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
12602 The Travels Of Lao Ts'an Liu T'ieh-yün 1907 Chinese Chinese
12814 Flanagan's Run Tom McNab 1982 British English
13222 My Stupid Dog John Fante 1986 American English
13276 Wide Open Nicola Barker 1998 British English
13498 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13359 Bracebridge Hall Washington Irving 1822 American English
13359 The Adventures Of Hajji Baba Of Ispahan James Morier 1824 British English
13359 The Life Of Mansie Wauch David Macbeth Moir 1824 British English
13359 Jack Brag Theodore Edward Hook 1837 British English
13359 The Adventures Of Mr. Ledbury And His Friend Jack Johnson Albert Smith 1844 British English
13599 One-Way Didier van Cauwelaert 1994 French French
13599 Not Everybody Lives the Same Way Jean-Paul Dubois 2019 French French
13741 Darconville's Cat Alexander Theroux 1981 American English
13752 Japhet, In Search Of A Father Frederick Marryat 1836 British English
13805 In Between The Sheets Ian McEwan 1978 British English
13932 The Deer And The Cauldron Jin Yong 1969 Chinese Chinese
14041 Durcheinandertal Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1989 Swiss German
14232 The Lies Of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch 2006 American English
14362 Water Music T. C. Boyle 1982 American English
14368 The Beloved Vagabond William John Locke 1906 British English
14410 Auntie Mame Patrick Dennis 1955 American English
14697 Falstaff Robert Nye 1976 British English
14711 Parnassus On Wheels Christopher Morley 1917 American English
14872 Jeeves In The Offing P. G. Wodehouse 1960 British English
14923 Johann Holtrop Rainald Goetz 2012 German German
14925 Libro De Buen Amor Juan Ruiz 1330 Spanish Spanish
14931 Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck 1935 American English
14977 The Soft Machine William S. Burroughs 1961 American English
14984 Wild at Heart Barry Gifford 1990 American English
14984 Mina's Matchbox Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese English
14984 The New Confessions William Boyd 1987 British English
15721 You Know Me Al Ring Lardner 1916 American English
15734 The Bridal Canopy Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1931 Israeli Hebrew
15729 Maqamat Al Hariri Al-Hariri of Basra 1101 Arabic Arabic
15747 My Father's Life (Continental Classics) Restif de La Bretonne 1779 French French
15899 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian
15873 Summer Lightning (Csa Word Classic) P. G. Wodehouse 1929 British English
15899 Such Is Life Joseph Furphy 1903 Australian English
15899 The Purple Land Jay William Hudson 1885 Unknown Unknown
15899 A Tramp Abroad Mark Twain 1880 American English
16665 De L'inconvénient D'être Né Emil Cioran 1973 French
16710 Guignol's Band I et II Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1944 French French
16669 Factotum Charles Bukowski 1975 American English
16608 The Collected Tales Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
16663 De Witte Ernest Claes 1920 Belgian Dutch
16633 Le Journal D'une Femme De Chambre Octave Mirbeau 1900 French French
16614 Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Cambrioleur Maurice Leblanc 1907 French French
17120 The Bronc People William Eastlake 1958 American English
17120 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
17120 Stonedogs Craig Marriner 2002 New Zealander English
17120 Raavan & Eddie Kiran Nagarkar 1995 Indian English
17120 The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu Tom Lin 2021 American English
17120 The Lodging House Khairy Shalaby 1999 Egyptian Arabic
17120 Happy Dreams Jia Pingwa 2007 Chinese Chinese
