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
2692 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
2693 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
2695 Dalva Jim Harrison 1988 American English
2704 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin 1901 Australian English
2725 The Discovery Of Slowness Sten Nadolny 1983 German German
2808 Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson 1980 American English
2851 The Counterlife Philip Roth 1986 American English
2854 The Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
2856 The Dog Of The South Charles Portis 1979 American English
2892 Silverlock John Myers Myers 1949 American English
2927 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2984 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
2985 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
2992 Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1910 British English
3005 Hideous Kinky Esther Freud 1992 British English
3061 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3104 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie 1984 American English
3184 Moon Palace Paul Auster 1989 American English
3207 Travels With My Aunt Graham Greene 1969 British English
3215 The Year of the Hare Arto Paasilinna 1975 Finnish Finnish
3228 Phantastes George McDonald 1858 British English
3239 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
3273 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
3281 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
3289 Candida George Bernard Shaw 1898 Irish English
3317 The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang 2018 Vietnamese English
3323 Confusion Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
3324 The Return of Philip Latinowicz Miroslav Krleža 1932 Croatian Croatian
3324 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
3324 Eyeless in Gaza Aldous Huxley 1936 British English
3443 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3468 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3485 The Scorpion Fish Nicolas Bouvier 1982 French French
3489 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
3551 The Improvement of Human Reason Ibn Tufayl 1170 Arabic Arabic
3553 Divorcing Susan Taubes 1969 American English
3573 Youth Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
3614 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
3638 Mitte Des Lebens Luise Rinser 1950 German German
3638 Franz Sternbald's Wanderings Ludwig Tieck 1798 German German
3809 Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner 1984 British English
3860 This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3892 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 American English
3904 The Blue Sword Robin McKinley 1982 American English
4055 Leaving the Atocha Station Ben Lerner 2011 American English
4066 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot 2000 American English
4097 Boyfriend Material Alexis Hall 2020 British English
4105 Leavetaking Peter Weiss 1960 German German
4114 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4135 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4144 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
4151 Oxherding Tale Charles R. Johnson 1982 American English
4175 Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen 1867 Norwegian Norwegian
4174 Replay Ken Grimwood 1986 American English
4190 The Bridges Of Madison County Robert James Waller 1992 American English
4194 The Celestine Prophecy James Redfield 1993 American English
4200 Edisto Padgett Powell 1984 American English
4207 Luka Antun Šoljan 1969 Croatian Croatian
4213 Miss Sophie's Diary And Other Stories Ding Ling 1928 Chinese Chinese
4287 Gantenbein Max Frisch 1964 Swiss German
4309 Ennui Maria Edgeworth 1809 Irish English
4309 Invitation To The Waltz Rosamond Lehmann 1932 British English
4309 Pointed Roofs Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
4403 The L Shaped Room Lynne Reid Banks 1960 British English
4408 The Essential Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1995 Persian Persian
4451 Gift From The Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh 1955 American English
4460 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender 2010 American English
4500 How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti 2010 Canadian English
4541 A New Life Bernard Malamud 1961 American English
4573 Moominvalley In November Tove Jansson 1970 Finnish Swedish
4595 Nora Webster Colm Toibin 2014 Irish English
4606 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4641 Memoirs Of A Midget Walter de la Mare 1921 British English
4710 Pigeon Feathers And Other Stories John Updike 1962 American English
4722 Of Time and the River Thomas Wolfe 1935 American English
4789 Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes Robert Louis Stevenson 1879 British English
4855 The Gift Horse Hildegard Knef 1970 German German
4876 The Golden String Bede Griffiths 1954 British English
4986 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
5026 Theophilus North Thornton Wilder 1973 American English
5141 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 American English
5149 The Copenhagen Trilogy Tiina Nunnally, Michael Favala Goldman, Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
5186 Stay True Hua Hsu 2022 Chinese English
5237 Travels With Myself And Another Martha Gellhorn 1978 American English
5238 Sorcerer's Son Phyllis Eisenstein 1979 American English
5240 My Father And Myself J. R. Ackerley 1968 British English
5256 Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
5308 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5329 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5360 The Hite Report Shere Hite 1976 American English
5387 St. Urbain's Horseman Mordecai Richler 1971 Canadian English
5402 Our Sister Killjoy Ama Ata Aidoo 1977 Ghanaian English
5404 I Love Dick Chris Kraus 1997 American English
5442 Egy polgár vallomásai Sandor Marai 1934 Hungarian Hungarian
5569 Imaginary Portraits Walter Pater 1887 British English
5581 The Young Man Botho Strauß 1984 German German
5623 The Richard Trilogy Paul Horgan 1970 American Unknown
5624 Olivia Dorothy Bussy 1949 British English
5678 The Tendrils of the Vine Colette 1908 French Unknown
5686 The Friendly Young Ladies Mary Renault 1943 British English
5696 Tapping The Source Kem Nunn 1984 American English
5703 Mondscheintarif Ildikò von Kürthy 1999 German German
5705 Kafka Was The Rage Anatole Broyard 1993 American English
5719 Youth J. M. Coetzee 2002 South African English
5721 The Rosy Crucifixion Henry Miller 1949 American English
5749 Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison 1999 British English
5753 Blue Highways William Least Heat-Moon 1982 American English
5757 Earthly Paradise Colette 1966 French French
5771 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
5815 The Russian Debutante’s Handbook Gary Shteyngart 2002 American English
5822 Conundrum Jan Morris 1974 British English
5860 The Big Sea Langston Hughes 1940 American English
5860 Italian Journey Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1816 German German
5857 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
5956 Microserfs Douglas Coupland 1995 Canadian English
5980 Shanghai Baby Wei Hui 1999 Chinese Chinese
6000 Kate Vaiden Reynolds Price 1986 American English
6002 Master And Man Leo Tolstoy 1895 Russian Russian
6002 My Feminine Brother Marina Tsvetaeva 1923 Russian Russian
6083 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English