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
9338 Suzy Zeus Gets Organized Maggie Robbins 2000 American English
9362 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9512 Joe Turner's Come And Gone August Wilson 1984 American English
9539 Binti Nnedi Okorafor 2015 Nigerian English
9609 The Three Paradoxes Paul Hornschemeier 2007 American English
9689 A Spell For Chameleon Piers Anthony 1977 American English
9701 Astonishing the Gods Ben Okri 1995 Nigerian English
9740 A Fanatic Heart Edna O'Brien 1974 Irish English
9740 My Life As A Man Philip Roth 1974 American English
9769 The Night Bookmobile Audrey Niffenegger 2010 American English
9806 Journal Julie Delporte 2013 Unknown French
9809 Skating To Antarctica Jenny Diski 1997 British English
9816 The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak 2009 Turkish Turkish
9824 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9856 The English Teacher R. K. Narayan 1945 Indian English
9896 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9905 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
9910 Thera Zeruya Shalev 2005 Israeli Hebrew
9969 Care of the Soul Thomas Moore 1992 American English
9970 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
10022 Wounds Of Passion bell hooks 1997 American English
10054 Stars And Bars William Boyd 1984 British English
10095 Every Day David Levithan 2012 American English
10100 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10169 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford 1969 American English
10168 The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel Ehrlich 1985 American English
10220 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10240 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10235 In Love With The World Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Helen Tworkov 2019 Unknown English
10259 Slow Homecoming Peter Handke 1979 Austrian German
10271 Juliette Camille Jourdy 2016 French French
10304 The Odd Woman Gail Godwin 1974 American English
10392 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10432 She's Come Undone Wally Lamb 1992 American English
10438 Dora, Doralina Rachel de Queiroz 1975 Brazilian Portuguese
10438 Two Women In One Nawal El Saadawi 1975 Egyptian Arabic
10497 Between The Woods And The Water Patrick Leigh Fermor 1986 British English
10503 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10550 18% Gray Zachary Karabashliev 2008 Bulgarian Bulgarian
10572 Ghost Jason Reynolds 2016 American English
10569 Allegra Maud Goldman Edith Konecky 1976 American English
10598 Autobiography Of A Family Photo Jacqueline Woodson 1995 American English
10618 Everything, Everything Nicola Yoon 2015 American English
10631 The New Me Halle Butler 2019 American English
10740 Why Is There Salt In The Sea? Brigitte Schwaiger 1977 Austrian German
10747 A Perfect Peace Amos Oz 1982 Israeli Hebrew
10747 From The First Nine James Merrill 1982 American Unknown
10778 An Island Princess Starts A Scandal Adriana Herrera 2023 Unknown English
10828 Child Of Fortune Yuko Tsushima 1978 Japanese Japanese
10828 Praxis Fay Weldon 1978 British English
10866 Down The Nile Rosemary Mahoney 2007 American English
10866 Tokyo Fiancée Amélie Nothomb 2007 Belgian French
10872 Lost In Translation Eva Hoffman 1989 Canadian English
10889 Looking For Alibrandi Melina Marchetta 1992 Australian English
10890 The Odd Woman And The City Vivian Gornick 2015 American English
10891 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10902 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10905 Singing Softly Carmen De Monteflores 1979 American English
10922 The Lost Father Marina Warner 1988 British English
10938 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez 2017 American English
10954 The Magicians Lev Grossman 2009 American English
10985 Stop Time Frank Conroy 1967 American English
10989 Happenstance Carol Shields 1980 Canadian English
10991 állítsátok Meg Terézanyut! Zsuzsa Rácz 2015 Hungarian Hungarian
11019 Follow Your Heart Susanna Tamaro 1994 Italian Italian
11081 When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities Chen Chen 2017 American English
11108 A Time of Changes Robert Silverberg 1971 American English
11108 The Falling Woman Pat Murphy 1986 American English
11108 The Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon 2003 American English
11176 The Abandoned Baobab Ken Bugul 1982 Senegalese French
11176 Daybook Anne Truitt 1982 American English
11205 Canoës Maylis de Kerangal 2021 French French
11205 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11214 The Black Flamingo Dean Atta 2019 British English
11252 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
11252 Praisesong For The Widow Paule Marshall 1983 American English
11325 Learning To Drive Katha Pollitt 2007 American English
11341 A Bridge Through Time Laila Abou-Saif 1984 Egyptian Unknown
11353 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11357 The Land Of Spices Kate O'Brien 1941 Irish English
11362 La Vie Chinoise De Marianne Pêche Lisa Bresner French French
11362 Où Sont Ils Maintenant. Anthologie Personnelle Laura Kasischke Unknown French
11362 Échappée Agnès Dargent Unknown Unknown
11389 Love Me Tender Constance Debré 2020 French French
11478 Victory Over Japan Ellen Gilchrist 1984 American English
11497 The Thirty Names Of Night Zeyn Joukhadar 2020 Unknown English
11567 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11579 Copper Crown Lane Von Herzen 1986 American English
11579 Hitchhiking Gabriele Eckart 1986 German Unknown
11579 The Last Of The Menu Girls Denise Chávez 1986 American English
11579 The Mixquiahuala Letters Ana Castillo 1986 American English
11579 The Threshing Floor Barbara Burford 1986 British English
11647 Dead Poets Society N. H. Kleinbaum 1989 American English
11660 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
11660 The Moons Of Jupiter Alice Munro 1982 Canadian English
11660 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11810 Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? Elizabeth Blackburn 2022 Unknown English
11811 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11811 The Riverhouse Stories Andrea Carlisle 1987 American English
11844 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11848 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11857 I Is Another Arthur Rimbaud French French
11863 Welcome To The Goddamn Ice Cube Blair Braverman 2016 American English
11882 Translating Myself And Others Jhumpa Lahiri 2022 Multiple English
11882 Losing Face George Haddad 2022 Unknown English
11899 The Ultraviolet Sky Alma Luz Villanueva 1988 American English
11936 Rule Of The Bone Russell Banks 1995 American English
11936 Coffee Will Make You Black April Sinclair 1995 American English
12027 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12083 Changes In Latitude Joanna McIntyre Varawa 1989 American English
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12083 Disappearing Acts Terry McMillan 1989 American English
12083 Plain And Simple Sue Bender 1989 American English
12120 The Emperor Of Ice Cream Brian Moore 1965 Irish English
12148 Awkward And Definition Ariel Schrag 1997 American English
12213 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
12258 Lantern Slides Edna O'Brien 1990 Irish English
12250 Getting In Jennifer Finney Boylan 1998 American English
12250 Almost A Woman Esmeralda Santiago 1998 American English
12410 Daller Gut Dream Department Store Miye Lee Unknown Unknown