The Greatest Books of All Time on Tradition

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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
3953 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3953 Freedom Or Death Nikos Kazantzakis 1953 Greek Greek
3953 The Schoolmistress With The Golden Eyes Stratis Myrivilis 1933 Greek Greek
3953 The Twelve Lays Of The Gypsy Kostis Palamas 1907 Greek Greek
3953 The Complete Works Of Alexandros Papadiamantis Alexandros Papadiamantis 1952 Greek Greek
3953 Στου Χατζηφράγκου Kosmas Politis 1929 Greek Greek
3953 Λεμονοδάσος Kosmas Politis 1930 Greek Greek
3953 The End Of Our Small Town Dimitris Hatzis 1963 Greek Greek
4082 Death And The King's Horsemen Wole Soyinka 1975 Nigerian English
4083 The Manor Isaac Bashevis Singer 1967 Polish Yiddish
4093 Los Santos Inocentes Miguel Delibes 1981 Spanish Spanish
4105 Wolfskin Hans Lebert 1960 Austrian German
4114 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4118 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4120 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4131 The Three-Arched Bridge Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
4133 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4140 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4140 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4140 Le Vieux Nègre Et La Médaille Ferdinand Oyono 1956 French French
4140 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4173 Sandro of Chegem Fazil Iskander 1966 Russian Russian
4176 The Mind of the South W. J. Cash 1941 American English
4177 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4196 The Master Of Go Yasunari Kawabata 1951 Japanese Japanese
4207 Land Pak Kyongni 1969 Korean Korean
4214 The Beginning of Spring Penelope Fitzgerald 1988 British English
4260 Petals of blood Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan English
4259 A Nobleman's Nest Ivan Turgenev 1859 Russian Russian
4264 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4265 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
4266 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4275 The Gypsies Alexander Pushkin 1827 Russian Russian
4278 Fallen Leaves Vasily Rozanov 1913 Russian Russian
4279 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4281 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4284 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4309 Peace In War Miguel de Unamuno 1897 Spanish Spanish
4309 Ali And Nino Kurban Said 1937 Azerbaijani German
4370 Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan 2013 American English
4412 The Iron Candlestick Dimitar Talev 1952 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4448 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4466 Samuels bok Sven Delblanc 1981 Swedish Swedish
4475 Soundjata Ou L'épopée Mandingue Djibril Tamsir Niane 1960 French French
4519 Sour Sweet Timothy Mo 1982 British English
4544 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4567 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4579 History Of Art Elie Faure 1919 French French
4658 Lanterns on the Levee William Alexander Percy 1941 American English
4718 I'll Take My Stand Twelve Southerners 1930 American English
4721 The Bride Price Buchi Emecheta 1976 Nigerian English
4744 The Christian Tradition Jaroslav Pelikan 1971 American English
4745 Indaba, My Children Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa 1964 South African English
4745 Oeuvre Poétique Léopold Sédar Senghor 1964 Senegalese French
4778 Look Back, Mrs. Lot! Ephraim Kishon 1969 Israeli Hebrew
4805 The Dybbuk S. Ansky 1914 Russian Yiddish
4850 Peking Story David Kidd 1960 American English
4855 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English
4872 Heat and Dust Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 1975 Indian English
4873 Βιοτεχνία Υαλικών Menis Koumandareas 1976 Greek Greek
4878 The Wound Malick Fall 1967 Senegalese French
4888 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4929 The Poorhouse Fair John Updike 1959 American English
4933 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
4943 Mama Day Gloria Naylor 1988 American English
4949 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
4989 The Wandering Falcon Jamil Ahmed 2011 Pakistani English
5007 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5016 Broken April Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
5022 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5039 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5084 Short Friday Isaac Bashevis Singer 1964 Polish Yiddish
5085 The Horsemen Joseph Kessel 1967 French French
5090 Fireflies Shiva Naipaul 1970 Trinidadian English
5093 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5094 Sartoris William Faulkner 1929 American English
5122 Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns 1984 American English
5149 Ilinden Dimitar Talev 1951 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5160 Die Söhne Der Großen Bärin Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich 1951 German German
5260 St. Peter's Umbrella Kálmán Mikszáth 1895 Hungarian Hungarian
5265 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
5289 Cutting It Short Bohumil Hrabal 1976 Czech Czech
5292 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5292 Tante Jolesch Or The Decline Of The West In Anecdotes Friedrich Torberg 1975 Austrian German
5341 A Funtineli Boszorkány Albert Wass 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5345 The Bells Of Prespa Dimitar Talev 1966 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5354 New Hampshire Robert Frost 1923 American English
5376 The Town in Black Kálmán Mikszáth 1910 Hungarian Hungarian
5414 Kard és Kasza Albert Wass 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5416 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5421 A Hungarian Nabob Mór Jókai 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5432 The House At Old Vine Norah Lofts 1961 British English
5441 Ida Regénye Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5443 Egy polgár vallomásai Sandor Marai 1934 Hungarian Hungarian
5467 L'étrange Destin De Wangrin Amadou Hampâté Bâ 1973 French French
5482 The Painter Of Signs R. K. Narayan 1976 Indian English
5486 The Voices of Marrakesh Elias Canetti 1968 Bulgarian German
5518 Nós Os Do Makulusu José Luandino Vieira 1974 Angolan Portuguese
5529 Nikola The Outlaw Ivan Olbracht 1933 Czech Czech
5529 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5599 Doruntine Ismail Kadare 1980 Albanian Albanian
5625 School At The Frontier Géza Ottlik 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5644 Before I Was Born And After My Death Ivailo Petrov 1968 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5646 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5665 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
5665 Medea And Her Children Lyudmila Ulitskaya 1996 Russian Russian
5677 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
5665 La Famille Boussardel Philippe Heriat 1944 French French
5688 Sur La Philosophie Africaine Paulin Hountondji 1976 French French
5706 Woof, Woof, Dear Lord Sotiris Dimitriou 1987 Greek Unknown
5706 Διηγήματα Michail Mitsakis 1987 Greek Greek
5750 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5755 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
5780 The Old And The Young Luigi Pirandello 1913 Italian Italian
5816 Perma Red Debra Magpie Earling 2002 American English
5860 Winter's Tales Isak Dinesen 1942 Danish Danish
5911 The Cossacks Leo Tolstoy 1863 Russian Russian
5904 Death In The Afternoon Ernest Hemingway 1932 American English
5959 This Is Happiness Niall Williams 2019 Irish English
5967 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English