The Greatest Books of All Time on Southern Gothic

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
9 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1929 American English
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
149 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
181 Light in August William Faulkner 1932 American English
182 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
208 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor 1953 American English
253 Look Homeward, Angel Thomas Wolfe 1929 American English
350 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1971 American English
362 Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor 1952 American English
466 A Death in the Family James Agee 1957 American English
500 Everything That Rises Must Converge Flannery O'Connor 1965 American English
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
566 I Served The King Of England Bohumil Hrabal 1983 Czech Czech
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
722 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
1089 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
1251 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1458 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers 1951 American English
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1714 Go Down, Moses William Faulkner 1942 American English
1730 The Mouse And His Child Russell Hoban 1967 American English
1756 Strange Fruit Lillian Smith 1944 American English
2409 The Joys Of Motherhood Buchi Emecheta 1979 Nigerian English
2538 A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond 1958 British English
2683 Calamity Town Ellery Queen 1942 American English
2973 The Female Man Joanna Russ 1975 American English
3166 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1988 American English
3324 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3426 The Violent Bear It Away Flannery O'Connor 1960 American English
3488 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
3567 Mystery and Manners Flannery O'Connor 1969 American English
3610 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American English
3916 Zayni Barakat Jamal al- Ghitani 1974 Egyptian Arabic
4140 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4200 Edisto Padgett Powell 1984 American English
4284 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4285 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4510 Out Of The Fire Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl, Vladimir Kolesnik 1981 Belarusian Russian
4540 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
4543 Ingenious Pain Andrew Miller 1997 British English
4575 The Black Brothers Lisa Tetzner 1941 German German
4715 Jumping Jenny Anthony Berkeley 1933 British English
4723 Of Time and the River Thomas Wolfe 1935 American English
4897 The Book Of Fame Lloyd Jones 2000 New Zealand English
4980 I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen 2011 Canadian English
5116 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
5131 The Snows Of Yesteryear Gregor von Rezzori 1989 Austrian German
5265 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
6082 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
6348 Karingana Ua Karingana José Craveirinha 1982 Mozambican Portuguese
6485 The Keepers of the House Shirley Ann Grau 1964 American English
6716 Beat Not The Bones Charlotte Jay 1952 Australian English
6974 The Good Life Elsewhere Vladimir Lorchenkov 2008 Russian Russian
7177 The Last Harmattan Of Alusine Dunbar Syl Cheney-Choker 1990 Sierra Leonean English
7202 Gb84 David Peace 2004 British English
7205 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7578 The Mosquito Coast Paul Theroux 1981 American English
7691 Quiet Flows The Una Faruk Šehić 2011 Bosnian Bosnian
8498 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8535 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
8788 The Reivers William Faulkner 1962 American English
10165 Laughing Boy Oliver La Farge 1929 American English
11157 Lie Down In Darkness William Styron 1951 American English
11451 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
11451 The Store Thomas Sigismund Stribling 1932 American English
11451 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor 1958 American English
14347 Blood Tie Mary Lee Settle 1977 American English
14816 Restaurant At The End Of The Universe Douglas Adams 1980 British English
14983 The Sea And Summer George Turner 1987 Australian English
14983 Lovecraft Country Matt Ruff 2016 American English
14983 George Alex Gino 2015 American English
14983 Last Stop On Market Street Matt de la Peña 2015 American English
14983 The Folding Star Alan Hollinghurst 1994 British English
15559 In The Valley Ron Rash 2020 American English
17119 A Feast of Snakes Harry Crews 1976 American English
17119 The Devil All The Time Donald Ray Pollock 2011 American English
17119 Worm Loves Worm J.J Austrian 2016 American English
17119 Drum Dream Girl Margarita Engle 2015 Cuban English
16914 The White Mountains John Christopher 1967 British English
17119 Raavan & Eddie Kiran Nagarkar 1995 Indian English
17119 That Long Silence Shashi Deshpande 1988 Indian English
17119 Such Christine Brooke-Rose 1966 British English
17119 Darkness Visible William Golding 1979 British English