The Greatest Postmodern Books Since 1990

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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
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
333 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
355 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño 1998 Chilean Spanish
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
411 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
452 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
657 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1394 Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas 2001 Spanish Spanish
1443 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English
1456 Flights Olga Tokarczuk 2007 Polish Polish
1472 The Beauty Of The Husband Anne Carson 2001 Canadian English
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1565 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1597 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 American English
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1709 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1715 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1797 Texaco Patrick Chamoiseau 1992 Martinican French
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1907 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1909 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
1989 Your Face Tomorrow Javier Marias 2002 Spanish Spanish
2001 The Flamethrowers Rachel Kushner 2013 American English
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2082 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2084 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2159 Soul and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1999 Russian Russian
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2208 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2224 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
2226 Operation Shylock Philip Roth 1993 American English
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2326 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2335 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2341 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2360 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2426 Soul Mountain Xingjian Gao 1990 Chinese Chinese
2429 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead 1999 American English
2446 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2610 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French
2680 Generation X Douglas Coupland 1991 Canadian English
2681 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2688 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2706 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2736 Severance Ling Ma 2018 American English
2843 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 American English
2847 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2850 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2871 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
2887 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
2935 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
3012 By Night in Chile Roberto Bolaño 2000 Chilean Spanish
3060 Trust Hernan Díaz 2022 Argentinian English
3062 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3064 The Language Instinct Steven Pinker 1994 American English
3096 Dogeaters Jessica Hagedorn 1990 American English
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3162 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3164 Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 2014 American English
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3184 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3199 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3233 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
3272 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3453 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3467 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3539 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3570 The Inquisitors' Manual António Lobo Antunes 1996 Portuguese English
3577 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3590 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
3845 Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson 1992 British English
3886 Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis 2005 American English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3914 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
3944 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
4054 Leaving the Atocha Station Ben Lerner 2011 American English
4055 The Tunnel William H. Gass 1995 American English
4088 Silk Alessandro Baricco 1996 Italian Italian
4091 The Debt To Pleasure John Lanchester 1996 British English
4115 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4124 The Black Book Orhan Pamuk 1990 Turkish Turkish
4134 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4145 Vineland Thomas Pynchon 1990 American English
4151 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4155 Asymmetry Lisa Halliday 2018 American English