The Greatest Books of All Time Set in San Francisco

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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
41 On the Road Jack Kerouac 1957 American English
142 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
193 East of Eden John Steinbeck 1952 American English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
540 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
748 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
815 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 French French
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
1097 My Name Is Aram William Saroyan 1940 American English
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1873 And the Band Played On Randy Shilts 1987 American English
2514 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2630 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
2634 Tripmaster Monkey Maxine Hong Kingston 1989 American English
2849 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2856 The Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
2927 The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson 1979 American English
3009 The Octopus Frank Norris 1901 American English
3116 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
3292 The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
3316 The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang 2018 Vietnamese English
3427 Short Letter, Long Farewell Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
3444 The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby Tom Wolfe 1965 American English
3598 The Wedding Date Jasmine Guillory 2018 American English
3637 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
4172 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4393 The Winds Of War Herman Wouk 1971 American English
4437 Native Funk & Flash Alexandra Jacopetti 1974 American English
4481 Revenge Of The Lawn Richard Brautigan 1971 American English
4521 Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki 1970 Japanese English
4539 Stiff Mary Roach 2003 American English
4743 Willard and His Bowling Trophies Richard Brautigan 1975 American English
4936 Exile And Pride Eli Clare 1999 American English
5046 Selected Poems Of George Sterling George Sterling 1923 American English
5190 The Bell In The Fog Gertrude Atherton 1905 American English
5274 Uncanny Valley Anna Wiener 2020 American English
5330 Grant Ron Chernow 2017 American English
5362 The Hite Report Shere Hite 1976 American English
5465 Gift Of Gold Jayne Ann Krentz 1988 American English
5657 Tea With The Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy 1983 American English
6091 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016 American English
6285 Earth Abides George Rippey Stewart 1949 American English
6301 Ecology Of Fear Mike Davis 1998 American English
6304 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English
6317 Borderlands/La Frontera Gloria Anzaldúa 1987 American English
6418 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6525 The Mars Room Rachel Kushner 2018 American English
6755 I Hotel Karen Tei Yamashita 2010 American English
6806 America Jean Baudrillard 1986 French French
6808 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
6846 The Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce 1970 American English
6937 Century Of Struggle Eleanor Flexner 1959 American English
6963 Sheeper Irving Rosenthal 1967 American English
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English
7133 Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac 1965 American English
7139 The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan 1991 American English
7191 The Complete Plays Of Eugene O'neill Eugene O'Neill 1959 American English
7216 The Scarlet Plague Jack London 1912 American English
7215 The Jailing Of Cecelia Capture Janet Campbell Hale 1985 American English
7785 Close To The Machine Ellen Ullman 1997 American English
7844 If Only It Were True Marc Levy 1999 French French
7900 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
7989 Sita Kate Millett 1976 American English
8064 A Paradise Built In Hell Rebecca Solnit 2009 American English
8198 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
8233 The Unabomber Manifesto Theodore Kaczynski 1995 American English
8377 The Perfect Play Jaci Burton 2011 American English
8672 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English
8802 The Valley Of The Moon Jack London 1913 American English
8878 How To Survive A Plague David France 2016 American English
8928 How Children Succeed Paul Tough 2012 Canadian English
8928 The End Of Men Hanna Rosin 2012 American English
8991 Less Andrew Sean Greer 2017 American English
9180 The Cocktail Collection Alice Clayton 2016 Unknown English
9193 How We Got To Now Steven Johnson 2014 American English
9193 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9193 The Confidence Game Maria Konnikova 2015 American English
9193 Future Sex Emily Witt 2015 American English
9193 Irritable Hearts Mac McClelland 2015 Unknown English
9290 The Lost And Found Bookshop Susan Wiggs 2020 American English
9331 In Search Of Excellence Tom Peters, Robert H. Waterman, Jr. 1982 American English
9378 Tales And Fantasies Robert Louis Stevenson 1905 British English
9528 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
9595 I Am An Emotional Creature Eve Ensler 2010 American English
9708 Address Unknown Kathrine Kressmann Taylor 1938 American English
9885 Basin And Range John McPhee 1981 American English
9952 The Great Women Superheroes Trina Robbins 1996 American English
9991 Ravel Jean Echenoz 2006 French French
10088 Angelfall Susan Ee 2011 American English
10095 Manifesta Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards 2000 American English
10622 Girls To The Front Sara Marcus 2010 American English
10670 Maggie; Or, A Man And A Woman Walk Into A Bar Katie Yee 2025 Unknown English
10690 Automatic Noodle Annalee Newitz 2025 American English
10779 Female Chauvinist Pigs Ariel Levy 2005 American English
10818 Life In Code Ellen Ullman 2017 American English
10829 This Bridge We Call Home Gloria Anzaldúa, AnaLouise Keating 2002 Multiple English
10901 America’s Women Gail Collins 2003 American English
10925 Women Don’t Ask Linda Babcock, Sara Laschever 2003 American English
10973 This Machine Kills Secrets Andy Greenberg 2012 Unknown English
11050 Boy Kings Kate Losse 2012 Unknown English
11063 Full Frontal Feminism Jessica Valenti 2007 American English
11084 How The Pro Choice Movement Saved America Cristina Page 2006 American English
11086 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11230 Carter Beats The Devil Glen David Gold 2001 American English
11256 Nobody Passes Matthew Bernstein Sycamore 2006 Unknown English
11257 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
11318 Private Citizens Tony Tulathimutte 2016 American English
11423 Feminism And Pop Culture Andi Zeisler 2008 American English
11492 When Everything Changed Gail Collins 2009 American English
11489 I Shall Not Be Moved Maya Angelou 1990 American English
11522 All The Single Ladies Rebecca Traister 2016 American English
11663 Crossing The Line William Finnegan 1986 American Unknown
11663 We The Corporations Adam Winkler 2018 American English
11829 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11873 Weapons Of Math Destruction Cathy O'Neil 2016 American English
11936 Super Pumped Mike Isaac 2019 American English
11938 Coffee Will Make You Black April Sinclair 1995 American English