16881 Kyra Kyralina Panaït Istrati 1923 Romanian Romanian
17120 Dr. Adder K. W. Jeter 1984 American English
17012 Pierre Or The Ambiguities Herman Melville 1852 American English
17120 The Annual Banquet Of The Gravediggers' Guild Mathias Enard 2023 French French
17120 Silk Caitlín R. Kiernan 2002 American English
17120 The Drive In Joe R. Lansdale 1988 American English
17120 Berserk Tim Lebbon 2005 British English
17120 Coup De Grâce Sofia Ajram 2024 Unknown Unknown
17120 Banal Nightmare Halle Butler 2024 American English
17120 Cross The Line Simone Soltani 2024 Unknown English
17120 Big Jim And The White Boy David Walker 2024 Unknown English
17120 Exit Opera Kim Addonizio 2024 American English
17120 Unalone Jessica Jacobs 2024 Unknown English
17120 Spectral Evidence Gregory Pardlo 2024 Unknown English
17120 Scattered Snows, To The North Carl Phillips 2024 Unknown English
17120 Between The Night And Its Music A.B. Spellman 2024 Unknown Unknown
17120 The Story Of Nature Jeremy Mynott 2024 Unknown English
17120 Concerning The Future Of Souls Joy Williams 2024 Unknown English
17120 Freaks Out! Luke Haines 2024 Unknown English
17120 A Little Trickerie Rosanna Pike 2024 Unknown English
17120 Gunflower Laura Jean McKay 2023 Unknown Unknown
17120 Breakdown Cathy Sweeney 2023 Unknown English
17120 Bright Crockery Days Robert Gray 2024 Unknown Unknown
17120 No Church In The Wild Murray Middleton 2015 Unknown English
16824 Cup Of Gold John Steinbeck 1929 American English
17120 Your Own Dark Shadow Jack Fennell 2024 Unknown English
17120 King Leary Paul Quarrington 1987 Canadian English
17120 The Golf Omnibus P. G. Wodehouse 1966 British English
17120 Kale Topanky Víťo Staviarsky 2012 Slovak Slovak
17120 The Cavemen Chronicle Mihkel Mutt 2012 Estonian Estonian
17120 Flesh Coloured Dominoes Zigmunds Skujiņš 1999 Latvian Latvian
17120 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17120 The Confusion Neal Stephenson 2004 American English
17120 Gould's Book Of Fish Richard Flanagan 2001 Australian English
17120 Nobody's Perfect Donald E. Westlake 1977 American English
16909 Capitães Da Areia Jorge Amado 1937 Brazilian Portuguese
17120 Mayakovsky's Revolver Matthew Dickman 2012 American English
17010 Under The Autumn Star Knut Hamsun 1906 Norwegian Norwegian
17120 My Heart Hemmed In Marie NDiaye 2007 French French
17053 Candide And Other Stories Voltaire 1759 French French
17120 Il Paradiso Degli Orchi Daniel Pennac 1985 French Italian
17120 Q Luther Blissett 1999 Italian Italian
17120 Threshold Rob Doyle 2020 Irish English
17120 The Beastly Beatitudes Of Balthazar B J. P. Donleavy 1967 American English
17120 What ʿīsā Ibn Hishām Told Us Muhammad Salih al-Jabri Unknown Arabic
17120 Rasero Francisco Rebolledo 1995 Mexican Spanish
17120 You, Bleeding Childhood Michele Mari 2023 Italian Italian
17120 The Dog Of The North Elizabeth McKenzie 2023 American English
17120 The Many Assassinations Of Samir, The Seller Of Dreams Daniel Nayeri 2023 Unknown English
16913 Herself, Surprised Joyce Cary 1941 British English
17120 Beware Of Chicken 3 CasualFarmer 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Sebastian Lloyd Alexander 1970 American English
17120 Westmark Lloyd Alexander 1981 American English
17120 The Adventures Of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom Ignacy Krasicki 1776 Polish Polish
17120 The Walking Drum Louis L'Amour 1984 American English
17111 The Relic Eça de Queirós 1887 Portuguese Portuguese
17120 The Last Voyage Of Somebody The Sailor John Barth 1991 American English
17120 The Blacktongue Thief Christopher Buehlman 2021 American English
17095 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1605 Spanish Spanish