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
3954 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3954 Freedom Or Death Nikos Kazantzakis 1953 Greek Greek
3954 The Schoolmistress With The Golden Eyes Stratis Myrivilis 1933 Greek Greek
3954 The Twelve Lays Of The Gypsy Kostis Palamas 1907 Greek Greek
3954 The Complete Works Of Alexandros Papadiamantis Alexandros Papadiamantis 1952 Greek Greek
3954 Στου Χατζηφράγκου Kosmas Politis 1929 Greek Greek
3954 Λεμονοδάσος Kosmas Politis 1930 Greek Greek
3954 The End Of Our Small Town Dimitris Hatzis 1963 Greek Greek
4083 Death And The King's Horsemen Wole Soyinka 1975 Nigerian English
4084 The Manor Isaac Bashevis Singer 1967 Polish Yiddish
4094 Los Santos Inocentes Miguel Delibes 1981 Spanish Spanish
4106 Wolfskin Hans Lebert 1960 Austrian German
4115 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4119 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4121 Voices In The Evening Natalia Ginzburg 1961 Italian Italian
4132 The Three-Arched Bridge Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
4135 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4141 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4141 Climbié Bernard Dadié 1956 French French
4141 Le Vieux Nègre Et La Médaille Ferdinand Oyono 1956 French French
4141 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4174 Sandro of Chegem Fazil Iskander 1966 Russian Russian
4177 The Mind of the South W. J. Cash 1941 American English
4178 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4197 The Master Of Go Yasunari Kawabata 1951 Japanese Japanese
4208 Land Pak Kyongni 1969 Korean Korean
4215 The Beginning of Spring Penelope Fitzgerald 1988 British English
4261 Petals of blood Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1977 Kenyan English
4260 A Nobleman's Nest Ivan Turgenev 1859 Russian Russian
4265 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4266 Ancestral Voices Etienne van Heerden 1986 South African Afrikaans
4267 The Old World Landowners Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4276 The Gypsies Alexander Pushkin 1827 Russian Russian
4279 Fallen Leaves Vasily Rozanov 1913 Russian Russian
4280 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4282 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4285 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4310 Peace In War Miguel de Unamuno 1897 Spanish Spanish
4310 Ali And Nino Kurban Said 1937 Azerbaijani German
4371 Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan 2013 American English
4413 The Iron Candlestick Dimitar Talev 1952 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4449 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4467 Samuels bok Sven Delblanc 1981 Swedish Swedish
4476 Soundjata Ou L'épopée Mandingue Djibril Tamsir Niane 1960 French French
4520 Sour Sweet Timothy Mo 1982 British English
4545 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4568 No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod 1999 Canadian English
4580 History Of Art Elie Faure 1919 French French
4659 Lanterns on the Levee William Alexander Percy 1941 American English
4719 I'll Take My Stand Twelve Southerners 1930 American English
4722 The Bride Price Buchi Emecheta 1976 Nigerian English
4745 The Christian Tradition Jaroslav Pelikan 1971 American English
4746 Indaba, My Children Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa 1964 South African English
4746 Oeuvre Poétique Léopold Sédar Senghor 1964 Senegalese French
4780 Look Back, Mrs. Lot! Ephraim Kishon 1969 Israeli Hebrew
4806 The Dybbuk S. Ansky 1914 Russian Yiddish
4851 Peking Story David Kidd 1960 American English
4856 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English
4873 Heat and Dust Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 1975 Indian English
4874 Βιοτεχνία Υαλικών Menis Koumandareas 1976 Greek Greek
4879 The Wound Malick Fall 1967 Senegalese French
4889 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4931 The Poorhouse Fair John Updike 1959 American English
4935 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
4945 Mama Day Gloria Naylor 1988 American English
4951 Sergeant Getúlio João Ubaldo Ribeiro 1971 Brazilian Portuguese
4992 The Wandering Falcon Jamil Ahmed 2011 Pakistani English
5010 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5019 Broken April Ismail Kadare 1978 Albanian Albanian
5025 The City And The Mountains Eça de Queirós 1901 Portuguese Portuguese
5042 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5086 Short Friday Isaac Bashevis Singer 1964 Polish Yiddish
5087 The Horsemen Joseph Kessel 1967 French French
5092 Fireflies Shiva Naipaul 1970 Trinidadian English
5095 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5096 Sartoris William Faulkner 1929 American English
5124 Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns 1984 American English
5151 Ilinden Dimitar Talev 1951 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5162 Die Söhne Der Großen Bärin Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich 1951 German German
5261 St. Peter's Umbrella Kálmán Mikszáth 1895 Hungarian Hungarian
5266 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
5290 Cutting It Short Bohumil Hrabal 1976 Czech Czech
5293 Padre Padrone Gavino Ledda 1975 Italian Italian
5293 Tante Jolesch Or The Decline Of The West In Anecdotes Friedrich Torberg 1975 Austrian German
5342 A Funtineli Boszorkány Albert Wass 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5346 The Bells Of Prespa Dimitar Talev 1966 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5355 New Hampshire Robert Frost 1923 American English
5377 The Town in Black Kálmán Mikszáth 1910 Hungarian Hungarian
5416 Kard és Kasza Albert Wass 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
5418 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5423 A Hungarian Nabob Mór Jókai 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5434 The House At Old Vine Norah Lofts 1961 British English
5443 Ida Regénye Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5445 Egy polgár vallomásai Sandor Marai 1934 Hungarian Hungarian
5469 L'étrange Destin De Wangrin Amadou Hampâté Bâ 1973 French French
5484 The Painter Of Signs R. K. Narayan 1976 Indian English
5488 The Voices of Marrakesh Elias Canetti 1968 Bulgarian German
5520 Nós Os Do Makulusu José Luandino Vieira 1974 Angolan Portuguese
5531 Nikola The Outlaw Ivan Olbracht 1933 Czech Czech
5531 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5602 Doruntine Ismail Kadare 1980 Albanian Albanian
5628 School At The Frontier Géza Ottlik 1959 Hungarian Hungarian
5647 Before I Was Born And After My Death Ivailo Petrov 1968 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5648 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5668 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
5668 Medea And Her Children Lyudmila Ulitskaya 1996 Russian Russian
5680 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
5668 La Famille Boussardel Philippe Heriat 1944 French French
5691 Sur La Philosophie Africaine Paulin Hountondji 1976 French French
5709 Woof, Woof, Dear Lord Sotiris Dimitriou 1987 Greek Unknown
5709 Διηγήματα Michail Mitsakis 1987 Greek Greek
5753 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5758 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
5783 The Old And The Young Luigi Pirandello 1913 Italian Italian
5821 Perma Red Debra Magpie Earling 2002 American English
5863 Winter's Tales Isak Dinesen 1942 Danish Danish
5914 The Cossacks Leo Tolstoy 1863 Russian Russian
5907 Death In The Afternoon Ernest Hemingway 1932 American English
5963 This Is Happiness Niall Williams 2019 Irish English
5971 Falling Leaves Adeline Yen Mah 1997 Chinese English