The Greatest Books of All Time on Self Discovery

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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
36 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 1952 American English
41 On the Road Jack Kerouac 1957 American English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
83 Emma Jane Austen 1815 British English
163 Siddhartha Hermann Hesse 1922 German German
167 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
271 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
289 A Room With a View E. M. Forster 1908 British English
292 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
298 Herzog Saul Bellow 1964 American English
340 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 American English
348 The Glass Bead Game Hermann Hesse 1943 German German
389 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1988 Brazilian Portuguese
410 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
445 I'm Not Stiller Max Frisch 1954 Swiss German
450 Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1903 British English
468 Daniel Deronda George Eliot 1876 British English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
532 The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector 1964 Brazilian Portuguese
555 The Lady with the Dog Anton Chekhov 1899 Russian Russian
573 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
612 Green Henry Gottfried Keller 1855 Swiss German
634 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
647 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
721 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
846 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
902 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
908 The Life of a Good-For-Nothing Joseph von Eichendorff 1826 German German
944 Indian Summer Adalbert Stifter 1857 Austrian German
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
1047 The Egoist George Meredith 1879 British English
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
1058 Memories, Dreams, Reflections Carl Jung 1963 Swiss German
1067 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1128 The Price Of Salt Patricia Highsmith 1952 American English
1134 The Neverending Story Michael Ende 1979 German German
1169 The History of Mr. Polly H. G. Wells 1910 British English
1174 As A Man Grows Older Italo Svevo 1898 Italian Italian
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1202 The Country Girls Edna O'Brien 1960 Irish English
1224 The Snow Leopard Peter Matthiessen 1978 American English
1238 The Age of Anxiety W. H. Auden 1947 British English
1255 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
1262 Maud Martha Gwendolyn Brooks 1953 American English
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
1300 The Guide R. K. Narayan 1958 Indian English
1332 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1369 Veronica Mary Gaitskill 2005 American English
1378 The Towers Of Trebizond Rose Macauley 1956 British English
1436 Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke 1929 Austrian German
1438 Masnavi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1258 Persian Persian
1465 Narcissus And Goldmund Hermann Hesse 1930 German German
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1484 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
1516 The Alberta Trilogy Cora Sandel 1926 Norwegian Norwegian
1532 Arturo's Island Elsa Morante 1957 Italian Italian
1534 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1536 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
1558 Marius the Epicurean Walter Pater 1885 British English
1563 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1568 The Beautiful Summer Cesare Pavese 1949 Italian Italian
1582 Quicksand Nella Larsen 1928 American English
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1630 Halbzeit Martin Walser 1960 German German
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1649 Cat's Eye Margaret Atwood 1988 Canadian English
1666 Zami Audre Lorde 1982 American English
1668 Solitude Caterina Albert 1905 Spanish Catalan
1697 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
1765 Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro 1978 Canadian English
1811 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
1818 Barbarian Days William Finnegan 2015 American English
1833 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1904 The Diviners Margaret Laurence 1974 Canadian English
1941 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
1946 A Burnt Child Stig Dagerman 1948 Swedish Swedish
1961 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
2020 Journals André Gide 1948 French French
2022 The Color of Water James McBride 1995 American English
2049 The Ripening Seed Colette 1923 French French
2062 Girl With Green Eyes Edna O'Brien 1962 Irish English
2086 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2116 The Life Story And Real Adventures Of The Poor Man Of Toggenburg Ulrich Bräker 1789 Swiss German
2150 The Conference Of The Birds Attar Neyshabouri 1177 Persian Persian
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2197 Veronika Decides to Die Paulo Coelho 1998 Brazilian Portuguese
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2203 The Story of My Life Helen Keller 1903 American English
2206 Dreams from My Father Barack Obama 1995 American English
2243 The Tombs Of Atuan Ursula K. Le Guin 1971 American English
2355 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
2369 The Power of One Bryce Courtenay 1989 Australian English
2372 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2414 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2425 Soul Mountain Xingjian Gao 1990 Chinese Chinese
2437 The Crow Road Iain Banks 1992 British English
2446 Blindness Henry Green 1926 British English
2463 The Silent Duchess Dacia Maraini 1990 Italian Italian
2534 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer 1996 American English
2540 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
2543 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2546 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2576 The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 Anaïs Nin 1966 French English
2590 The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway 1989 British English
2591 Emily of New Moon L. M. Montgomery 1923 Canadian English
2659 The Women's Room Marilyn French 1977 American English
2662 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English