The Greatest Postmodern 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
9724 Someone You Can Build A Nest In John Wiswell 2024 Unknown English
9735 Europe Central William T. Vollmann 2005 American English
9745 Tatlin! Guy Davenport 1974 American English
9765 Show Them A Good Time Nicole Flattery 2019 Irish English
9766 When The Earth Was Flat Raymond Fraser 2007 Canadian English
9768 Call Me Ishmael Charles Olson 1947 American English
9773 Animal Money Michael Cisco 2015 American English
9783 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9797 Crossings Chuang Hua 1968 American English
9811 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9817 Possible Worlds Of The Fantastic Nancy H. Trail 1995 American Unknown
9817 The Panic Hand Jonathan Carroll 1995 American English
9824 Mean Boy Lynn Coady 2006 Canadian English
9829 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9830 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9835 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
9837 Simulacres Et Simulation Jean Baudrillard 1981 French French
9919 The Messiah Of Stockholm Cynthia Ozick 1987 American English
9924 Hail And Farewell George Moore 1911 British English
9950 An Apartment On Uranus Paul B. Preciado 2019 Spanish French
9953 The Book Of Skulls Robert Silverberg 1972 American English
9963 On The Calculation Of Volume Solvej Balle 2025 Danish Danish
9965 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
10017 Wonder Boys Michael Chabon 1995 American English
10015 Multiple Choice Alejandro Zambra 2014 Chilean Spanish
10024 The End Of The World Is A Cul De Sac Louise Kennedy 2021 Irish English
10030 The Dreaming City Michael Moorcock 1961 British English
10043 Poems Of John Ashbery John Ashbery 1977 American English
10060 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10060 Stars And Bars William Boyd 1984 British English
10065 Campo De Retamas Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio 2013 Spanish Spanish
10077 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10101 The People In The Trees Hanya Yanagihara 2013 American English
10103 Colored Television Danzy Senna 2024 Unknown English
10105 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
10106 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10112 Carte Muette Philippe Vasset 2007 French French
10115 There Was Never A Once Upon A Time Carmen Naranjo 1972 Costa Rican Unknown
10128 White City Kevin Power 2021 Irish English
10138 Change Machine Jaya Savige 2020 Australian English
10140 Maitreya Severo Sarduy 1978 Cuban Spanish
10156 You Dreamed Of Empires Alvaro Enrigue 2024 Unknown English
10171 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10184 Insane Rainald Goetz 1983 German German
10193 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10199 Duplex Kathryn Davis 2013 American English
10205 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10210 Peripathetic Cher Tan 2020 Unknown English
10211 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10226 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10236 Que Cavalos São Aqueles Que Fazem Sombra No Mar? António Lobo Antunes 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
10279 This Strange Eventful History Claire Messud 2024 Unknown English
10282 The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson 1995 American English
10281 La Burla Del Tiempo Mauricio Electorat 2004 Chilean Spanish
10309 The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali Salvador Dali 1942 Spanish Spanish
10361 Liars Sarah Manguso 2024 American English
10371 Sweet Land Stories E. L. Doctorow 2004 American English
10403 The Triumph of the Therapeutic Philip Rieff 1966 American English
10454 The Topeka School Ben Lerner 2019 American English
10454 Crudo Olivia Laing 2018 British English
10454 Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino 1983 Italian Italian
10492 The Book Of Love Kelly Link 2024 Unknown English
10508 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10510 October Light John Gardner 1976 American English
10531 Of Grammatology Jacques Derrida 1967 French French
10539 A Sunny Place For Shady People Mariana Enríquez 2024 Unknown Unknown
10543 My Struggle: Book 6 Karl Ove Knausgård 2011 Norwegian Norwegian
10605 All Things Are Too Small Becca Rothfeld 2024 Unknown English
10655 Chinese Postman Brian Castro 2024 Unknown English
10693 Consent Jill Ciment 2024 American English
10707 The Hypocrite Jo Hamya 2024 British English
10711 The Lodgers Holly Pester 2024 Unknown English
10735 What Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too? Luigi Malerba 1989 Italian Italian
10751 Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner 1968 British English
10752 Spanking The Maid Robert Coover 1982 American English
10808 Hangsaman Shirley Jackson 1951 American English
10828 Touching Feeling Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2003 American English
10837 Mystery Train Greil Marcus 1975 American English
10853 Strange Pictures Uketsu 2022 Unknown Unknown
10871 Mr. Splitfoot Samantha Hunt 2016 American English
10881 The Vitals Tracy Sorensen 2023 Unknown English
10881 The Pole And Other Stories J. M. Coetzee 2023 South African English
10901 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
10908 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10913 The Last Novel David Markson 2007 American English
10917 Роман Vladimir Sorokin 1998 Russian Russian
10928 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10942 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
10950 Five Spice Street Can Xue 1988 Chinese Chinese
10964 Radiant Terminus Antoine Volodine 2014 French French
10966 Heartsnatcher Boris Vian 1953 French French
10970 The Hair of Harold Roux Thomas Williams 1974 American English
10978 World Of Sex Henry Miller 1941 American English
10982 유언을 만난 세계 정창조 외 Korean Korean
10998 Portable Curiosities Julie Koh 2016 Australian English
11005 The Ghost Writer Philip Roth 1979 American English
11006 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11007 The Island Of The Day Before Umberto Eco 1994 Italian Italian
11020 Salute Ken Bolton Unknown Unknown
11025 Jerome Jean-Pierre Martinet 1978 French French
11026 Alphabetical Diaries Sheila Heti 2024 Unknown Unknown
11045 Les Turbines Du Titanic Robert Perišić 2015 Unknown French
11058 Gliff Ali Smith 2024 British English
11059 Two Years Eight Months And Twenty Eight Nights Salman Rushdie 2015 British English
11060 Coin Locker Babies Ryū Murakami 1980 Japanese Japanese
11064 The Red Grass Boris Vian 1949 French French
11077 Life Adjustment Center Ryan McGinley 2010 American Unknown
11093 The Age Of The Fish Ödön von Horváth 1937 Unknown Unknown
11093 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11093 Marriage In Philippsburg Martin Walser 1957 German German
11093 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11093 The Eyewitness Ernst Weiß 1930 German German
11093 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11093 Die Palette Hubert Fichte 1968 German German
11093 Gesammelte Erzählungen Kurt Kusenberg 1961 German German
11168 Foe J. M. Coetzee 1986 South African English
11180 Black List, Section H Francis Stuart 1971 Irish English
11185 Strange Toys Patricia Geary 1987 American English
11210 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11213 Based On A True Story Norm Macdonald 2016 Canadian English