The Greatest Social & Cultural Fiction Books of All Time

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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
568 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
583 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
594 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
600 Nine Stories J. D. Salinger 1953 American English
605 Claudine Colette 1900 French French
606 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
611 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
612 Green Henry Gottfried Keller 1855 Swiss German
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
622 Elective Affinities Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1809 German German
637 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
644 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
647 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
648 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 1990 American English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
655 Stories of Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway 1987 American English
656 The Time Of The Doves Merce Rodoreda 1962 Spanish Catalan
657 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
665 The Family Moskat Isaac Bashevis Singer 1950 Polish Yiddish
666 Humboldt's Gift Saul Bellow 1975 American English
668 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
678 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 1857 British English
680 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever 1978 American English
683 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
685 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
686 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
703 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
704 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 1958 American English
706 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
720 The Professor's House Willa Cather 1925 American English
721 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
722 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
725 The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier 1949 Cuban Spanish
730 Petersburg Andrei Bely 1913 Russian Russian
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
733 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English
735 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
739 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
745 Memed, My Hawk Yashar Kemal 1955 Turkish Turkish
746 Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga 1988 Zimbabwean English
747 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
748 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
761 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
763 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
764 Mother Maxim Gorky 1906 Russian Russian
767 The Tree of Man Patrick White 1955 Australian English
768 A Glastonbury Romance John Cowper Powys 1932 British English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
771 God's Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène 1960 Senegalese French
772 The Group Mary McCarthy 1963 American English
775 Cheese Willem Elsschot 1933 Belgian Dutch
779 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton 1967 American English
785 The Stechlin Theodor Fontane 1898 German German
788 Roots Alex Haley 1976 American English
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
809 Poems by Machado Antonio Machado 1907 Spanish Spanish
813 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell 1851 British English
815 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 French French
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
821 Castle Rackrent Maria Edgeworth 1800 British English
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
832 The Last Of The Just André Schwarz-Bart 1959 French French
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
843 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
849 Regeneration Pat Barker 1991 British English
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
854 Cane Jean Toomer 1923 American English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
873 Call to Arms Lu Xun 1922 Chinese Chinese
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
889 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
902 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
907 Hyperion Friedrich Holderlin 1797 German German
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
931 The House by the Medlar Tree Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
933 Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro 1971 Canadian English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English