296 Stone Junction Jim Dodge 1990 American English
6298 Mark Twain's Which Was The Dream Mark Twain 1966 American English
6300 Rejection Tony Tulathimutte 2024 American English
6301 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6366 Cabbage And Kings O. Henry 1904 American English
6419 A Czech Dreambook Ludvík Vaculík 1981 Czech Czech
6432 A Very Normal Man Vincenzo Cerami 1976 Italian Italian
6512 Incest Christine Angot 1999 French French
6579 Zuckerman Bound Philip Roth 1985 American English
6646 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