The Greatest Books of All Time on Regret

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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
192 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
358 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
365 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
752 Poems Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1898 British English
784 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
1100 Collected Poems Of Edward Thomas Edward Thomas 1920 British English
1174 As A Man Grows Older Italo Svevo 1898 Italian Italian
1285 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
1306 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1506 Selected Stories William Trevor 1992 Irish English
1556 The Poems of Francois Villon François Villon 1489 French Middle french
1587 Past Continuous Yaakov Shabtai 1977 Israeli Hebrew
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1761 The Serious Game Hjalmar Soderberg 1912 Swedish Swedish
1815 The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman A. E. Housman 1939 British English
1975 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1986 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
2178 Old People And The Things That Pass Louis Couperus 1906 Dutch Dutch
2215 The Lake of the Bees Theodor Storm 1849 German German
2219 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2348 A Summons to Memphis Peter Taylor 1986 American English
2389 Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler 1988 American English
2539 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2727 Last Poems A. E. Housman 1922 British English
2783 Mountain Interval Robert Frost 1916 American English
2841 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
2934 On Overgrown Paths Knut Hamsun 1949 Norwegian Norwegian
2974 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
3063 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3069 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3104 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3111 Anagrams Lorrie Moore 1986 American English
3324 Life and Death of Harriett Frean May Sinclair 1922 British English
3637 The Large Testament And The Small Testament François Villon 1461 French French
4132 Dark Avenues Ivan Bunin 1943 Russian Russian
4145 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4174 Replay Ken Grimwood 1986 American English
4665 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4684 The Complete Poems Philip Larkin 1988 British English
4947 Les Regrets Joachim Du Bellay 1558 French French
5583 Professor Martens' Departure Jaan Kross 1984 Estonian Estonian
5694 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5830 The Easter Parade Richard Yates 1976 American English
6581 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6695 The Stories Of Breece D'j Pancake Breece D'J Pancake 1983 American English
7056 Just The End Of The World Jean-Luc Lagarce 1990 French French
7216 When We Dead Awaken Henrik Ibsen 1899 Norwegian Norwegian
7216 H. M. Pulham, Esquire John P. Marquand 1941 American English
7216 The Long View Elizabeth Jane Howard 1956 British English
7837 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
8473 Babylon Revisited And Other Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1960 American English
9136 The Dream Life Of Sukhanov Olga Grushin 2005 Russian English
9743 Something I've Been Meaning To Tell You Alice Munro 1974 Canadian English
9828 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9833 Barney's Version Mordecai Richler 1997 Canadian English
10052 A Shropshire Lad A. E. Housman 1896 British English
10075 Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter 2012 American English
10076 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10640 The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom 2003 American English
11005 Friend Of My Youth Alice Munro 1990 Canadian English
11023 Follow Your Heart Susanna Tamaro 1994 Italian Italian
11295 This Life Karel Schoeman 1993 South African Afrikaans
11405 A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson 2015 British English
11629 Everyman Philip Roth 2006 American English
11662 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy 2009 American English
11662 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11662 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
12028 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12326 After Rain William Trevor 1996 Irish English
12615 I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere Anna Gavalda 1999 French French
12657 Record Of A Night Too Brief Kawakami Hiromi Japanese Japanese
13286 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
13338 Last Orders Graham Swift 1996 British English
13362 The Gate Natsume Sōseki 1910 Japanese Japanese
13543 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976 American English
13594 The Book Of Joe Jonathan Tropper 2004 American English
13600 Not Everybody Lives the Same Way Jean-Paul Dubois 2019 French French
13600 A Man Scans His Past Maurice Constantin-Weyer French French
13963 This Time Tomorrow Emma Straub 2023 American English
14011 Emperor Of The Air Ethan Canin 1988 American English
14232 This Is How You Lose Her Junot Diaz 2012 American English
14348 The Waters of Kronos Conrad Richter 1960 American English
14492 Every Summer After Carley Fortune 2022 Canadian English
14599 Our Story Begins Tobias Wolff 2008 American English
14787 The Beast in the Jungle Henry James 1903 American English
14985 South of the Border, West of the Sun Haruki Murakami 1992 Japanese Japanese
14985 The Weir Conor McPherson 1997 Irish English
14985 The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller 2021 American English
15686 Maybe Lillian Hellman American English
15915 Charlotte Temple Susanna Haswell Rowson 1791 American English
15898 H.M. Pulham, Esq. John P. Marquand 1941 American English
17160 Dusk James Salter 1988 American English
17160 The Epicure's Lament Kate Christensen 2004 American English
17160 Glimpses Lewis Shiner 1993 American English
17160 Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike Christopher Durang 2013 American English
17160 Before I Fall Lauren Oliver 2010 American English
17160 Bleachers John Grisham 2003 American English
17160 George Sprott Seth 2009 Canadian English
17160 Each Kindness Jacqueline Woodson 2012 American English
17160 For One More Day Mitch Albom 2006 American English
17160 Zpověď Maxe Tivoliho Andrew Sean Greer 2004 American English
17160 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17160 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17160 A Second Chance For Yesterday RA Sinn 2023 Unknown English
17160 Tom Lake Ann Patchett 2023 American English
17160 How To Love Your Daughter Hila Blum 2023 Unknown Hebrew
17160 You Again Debra Jo Immergut 2020 American English
17160 To Shake The Sleeping Self Jedidiah Jenkins 2018 American English
17160 Dead Men's Trousers Irvine Welsh 2018 Scottish English