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
16500 Journey Without Maps Graham Greene 1936 British English
15903 Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 James Boswell 1950 British English
15903 The Voyage Out Virginia Woolf 1915 British English
15903 A Spy In The House Of Love Anaïs Nin 1954 French English
15903 Diving Into The Wreck Adrienne Rich 1973 American English
15903 The Perfect Stranger P. J. Kavanagh 1966 British English
15903 All Passion Spent Vita Sackville-West 1931 British English
15903 Elizabeth And Her German Garden Elizabeth von Arnim 1898 German English
15903 The Morgesons Elizabeth Stoddard 1862 American English
15903 Work Louisa May Alcott 1873 American English
15903 My Crowded Solitude Jack McLaren 1926 Australian English
15903 De Perfil José Agustín 1966 Mexican Spanish
15903 The Colossus Of Maroussi Henry Miller 1941 American English
15903 The Purple Land Jay William Hudson 1885 Unknown Unknown
16499 An Apprenticeship Or The Book Of Pleasures Clarice Lispector 1969 Brazilian Portuguese
15903 Richard Caqrvel Winston Churchill 1899 American English
15903 The Cruise Of The Snark Jack London 1911 American English
15903 Tschiffely's Ride A. F. Tschiffely 1933 British English
16497 H.M. Pulham, Esq. John P. Marquand 1941 American English
16535 A Walk Out Of The World Ruth Nichols 1969 Canadian English
16520 Latin Quarter Suhail Idriss 1953 Lebanese Arabic
16605 The Royal Road to Romance Richard Halliburton 1925 American English
16668 Madonna In A Fur Coat Sabahattin Ali 1943 Turkish Turkish
16656 The Pilgrim's Regress C. S. Lewis 1933 British English
16717 Sanshirō Natsume Sōseki 1908 Japanese Japanese
17125 The Bear Comes Home Rafi Zabor 1997 American English
17125 Becoming a Man Paul Monette 1992 American English
17125 The Queen of the Tambourine Jane Gardam 1991 British English
17125 Leading the Cheers Justin Cartwright 1998 British English
17125 Stranger in the Forest Eric Hansen 1988 American English
17125 Adrift Steven Callahan 1986 American English
17125 The Fearful Void Geoffrey Moorhouse 1974 British English
17125 Comfort Me with Apples Ruth Reichl 2001 American English
17125 The Epicure's Lament Kate Christensen 2004 American English
17125 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Rebecca Wells 1996 American English
17125 A Patchwork Planet Anne Tyler 1998 American English
17125 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Roald Dahl 1977 British English
17125 An American Childhood Annie Dillard 1987 American English
17125 The Folk of the Air Peter S. Beagle 1986 American English
17125 Tales from Rugosa Coven Sarah Avery 2013 American English
17125 Aria of the Sea Dia Calhoun 2000 American English
17125 Corbenic Catherine Fisher 2002 British English
17125 Pahua and the Soul Stealer Lori Lee 2021 American English
17125 The Hut Builder Laurence Fearnley 2010 New Zealander English
17125 Harlequin Rex Owen Marshall 1999 New Zealander English
17125 A Girl Like Her Talia Hibbert 2018 British English
17125 Larry's Party Carol Shields 1997 Canadian English
17125 The Idea Of Perfection Kate Grenville 1999 Australian English
17125 That Long Silence Shashi Deshpande 1988 Indian English
17125 The Lost Girl D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
17125 Adam's Breed Radclyffe Hall 1926 British English
17125 Highland River Neil M. Gunn 1937 Scottish English
17125 The Voyage Charles Morgan 1940 British English
17125 Young Tom Forrest Reid 1944 British English
17125 Travellers L. A. G. Strong 1950 British English
17125 The Far Cry Emma Smith 1949 British English
17125 Troy Chimneys Margaret Kennedy 1952 British English
17125 The Middle Age Of Mrs Eliot Angus Wilson 1958 British English
17125 Jerusalem The Golden Margaret Drabble 1967 British English
17125 The Gasteropod Maggie Ross 1968 Unknown Unknown
17125 Sacred Country Rose Tremain 1992 British English
17125 Meridian Alice Walker 1976 American English
