The Greatest Books of All Time on Suffering

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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
11319 The Children’s Crusade Rebecca Brown 2003 Unknown English
11350 The Anthropocene Reviewed John Green 2021 American English
11389 Collected Poems Primo Levi 1988 Italian Italian
11501 Hibakusha Gaynor Sekimori 1986 Hibakusha Unknown
11534 Thyestes Seneca 62 Roman Latin
11541 Humiliated And Insulted Fyodor Dostoevsky 1861 Russian Russian
11650 Collected Earlier Poems Anthony Hecht 1990 American English
11650 Above The River James Wright 1990 American English
12221 The Swallows Of Kabul Yasmina Khadra 2002 Algerian French
12376 Haunted Chuck Palahniuk 2005 American English
12324 Holocaust Testimonies Lawrence L. Langer 1991 American English
12324 The Island Gustaw Herling 1958 Polish Polish
12324 Reading The Holocaust Inga Clendinnen 1999 Australian English
12655 Collected Poems Geoffrey Hill 2013 British English
13599 Le Rouet D'ivoire And Jean Des Brebis Ou Le Livre De La Misère Émile Moselly French French
13599 Le Vitriol De La Lune And Le Martyre De L'obèse Henri Béraud French French
13599 Rabevel Ou Le Mal Des Ardents Lucien Fabre French French
13599 Hath Not The Potter Maxence Van Der Meersch 1936 French English
13599 The Mercy Of God Jean Cau 1961 French French
13599 The Battle Patrick Rambaud 1997 French French
13920 Book Of Psalms Alabaster Co. 2018 Unknown Hebrew
13923 The Buddha And His Religion J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire 1860 French French
14025 Ardency Kevin Young 2011 American English
14156 The Poems of Wilfred Owen Wilfred Owen 1920 British English
14232 Berlin Antony Beevor 2002 British English
14410 Greek Tragedies 1 David Grene 1955 Unknown English
14666 Sacred Hunger Barry Unsworth 1992 British English
14758 The Nazarene Sholem Asch 1939 Polish Yiddish
14821 The Face Of War Martha Gellhorn 1959 American English
14830 Everything Happens For A Reason Kate Bowler 2018 American English
14894 The Collected Works Kahlil Gibran 1920 Lebanese Arabic
14974 The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1968 Peruvian Spanish
14983 12 Rules For Life Jordan B. Peterson 2018 Canadian English
14983 The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*Ck Mark Manson 2016 American English
14983 Power Of Now Eckhart Tolle 1997 Canadian English
14983 Death Without Weeping Nancy Scheper-Hughes 1992 American English
14983 Stalingrad Antony Beevor 1998 British English
15780 Crime And Punishment Dostoyevsky 1866 Russian Russian
15870 Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers Pierre Guyotat 1967 French French
15897 Dhammapada Unknown -299 Multiple Pali
15897 Narrative Of The Captivity And Restoration Of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Mary White Rowlandson 1682 American English
15886 At The Mind's Limits Jean Améry 1966 German German
15897 At Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
15897 Mary Shalom Asch 1949 Unknown Yiddish
15897 Not Built With Hands Helen C. White 1936 American English
16518 The Red Laugh Leonid Andreyev 1904 Russian English
16522 A Noite Elie Wiesel 1956 French Yiddish
16605 Sounder William H. Armstrong 1969 American English
16657 The Sea And Poison Shūsaku Endō 1958 Japanese Japanese
16669 Le Dernier Jour D'un Condamné Victor Hugo 1829 French French
16712 Αναφορά στον Γκρέκο Nikos Kazantzakis 1961 Greek Greek
16601 The Brothers Karamazov Fedor Dostoyevsky 1880 Russian Russian
17119 Staying Alive Neil Astley 2002 British English
17119 Taking the World in for Repairs Richard Selzer 1986 American English
17119 War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges 2002 American English
17119 The Book Of Joy Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho 2016 Tibetan English
17119 The Beauty And The Sorrow Peter Englund 2011 Swedish Swedish
17119 The Black Christ Kelly Brown Douglas 1994 American English
17119 Palestine Joe Sacco 1993 American English
16920 Jammers Minde Leonora Christina 1869 Danish Danish
17119 Scenes Of Clerical Life George Eliot 1858 British English
17119 Hell Is The Absence Of God Ted Chiang 2001 American English
17119 Evil In Modern Thought Susan Neiman 2002 American English
17119 Greek Lyrics Richmond Lattimore 1960 Greek English
17119 The House Of The Dead Daniel Beer 2017 British English
17119 Simone Weil Simone Weil 1986 French French
17119 The Days Of Ashes Mohammad Ezzeddine Tazi 1982 Moroccan Unknown
17119 Stick Out Your Tongue Ma Jian 1987 Chinese Chinese
17119 Zinky Boys Svetlana Alexievich 1989 Belarusian Russian
17119 Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides 2001 American English
17016 Purgatorio Dante Alighieri 1315 Italian Italian
17119 Deadhouse Gates Steven Erikson 2000 Canadian English
17119 Season Of Blood Fergal Keane 1996 British English
16852 Poemas Sociales, De Guerra Y De Muerte Miguel Hernández 1937 Spanish Spanish
16938 Buddha Osamu Tezuka 1972 Japanese Japanese
17119 My Bright Abyss Christian Wiman 2013 American English
17119 Better Never To Have Been David Benatar 2006 South African English
17026 Dostoevsky Joseph Frank 1864 American English
17021 Candide And Other Stories Voltaire 1759 French French
16839 Tears And Saints Emil Cioran 1937 Romanian French
16907 Notes From Underground & The Double Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
16863 The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Ursula K. Le Guin 1973 American English
17119 A Small Corner Of Hell Anna Politkovskaya 2003 Russian Russian
16941 Dievų Miškas Balys Sruoga 1957 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17119 The Agony Of Christianity And Essays On Faith Miguel de Unamuno 1925 Spanish Spanish
17119 Revelation Freshly Erupting Nelly Sachs German German
16838 L'étranger / La Peste Albert Camus 1942 French French
17119 Tudo é Rio Carla Madeira 2014 Brazilian Portuguese
17119 A New Earth Eckhart Tolle 2005 Canadian English
17119 Life And Words Veena Das 2006 Indian English
17119 Traditional Buddhist Mind Training: Essential Mind Training Thupten Jinpa Tibetan English
17119 The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice And Tribal Wisdom Joan Halifax 1993 American English
17119 What Is Existential Anthropology? Michael D. Jackson New Zealand English
17119 The Complete Malazan Book Of The Fallen Steven Erikson Canadian English
17119 Strangers And Sojourners Michael O'Brien 1997 Canadian English
17119 Practicing The Power Of Now Eckhart Tolle 1997 Canadian English
17119 The Voice Of Knowledge Don Miguel Ruiz 2004 American English
16991 What The Buddha Taught Walpola Rahula 1959 British English
17104 Aphorismen Zur Lebensweisheit Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 German German
17093 The Death Ivan Ilych And Other Stories Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
16880 The Brothers Karmazov Dostoevsky, Fyodor 1880 Russian Russian
17119 The Book Of Job Harold S. Kushner 2012 American English
17119 Der Unbewußte Gott. Psychotherapie Und Religion Frankl, Viktor E. 2005 Austrian German