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
9342 Suzy Zeus Gets Organized Maggie Robbins 2000 American English
9366 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9516 Joe Turner's Come And Gone August Wilson 1984 American English
9543 Binti Nnedi Okorafor 2015 Nigerian English
9613 The Three Paradoxes Paul Hornschemeier 2007 American English
9693 A Spell For Chameleon Piers Anthony 1977 American English
9705 Astonishing the Gods Ben Okri 1995 Nigerian English
9744 A Fanatic Heart Edna O'Brien 1974 Irish English
9744 My Life As A Man Philip Roth 1974 American English
9773 The Night Bookmobile Audrey Niffenegger 2010 American English
9810 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9813 Skating To Antarctica Jenny Diski 1997 British English
9820 The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak 2009 Turkish Turkish
9828 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9860 The English Teacher R. K. Narayan 1945 Indian English
9900 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9909 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
9914 Thera Zeruya Shalev 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9974 Care of the Soul Thomas Moore 1992 American English
9975 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
10027 Wounds Of Passion bell hooks 1997 American English
10060 Stars And Bars William Boyd 1984 British English
10101 Every Day David Levithan 2012 American English
10106 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10174 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10173 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10226 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10246 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10241 In Love With The World Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Helen Tworkov 2019 Unknown English
10264 Slow Homecoming Peter Handke 1979 Austrian German
10276 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10309 The Odd Woman Gail Godwin 1974 American English
10397 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10437 She's Come Undone Wally Lamb 1992 American English
10443 Dora, Doralina Rachel de Queiroz 1975 Brazilian Portuguese
10443 Two Women In One Nawal El Saadawi 1975 Egyptian Arabic
10502 Between The Woods And The Water Patrick Leigh Fermor 1986 British English
10508 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10555 18% Gray Zachary Karabashliev 2008 Bulgarian Bulgarian
10577 Ghost Jason Reynolds 2016 American English
10574 Allegra Maud Goldman Edith Konecky 1976 American English
10603 Autobiography Of A Family Photo Jacqueline Woodson 1995 American English
10624 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon 2015 American English
10637 The New Me Halle Butler 2019 American English
10745 Why Is There Salt In The Sea? Brigitte Schwaiger 1977 Austrian German
10752 A Perfect Peace Amos Oz 1982 Israeli Hebrew
10752 From The First Nine James Merrill 1982 American Unknown
10783 An Island Princess Starts A Scandal Adriana Herrera 2023 Unknown English
10832 Child Of Fortune Yuko Tsushima 1978 Japanese Japanese
10832 Praxis Fay Weldon 1978 British English
10871 Down The Nile Rosemary Mahoney 2007 American English
10871 Tokyo Fiancée Amélie Nothomb 2007 Belgian French
10877 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10894 Looking For Alibrandi Melina Marchetta 1992 Australian English
10895 The Odd Woman And The City Vivian Gornick 2015 American English
10896 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10907 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10910 Singing Softly Carmen De Monteflores 1979 American English
10927 The Lost Father Marina Warner 1988 British English
10943 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez 2017 American English
10959 The Magicians Lev Grossman 2009 American English
10990 Stop Time Frank Conroy 1967 American English
10993 Happenstance Carol Shields 1980 Canadian English
10996 állítsátok Meg Terézanyut! Zsuzsa Rácz 2015 Hungarian Hungarian
11024 Follow Your Heart Susanna Tamaro 1994 Italian Italian
11086 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11113 A Time of Changes Robert Silverberg 1971 American English
11113 The Falling Woman Pat Murphy 1986 American English
11113 The Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon 2003 American English
11181 The Abandoned Baobab Ken Bugul 1982 Senegalese French
11181 Daybook Anne Truitt 1982 American English
11210 Canoës Maylis de Kerangal 2021 French French
11210 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11219 The Black Flamingo Dean Atta 2019 British English
11257 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
11257 Praisesong For The Widow Paule Marshall 1983 American English
11330 Learning To Drive Katha Pollitt 2007 American English
11346 A Bridge Through Time Laila Abou-Saif 1984 Egyptian Unknown
11358 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11361 The Land Of Spices Kate O'Brien 1941 Irish English
11366 La Vie Chinoise De Marianne Pêche Lisa Bresner French French
11366 Où Sont Ils Maintenant. Anthologie Personnelle Laura Kasischke Unknown French
11366 Échappée Agnès Dargent Unknown Unknown
11393 Love Me Tender Constance Debré 2020 French French
11481 Victory Over Japan Ellen Gilchrist 1984 American English
11500 The Thirty Names Of Night Zeyn Joukhadar 2020 Unknown English
11569 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11582 Copper Crown Lane Von Herzen 1986 American English
11582 Hitchhiking Gabriele Eckart 1986 German Unknown
11582 The Last Of The Menu Girls Denise Chávez 1986 American English
11582 The Mixquiahuala Letters Ana Castillo 1986 American English
11582 The Threshing Floor Barbara Burford 1986 British English
11650 Dead Poets Society N. H. Kleinbaum 1989 American English
11663 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
11663 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11663 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11812 Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? Elizabeth Blackburn 2022 Unknown English
11813 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11813 The Riverhouse Stories Andrea Carlisle 1987 American English
11846 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11850 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11859 I Is Another Arthur Rimbaud French French
11865 Welcome To The Goddamn Ice Cube Blair Braverman 2016 American English
11884 Translating Myself And Others Jhumpa Lahiri 2022 Multiple English
11884 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11901 The Ultraviolet Sky Alma Luz Villanueva 1988 American English
11938 Rule Of The Bone Russell Banks 1995 American English
11938 Coffee Will Make You Black April Sinclair 1995 American English
12029 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12084 Changes In Latitude Joanna McIntyre Varawa 1989 American English
12084 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12084 Disappearing Acts Terry McMillan 1989 American English
12084 Plain And Simple Sue Bender 1989 American English
12121 The Emperor Of Ice Cream Brian Moore 1965 Irish English
12149 Awkward And Definition Ariel Schrag 1997 American English
12214 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
12259 Lantern Slides Edna O'Brien 1990 Irish English
12251 Getting In Jennifer Finney Boylan 1998 American English
12251 Almost A Woman Esmeralda Santiago 1998 American English
12318 The Hero And The Crown Robin McKinley 1984 American English