17125 Kingbird Highway Kenn Kaufman 1997 American English
17125 A Jest Of God Margaret Laurence 1966 Canadian English
17125 Happiness And Other Stories Mary Lavin 1969 Irish English
17125 Forty Seventeen Frank Moorhouse 1988 Australian English
17125 Vagabond Volume 1 Takehiko Inoue 1998 Japanese Japanese
17125 How To Train Your Dragon Cressida Cowell 2003 British English
17125 Somebody's Daughter Ashley C. Ford 2021 American English
17125 Milk And Honey & The Sun And Her Flowers By Rupi Kaur 2 Books Collection Set Rupi Kaur 2014 Canadian English
17125 I Hope This Reaches Her In Time r.h. Sin 2017 American English
17125 She Fits Inside These Words r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake, Samantha King Holmes 2021 American English
17125 I Would Leave Me If I Could Halsey 2020 American English
17125 She Felt Like Feeling Nothing r.h. Sin 2018 American English
17125 Empty Bottles Full Of Stories r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake 2019 American English
17125 Love Her Wild Atticus 2017 Canadian English
17125 A Doll's House, Part 2 Lucas Hnath 2017 American English
17125 House Of Many Ways Diana Wynne Jones 2008 British English
17125 A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall Will Chancellor 2014 American English
17125 Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name Vendela Vida 2007 American English
17125 Redefining Realness Janet Mock 2014 American English
17125 The Fire Dwellers Margaret Laurence 1969 Canadian English
17125 Mama Terry McMillan 1987 American English
17125 Braided Lives Marge Piercy 1982 American English
17125 The Golden Spur Dawn Powell 1962 American English
17125 If Morning Ever Comes Anne Tyler 1964 American English
17125 The Terrible Yrsa Daley-Ward 2018 British English
17125 Singin’ Swingin’ And Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas Maya Angelou 1976 American English
17125 Tales From Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett 1989 American English
17125 Before I Fall Lauren Oliver 2010 American English
17125 The Isle Of Youth Laura Van den Berg 2013 American English
17125 The Art Of Starving Sam J. Miller 2017 American English
17125 Outside The Dog Museum Jonathan Carroll 1991 American English
17125 Dark Sister Graham Joyce 1992 British English
17125 Тина и половина Yulia Spiridonova 2009 Bulgarian Russian
17125 Dear Mr. Henshaw Beverly Cleary 1983 American English
17125 The Higher Power Of Lucky Susan Patron 2006 American English
16993 The Summer Of The Swans Betsy Cromer Byars 1970 American English
17098 Call It Courage Armstrong Sperry 1940 American English
17125 Abel's Island William Steig 1976 American English
17125 Tender At The Bone Ruth Reichl 1998 American English
17125 Lost In Place Mark Salzman 1995 American English
17125 The Great Good Thing Roderick Townley 2001 American English
17125 Hello, Universe Erin Entrada Kelly 2017 American English
17125 Black Sun Geoffrey Wolff 1976 American English
17125 Recognition Ali Abu Al-Rish Emirati Unknown
17125 Crazy Paradise Ahmed Youssef Syrian Unknown
17125 And My Share Of The Horizon Abdel Qader Ben Shaikh Tunisian Unknown
17125 Birds Of The Dawn Lily Osseiran Unknown Unknown
17125 Crooked Little Heart Anne Lamott 1997 American English
17125 Cowboys Are My Weakness Pam Houston 1992 American English
17125 Mistress Of Spices Chitra Divakaruni 1997 American English
17125 Confessions Of Madame Psyche Dorothy Bryant 1986 American English
17125 My Year Abroad Chang-rae Lee 2021 American English
16978 The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir 1967 French French
17125 A Girl Returned Donatella Di Pietrantonio 2017 Italian Italian
17125 Invisible Monsters Chuck Palahniuk 1999 American English
17125 The Bride Test Helen Hoang 2019 American English
17125 A Closed And Common Orbit Becky Chambers 2016 American English
17125 Love's Executioner Irvin D. Yalom 1989 American English