The Greatest Social & Cultural Fiction Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3050 A World for Julius Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1970 Peruvian Spanish
3054 National Episodes Benito Pérez Galdós 1873 Spanish Spanish
3057 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3062 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3065 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3069 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3070 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3074 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
3077 Once Were Warriors Alan Duff 1990 New Zealand English
3079 Paradise of the Blind Dương Thu Hương 1988 Vietnamese Vietnamese
3080 Los lanzallamas Roberto Arlt 1931 Argentinian Spanish
3081 Waiting For Lefty Clifford Odets 1935 American English
3082 Flappers And Philosophers F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3087 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3096 Dogeaters Jessica Hagedorn 1990 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3098 Second-class Citizen Buchi Emecheta 1974 Nigerian English
3103 Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart 2010 American English
3104 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3105 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie 1984 American English
3107 The Adventures Of Cipollino Gianni Rodari 1951 Italian Italian
3110 The Warden Anthony Trollope 1855 British English
3118 The Nine Guardians Rosario Castellanos 1957 Mexican Spanish
3120 The Mortal Wound Raffaele La Capria 1961 Italian Italian
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3126 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
3133 Intruder in the Dust William Faulkner 1948 American English
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3141 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3145 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
3158 The Flounder Günter Grass 1977 German German
3161 Weights And Measures Joseph Roth 1937 Austrian German
3167 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1988 American English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3173 A Simple Story S.Y. Agnon 1935 Israeli Hebrew
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3179 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3181 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3183 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3191 Trilce César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
3193 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
3199 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3216 The Year of the Hare Arto Paasilinna 1975 Finnish Finnish
3224 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3225 The Driver's Seat Muriel Spark 1970 British English
3236 The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble 1987 British English
3240 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
3260 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3265 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3268 Sóngoro cosongo Nicolás Guillén 1931 Cuban Spanish
3270 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3273 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3277 The Polish Rider Antonio Muñoz Molina 1991 Spanish Spanish
3281 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3285 The Door Szabó, Magda 1987 Hungarian Hungarian
3286 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3288 Savushun Simin Daneshvar 1969 Iranian Persian
3293 The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
3297 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3316 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3320 Our Lady of the Assassins Fernando Vallejo 1994 Colombian Spanish
3323 Confusion Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
3324 Torrents of Spring Ivan Turgenev 1872 Russian Russian
3324 Pepita Jimenez Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano 1874 Spanish Spanish
3324 By the Open Sea August Strindberg 1890 Swedish Swedish
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3324 Life and Death of Harriett Frean May Sinclair 1922 British English
3324 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3324 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3324 I Thought of Daisy Edmund Wilson 1929 American English
3324 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3324 The Return of Philip Latinowicz Miroslav Krleža 1932 Croatian Croatian
3324 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
3324 Broad and Alien is the World Ciro Alegría 1941 Peruvian Spanish
3324 The Living and the Dead Patrick White 1941 Australian English
3324 The Harvesters Cesare Pavese 1941 Italian Unknown
3324 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
3324 The Tin Flute Gabrielle Roy 1945 Canadian French
3324 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3324 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3324 The Guiltless Hermann Broch 1950 Austrian German
3324 A Day in Spring Ciril Kosmač 1953 Slovenian Slovene
3324 Forever a Stranger Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
3380 The Shadow Line Joseph Conrad 1917 British English
3381 Der Laden Erwin Strittmatter 1983 German German
3382 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3386 The Shadow Lines Amitav Ghosh 1988 Indian English
3390 La Realidad Y El Deseo Luis Cernuda 1936 Spanish Spanish
3391 Los Gozos Y Las Sombras Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1957 Spanish Spanish
3391 Crónica Del Alba Ramón J. Sender 1942 Spanish Spanish
3397 King Rat James Clavell 1962 British English
3401 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3409 The deadbeats Ward Ruyslinck 1957 Belgian Dutch
3409 The Birds Tarjei Vesaas 1957 Norwegian Norwegian
3415 Hanna's Daughters Marianne Fredriksson 1994 Swedish Swedish
3419 Taipei People Pai Hsien-yung 1971 Chinese Chinese
3432 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
3437 So Far From God Ana Castillo 1993 American English
3443 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3444 The Bitter Glass Eilís Dillon 1958 Irish English
3444 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3447 Look At Me Anita Brookner 1983 British English
3458 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
3462 To The Is Land Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
3467 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3464 The Emperor's New Clothes Hans Christian Andersen 1837 Danish Danish
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3473 Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee 1995 American English
3476 The Black Obelisk Erich Maria Remarque 1956 German German
3477 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3481 The Trusting And The Maimed James Plunkett 1959 Irish English
3484 The Scorpion Fish Nicolas Bouvier 1982 French French
3489 Seminario Sulla Gioventù Aldo Busi 1984 Italian Italian
3500 Family Matters Rohinton Mistry 2002 Canadian English
3504 Heavy Wings Jie Zhang 1981 Chinese Chinese
3506 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2021 Senegalese French
3531 An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine 2013 Lebanese English