The Greatest Books of All Time on Silence

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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
740 Silence Shūsaku Endō 1966 Japanese Japanese
1037 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
1401 Silence of the Sea Vercors 1942 French French
1890 Obasan Joy Kogawa 1981 Canadian English
2361 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2465 The Silent Duchess Dacia Maraini 1990 Italian Italian
3506 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
5939 The Spiral Of Silence Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann 1982 German German
6005 Dire I–Ii Danielle Collobert 1972 French French
6005 Le Bavard Louis-René Des Forêts 1946 French French
6622 Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2003 Nigerian English
7216 Poems Of Georg Trakl Georg Trakl 1913 Austrian German
8009 Poems Of Philippe Jacottet Philippe Jacottet 1953 French French
8100 Selected Poems Tomas Tranströmer 1981 Swedish Swedish
8389 Poems Of Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès 1959 French French
8729 The History of Silence Pedro Zarraluki 1995 Spanish Spanish
9242 Silences Tillie Olsen 1978 American English
9317 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
10059 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10070 The Silences Of Hammerstein Hans Magnus Enzensberger 2008 German German
11004 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
11092 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11199 Silence Of The Sea Jean Bruller 1942 French French
11643 Silence Is A Sense Layla AlAmmar 2021 Unknown English
11828 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
12834 A Chorus Of Stones Susan Griffin 1992 American English
13600 La Maison Vide Laurent Mauvignier French French
13600 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13922 Blind Sunflowers Alberto Méndez 2004 Spanish Spanish
14049 Efter Tusen år Av Tystnad Birgitta Onsell 1990 Swedish Swedish
14078 Deaf Republic Ilya Kaminsky 2019 American English
14985 The Silent Patient Alex Michaelides 2019 British English
15915 People In The Room Norah Lange 1950 Argentine Spanish
17161 That Long Silence Shashi Deshpande 1988 Indian English
17161 A Sunlit Absence Martin Laird 2011 American English
17161 Into The Silent Land Martin Laird 2006 British English
17161 Confessions Of A Silencer Mu’nis al-Razzaz 1986 Jordanian Arabic
17161 Days In The History Of Silence Merethe Lindstrøm 2011 Norwegian Norwegian
17161 Silêncio Na Era Do Ruído Erling Kagge 2016 Norwegian Norwegian
17161 A Shining Jon Fosse Unknown Norwegian
17161 Extracting The Stone Of Madness Alejandra Pizarnik 2016 Argentine Spanish
17161 Ordeal By Silence Prudence Andrew Unknown Unknown
17161 The Silent Tarn Hannah Closs 1963 Unknown English
17161 Tongue Eater Ambrose Bierce American English
17161 A Book Of Silence Maitland, Sara 2008 British English
16849 The Cloud Of Unknowing And Other Works Anonymous 1375 English Middle english
17161 Perlmann's Silence Pascal Mercier Swiss German