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
8105 Virginia Ellen Glasgow 1913 American English
8142 Secrets Nuruddin Farah 1998 Somali English
8160 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
8196 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8196 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
8278 Three Plays Thornton Wilder 1957 American English
8285 The Last Days Of Old Beijing Michael Meyer 2008 Unknown English
8334 The Light Years Elizabeth Jane Howard 1990 British English
8348 This Cold Heaven Gretel Ehrlich 2001 American English
8349 China Road Rob Gifford 2007 British English
8358 On Being A Christian Hans Kueng 1974 German German
8386 Selected Stories I. L. Peretz 1959 Polish Yiddish
8403 Meek Heritage Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1919 Finnish Finnish
8435 The Death of Vivek Oji Akwaeke Emezi 2020 Nigerian English
8441 Trilogie Des Mittelalters Dieter Kühn 2000 German German
8468 No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe 1960 Nigerian English
8468 A Dance Of The Forest Wole Soyinka 1960 Nigerian English
8468 Ceremony In Lone Tree Wright Morris 1960 American English
8579 The Last Of The Vikings Johan Bojer 1921 Norwegian Norwegian
8603 Shadow Lands Johannes Bobrowski 1962 German German
8603 The Palace Of Shattered Vessels David Shahar 1962 Israeli Hebrew
8614 Cooked Michael Pollan 2013 American English
8641 Orality And Literacy Walter J. Ong 1982 American English
8677 In Defense Of Sanity G. K. Chesterton 2011 British English
8728 Butterfly Burning Yvonne Vera 1998 Zimbabwean English
8782 Natasha’s Dance Orlando Figes 2002 British English
8822 Photographs Eudora Welty 1971 American English
8854 Letters From My Windmill Alphonse Daudet 1869 French French
8865 African Stories Doris May Lessing 1964 British English
8897 Vendor Of Sweets R. K. Narayan 1967 Indian English
8919 In My Father's Court Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966 Polish Yiddish
8930 Storm In The Village Miss Read 1958 British English
8964 Contos Gauchescos João Simões Lopes Neto 1912 Brazilian Portuguese
8972 The Mother Pearl S. Buck 1934 American English
8975 Riwan, Ou Le Chemin De Sable Ken Bugul 1999 French French
9002 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
9005 The Yeshiva Chaim Grade 1967 Lithuanian Yiddish
9024 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9028 The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa 1987 Peruvian Spanish
9052 The Late George Apley John P. Marquand 1937 American English
9061 The Tribe Michael Mohammed Ahmad 2014 Australian English
9068 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9093 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9126 Mutant Message Down Under Marlo Morgan 1991 American English
9154 Decolonising The Mind Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1986 Kenyan English
9188 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9225 Sun Dancing Geoffrey Moorhouse 1997 British English
9258 Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri 2008 Indian English
9270 The Butcher's Wife And Other Stories Li Ang 1983 Taiwanese Chinese
9284 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
9289 A River Called Time Mia Couto 2002 Mozambican Portuguese
9312 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9323 Sylvanus Now Donna Morrissey 2004 Canadian English
9372 Here And Beyond Edith Wharton 1926 American English
9519 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
9528 City Of Veils Zoë Ferraris 2009 Saudi Arabian English
9538 Binti Nnedi Okorafor 2015 Nigerian English
9539 Guests Of The Sheik Elizabeth Warnock Fernea 1965 American English
9545 Selected Poems Jacob Glatstein 1972 Polish Yiddish
9600 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
9619 Efuru Flora Nwapa 1966 Nigerian English
9655 Spring Moon Betty Bao Lord 1981 Chinese English
9656 The King Of The Rattling Spirits Miha Mazzini 2021 Slovenian Slovenian
9694 I Heard The Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven 1967 Canadian English
9727 Wait Five Minutes Shelley Ingram, Willow G. Mullins 2019 Unknown English
9740 A Fanatic Heart Edna O'Brien 1974 Irish English
9765 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
9789 Sassafrass, Cypress, And Indigo Ntozake Shange 1982 American English
9832 Fountain And Tomb Naguib Mahfouz 1975 Egyptian Arabic
9854 Wife Of The Gods Kwei Quartey 2009 Ghanaian English
9855 The Red Tent Anita Diamant 1997 American English
9902 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9914 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
9948 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
10012 The Zafarani Files Jamal al- Ghitani 1976 Egyptian Arabic
10066 Verdes Valles, Colinas Rojas Ramiro Pinilla 2004 Spanish Spanish
10102 The Fifth Elephant Terry Pratchett 1999 British English
10107 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10109 Blackberry Winter Margaret Mead 1972 American English
10109 Stradbroke Dreamtime Oodgeroo Noonuccal 1972 Australian English
10135 The Fisherman's Invocation Gabriel Okara 1978 Nigerian English
10150 December Bride Sam Hanna Bell 1951 British English
10164 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
10165 Laughing Boy Oliver La Farge 1929 American English
10176 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
10191 How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue 2021 Cameroonian English
10239 Understanding Poetry Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks 1938 American English
10290 Girl Jamaica Kincaid 1978 Antiguan English
10303 A History Of Russian Literature Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky 1926 Russian English
10303 The Need For Roots Simone Weil 1949 French French
10371 Green City In The Sun Barbara Wood 1988 American English
10400 Nice Big American Baby Judy Budnitz 2005 American English
10437 Limbo Carobeth Laird 1975 American English
10437 Rain Of Scorpions And Other Stories Estela Portillo Trambley 1975 American English
10496 Between The Woods And The Water Patrick Leigh Fermor 1986 British English
10567 Women Of The Shadows Ann Cornelisen 1976 American English
10583 Goodbye, Mr. Chips James Hilton 1934 British English
10594 Firekeeper's Daughter Angeline Boulley 2021 American English
10657 Men At Arms Terry Pratchett 1993 British English
10720 The Teahouse Fire Ellis Avery 2006 American English
10735 Tracks Louise Erdrich 1988 American English
10738 The Collector Of Treasures Bessie Head 1977 Botswanan English
10773 Sandalwood Death Yan Mo 2001 Chinese Chinese
10790 The Stripping of the Altars Eamon Duffy 1992 British English
10789 Lilas Rouge Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker 2012 Unknown French
10796 Kin Miljenko Jergović 2013 Croatian Croatian
10812 Firelight and Woodsmoke Claude Michelet 1979 French French
10826 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10824 The Sand Child Tahar Ben Jelloun 1985 Moroccan French
10849 The Stories Bernard Malamud 1983 American English
10878 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
10886 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10903 A Small Country Sian James 1979 British English
10975 Love Must Not Be Forgotten Jie Zhang 1980 Chinese Chinese
10975 Or Else, The Lightning God And Other Stories Catherine Lim 1980 Singaporean English
11039 Hellfire Leesa Gazi 2019 Bangladeshi Bengali
11045 The Complete Plays of T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1969 British English
11046 The Roots Of Ticasuk Ticasuk Brown 1981 American English
11061 The Flood John Broderick 2000 Irish English
11084 Family Ba Jin 1931 Chinese Chinese