The Greatest Books of All Time on 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
10942 Travelling In The Family Carlos Drummond de Andrade 1984 Brazilian Portuguese
10942 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
10998 Shifting The Silence Etel Adnan 2020 Unknown English
10999 The Island Of The Day Before Umberto Eco 1994 Italian Italian
11052 Two Years Eight Months And Twenty Eight Nights Salman Rushdie 2015 British English
11271 Seasons On Earth Kenneth Koch 1987 American English
11296 New Cemetery Simon Armitage 2017 English English
11360 Complete Works Jorge Luis Borges Argentinian Spanish
11360 Où Sont Ils Maintenant. Anthologie Personnelle Laura Kasischke Unknown French
11360 The Watch Nikos Kavvadias Greek Greek
11387 Collected Poems James Schuyler 1988 American English
11387 The One Day Donald Hall 1988 American English
11387 River Writing James Applewhite 1988 American English
11408 Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Canadian English
11504 How To Build A Time Machine Paul Davies 2002 British English
11602 One Hundred Poems By Cavafy Cavafy Greek Greek
11637 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11650 The Continuous Life Mark Strand 1990 American English
11650 The World Of The Ten Thousand Things Charles Wright 1990 American English
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
12047 Landing Light Don Paterson 2003 British English
12046 Species Of Spaces And Other Pieces Georges Perec 1974 French French
12383 Dark Harbor Mark Strand 1993 American English
12655 Poems Of Nathan Zach Nathan Zach 2020 Israeli Hebrew
12655 Selected Poems Adunis 2000 Syrian Arabic
12655 And The Stars Were Shining John Ashbery 1994 American English
12655 Poems Of John Hollander John Hollander 2013 American English
13359 The Time Regulation Institute Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1954 Turkish Turkish
13359 Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving 1819 American English
13559 The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons 1990 American English
13599 Cronus' Children Yves Navarre 1980 French French
13599 The Roving Shadows Pascal Quignard 2002 French English
13711 Creative Evolution Henri Bergson 1907 French French
13764 Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008 American English
13771 The Sunken Cathedral Kate Walbert 2015 American English
13941 A Tale For The Time Being Ruth Ozeki 2013 American English
13971 Hotel World Ali Smith 2001 British English
14025 Time's Monster Priya Satia 2020 American English
14138 Haiku Mary Dawson Hughes 1970 Unknown English
14212 Thank You and Other Poems Kenneth Koch 1962 American English
14232 Einstein's Dreams Alan Lightman 1992 American English
14232 The Starless Sea Erin Morgenstern 2019 American English
14232 View With A Grain Of Sand Wislawa Szymborska 1995 Polish Polish
14347 The Waters of Kronos Conrad Richter 1960 American English
14389 Rivers and Mountains John Ashbery 1966 American English
14553 Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets Don Paterson 2010 British English
14755 Physics Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
14983 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
14983 Summer Ali Smith 2020 British English
14983 Pyramids Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
14983 Sailing Alone Around The Room Billy Collins 2001 American English
14983 Ongoingness Sarah Manguso 2015 American English
14983 Faces In The Crowd Valeria Luiselli 2011 Mexican Spanish
14983 Treacle Walker Alan Garner 2023 British English
14983 Evening Edged In Gold Arno Schmidt 1975 German German
15658 The Collected Poems Of John Masefield John Masefield 1923 British English
15678 The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills Charles Bukowski American English
15678 The Oxford Book Of English Verse John Malcolm Brinnin Unknown English
15789 Collected Poems Of T. S. Eliot 1909 1935 T. S. Eliot 1936 American English
15790 Collected Poems Edna St. Vincent Millay 1956 American English
15804 A Christmas Carol / The Chimes / The Cricket On The Hearth Charles Dickens 1843 British English
15897 An Introduction to Metaphysics Henri Bergson 1903 French French
15897 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing 1946 American English
16483 The Ages Of The World F. W. J. Schelling 1815 German German
16585 The Halloween Tree Ray Bradbury 1972 American English
16696 The Peregrine J. A. Baker 1967 British English
16636 Slaughter House Five Ryan North 1969 Unknown Unknown
16645 Der Spaziergang Robert Walser 1917 Swiss German
17117 Thursbitch Alan Garner 2003 British English
17117 Collected Poems of Michael Donaghy Michael Donaghy 2004 British English
17117 The Invented Part Rodrigo Fresán 2014 Argentinian Spanish
17117 Lifelode Jo Walton 2009 British English
17117 The Ropemaker Peter Dickinson 2001 British English
17117 Reservoir 13 Jon McGregor 2017 British English
17117 Ysabel Guy Gavriel Kay 2007 Canadian English
17117 The Dancers At The End Of Time Michael Moorcock 1972 British English
17117 Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass Lana Del Rey 2020 American English
17117 A Wind In The Door Madeleine L'Engle 1973 American English
17117 Butterfly Valley Inger Christensen 1991 Danish Danish
17117 Time Warped Claudia Hammond 2012 British English
17117 Lavondyss Robert Holdstock 1988 British English
17117 Five Ages Of The Universe Fred C. Adams, Greg Laughlin 1999 American English
17117 Vacuum Diagrams Stephen Baxter 1997 British English
17117 Time And The Art Of Living Robert Grudin 1982 American English
17117 Artful Ali Smith 2012 British English
17117 Map Wislawa Szymborska 2016 Polish Polish
17117 From Being To Becoming Ilya Prigogine 1980 Belgian English
17117 The Art Of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Helen Vendler 1997 American English
17117 Rubaiyyat Bahari Mohamed Gibreel Unknown Unknown
17117 Time And Narrative (Time & Narrative) Paul Ricœur 1983 French French
17117 Motherhood Sheila Heti 2018 Canadian English
17117 Song Of Susannah Stephen King 2004 American English
17117 Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman 2021 British English
17117 The Discoverers Daniel J. Boorstin 1983 American English
17117 The Power Of Less Leo Babauta 2009 Unknown English
17117 Looking Through Glass Mukul Kesavan 1995 Indian English
17117 Oona Out Of Order Margarita Montimore 2020 Unknown English
17117 House Of Suns Alastair Reynolds 2008 British English
17117 Loop Brenda Lozano 2014 Mexican Spanish
17117 The Last Continent Terry Pratchett 1998 British English
17117 Saltatempo Stefano Benni 2001 Italian Italian
17117 The Book Of Sand And Shakespeare's Memory Jorge Luis Borges 1977 Argentinian Spanish
17117 A Night In The Lonesome October Roger Zelazny 1993 American English
17117 The Sea Came In At Midnight Steve Erickson 1999 American English
17117 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17117 Day Michael Cunningham American Unknown
17117 A Shining Jon Fosse Unknown Norwegian
17117 Zpověď Maxe Tivoliho Andrew Sean Greer 2004 American English
17117 Time Song Julia Blackburn 2019 British English
17117 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17117 Our Ecstatic Days Steve Erickson 2005 American English
17117 Night Etel Adnan 2016 Unknown English
17117 White Egrets Derek Walcott 2010 Saint Lucian English
17117 Insignificance Terry Johnson 1982 British English
17117 The Lights Ben Lerner 2023 American Unknown
17117 A Shining Jon Fosse 2023 Norwegian Unknown
17117 Orbital Samantha Harvey 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 Yesterday Tobias Becker 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 The Long Form Kate Briggs 2023 Unknown English
17117 All Souls Saskia Hamilton 2023 Unknown English