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
11243 Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins 1971 American English
11273 Space In Motion Juan Goytisolo 1987 Spanish Unknown
11273 Gospel Wilton Barnhardt 1993 American English
11290 Le Pietre Claudio Morandini 2017 Italian Italian
11299 Spam Finn Brunton 2013 American English
11304 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11303 The Book Of Sins Chen Xiwo 2014 Chinese Chinese
11322 The Prince R. M. Koster 1972 Unknown English
11334 Kleinstadtnovelle Ronald M. Schernikau 1980 German German
11334 The Father Of A Murderer Alfred Andersch 1980 German German
11362 Complete Works Jorge Luis Borges Argentinian Spanish
11362 La Patrie Empaillée Jacques Izoard Belgian French
11421 A Naked Singularity Sergio De La Pava 2008 American English
11430 Midwinter Day Bernadette Mayer 1982 American English
11434 Philadelphia fire John Edgar Wideman 1990 American English
11441 Various Miracles Carol Shields 1985 Canadian English
11537 Perdido Street Station China Miéville 2000 British English
11544 Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen 1966 Canadian English
11562 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11567 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11579 Hitchhiking Gabriele Eckart 1986 German Unknown
11579 The Impenetrable Madam X Griselda Gambaro 1986 Argentinian Spanish
11579 The Mixquiahuala Letters Ana Castillo 1986 American English
11598 The Course Of The Heart M. John Harrison 1992 British English
11598 The Dissertation R. M. Koster 1975 Unknown English
11612 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11613 The Prague Cemetery Umberto Eco 2010 Italian Italian
11637 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11638 Damned If I Do Percival Everett 2013 American English
11641 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11649 Yo Yo Boing! Giannina Braschi 1998 American Spanish
11660 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
11660 The New Yorker Stories Ann Beattie 2010 American English
11660 Loon Lake E. L. Doctorow 1980 American English
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11660 The Burning House Ann Beattie 1982 American English
11660 Bech Is Back John Updike 1982 American English
11660 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
11660 Lives Of The Poets E. L. Doctorow 2001 American English
11660 Roger's Version John Updike 1986 American English
11660 Whites Norman Rush 1986 American English
11660 An Arrow In The Wall Andrey Voznesensky 1987 Russian Russian
11660 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11660 Arabesques Anton Shammas 1986 Israeli Hebrew
11660 If The River Was Whiskey T. Coraghessan Boyle 1989 American English
11660 Lake Success Gary Shteyngart 2018 American English
11660 Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg 2018 American English
11811 On The Golden Porch Tatyana Tolstaya 1987 Russian Russian
11811 On The Passage Of A Few People Through A Rather Brief Moment In Time Peter Wollen 1989 British English
11844 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11849 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
11869 Throat Sprockets Tim Lucas 1994 American English
11873 London Orbital Iain Sinclair 2002 British English
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
11932 This Young Monster Charlie Fox 2017 British English
12024 Biotope Orly Castel-Bloom 2022 Israeli Hebrew
12026 Gog Giovanni Papini 1931 Italian Italian
12040 Krieg Ohne Schlacht Heiner Müller 1992 German German
12045 Chimera John Barth 1972 American English
12046 Species Of Spaces And Other Pieces Georges Perec 1974 French French
12048 Omega Minor Paul Verhaeghen 2004 Belgian Dutch
12060 Cannonball Joseph McElroy 2013 American English
12061 O Tamanho Do Mundo António Lobo Antunes 2022 Portuguese Portuguese
12063 Strange Pictures Uketsu 2022 Unknown Unknown
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12112 Hotel Lautréamont John Ashbery 1992 American English
12140 Yellow Blue Tibia Adam Roberts 2009 British English
12225 Shades Of Grey Jasper Fforde 2009 British English
12258 Through The Arc Of The Rain Forest Karen Tei Yamashita 1990 American English
12324 Mazurka For Two Dead Men Camilo José Cela 1983 Spanish Spanish
12324 A Way In The World V. S. Naipaul 1994 American English
12324 Toward The End Of Time John Updike 1997 American English
12324 Headlong Michael Frayn 1999 British English
12481 EEG Daša Drndić 2016 Croatian Croatian
12494 The Mind's I Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett 1981 American English
12513 Eve's Tattoo Emily Prager 1991 American English
12513 Mute Phone Calls And Other Stories Ruth Aleksandrovna Zernova 1991 Russian Unknown
12513 The Revolution Of Little Girls Blanche McCrary Boyd 1991 American English
12654 Times Square Red, Times Square Blue Samuel R. Delany 1999 American English
12763 Father's On The Phone With The Flies Herta Müller 2012 German German
12864 The Extreme Self Douglas Coupland, Shumon Basar, Hans Ulrich Obrist 2021 Multiple English
12878 Birchwood John Banville 1973 Irish English
13223 A Haunting Beauty Charles Birkin 2000 British Unknown
13254 公墓 Mu Shiying 1933 Chinese Chinese
13255 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
13276 Wide Open Nicola Barker 1998 British English
13276 Even The Dogs Jon McGregor 2010 British English
13283 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
13285 Nocilla Dream Agustín Fernández Mallo 2006 Spanish Spanish
13301 Maze Of Blood Marly Youmans 2015 American English
13316 Brief Interviews With Hideous Men David Foster Wallace 1999 American English
13315 Records Of Orchard City Shi Tuo 1946 Chinese Chinese
13328 Wir Schlafen Nicht Kathrin Röggla 2004 Austrian German
13498 The Power Of Horses And Other Stories Elizabeth Cook 2021 British Unknown
13498 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13359 Eupalinos, Or The Architect Paul Valéry 1921 French French
13359 Infants Of The Spring Wallace Thurman 1932 American English
13359 Silence John Cage 1961 American English
13511 Indecision Benjamin Kunkel 2005 American English
13555 Part Of The Solution Ulrich Peltzer 2007 German German
13566 J Pod Douglas Coupland 2006 Canadian English
13577 One With Others C. D. Wright 2010 American English
13588 The Coup John Updike 1978 American English
13594 A Family Record Patrick Modiano 1977 French French
13715 The Headmaster Ritual Taylor Antrim 2007 American English
13737 Song Never to End Nelson I. Wu 1959 Unknown Unknown
13741 Darconville's Cat Alexander Theroux 1981 American English
13752 Tales Of Beatnik Glory Ed Saunders 1975 American English
13792 Vampires In The Lemon Grove Karen Russell 2013 American English
13799 Blumenberg Sibylle Lewitscharoff 2011 German German
13803 The Drunkard Liu Yichang 1963 Chinese Chinese
13805 Metropolitan Life Fran Lebowitz 1978 American English
13805 In Between The Sheets Ian McEwan 1978 British English
13817 The Worldwide Machine Paolo Volponi 1965 Italian Unknown
13885 Pygmy Chuck Palahniuk 2009 American English
13922 Dangerous Visions Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
13941 A Tale For The Time Being Ruth Ozeki 2013 American English
14001 The Eye In The Pyramid Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson 1975 American English
14011 The Groves Of Academe Mary McCarthy 1952 American English
14041 Durcheinandertal Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1989 Swiss German