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
8107 Virginia Ellen Glasgow 1913 American English
8144 Secrets Nuruddin Farah 1998 Somali English
8162 Born Confused Tanuja Desai Hidier 2002 American English
8198 A Daughter Of Han Ning Lao Tai-Tai, told to Ida Pruitt 1945 Chinese English
8198 Fifth Chinese Daughter Jade Snow Wong 1945 American English
8280 Three Plays Thornton Wilder 1957 American English
8287 The Last Days Of Old Beijing Michael Meyer 2008 Unknown English
8336 The Light Years Elizabeth Jane Howard 1990 British English
8350 This Cold Heaven Gretel Ehrlich 2001 American English
8351 China Road Rob Gifford 2007 British English
8361 On Being A Christian Hans Kueng 1974 German German
8389 Selected Stories I. L. Peretz 1959 Polish Yiddish
8406 Meek Heritage Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1919 Finnish Finnish
8439 The Death of Vivek Oji Akwaeke Emezi 2020 Nigerian English
8445 Trilogie Des Mittelalters Dieter Kühn 2000 German German
8473 No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe 1960 Nigerian English
8473 A Dance Of The Forest Wole Soyinka 1960 Nigerian English
8473 Ceremony In Lone Tree Wright Morris 1960 American English
8583 The Last Of The Vikings Johan Bojer 1921 Norwegian Norwegian
8607 Shadow Lands Johannes Bobrowski 1962 German German
8607 The Palace Of Shattered Vessels David Shahar 1962 Israeli Hebrew
8618 Cooked Michael Pollan 2013 American English
8645 Orality And Literacy Walter J. Ong 1982 American English
8681 In Defense Of Sanity G. K. Chesterton 2011 British English
8733 Butterfly Burning Yvonne Vera 1998 Zimbabwean English
8787 Natasha’s Dance Orlando Figes 2002 British English
8827 Photographs Eudora Welty 1971 American English
8858 Letters From My Windmill Alphonse Daudet 1869 French French
8869 African Stories Doris May Lessing 1964 British English
8901 Vendor Of Sweets R. K. Narayan 1967 Indian English
8923 In My Father's Court Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966 Polish Yiddish
8934 Storm In The Village Miss Read 1958 British English
8968 Contos Gauchescos João Simões Lopes Neto 1912 Brazilian Portuguese
8976 The Mother Pearl S. Buck 1934 American English
8979 Riwan, Ou Le Chemin De Sable Ken Bugul 1999 French French
9006 Regain Jean Giono 1930 French French
9009 The Yeshiva Chaim Grade 1967 Lithuanian Yiddish
9028 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9032 The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa 1987 Peruvian Spanish
9057 The Late George Apley John P. Marquand 1937 American English
9066 The Tribe Michael Mohammed Ahmad 2014 Australian English
9073 Stone Upon Stone Wiesław Myśliwski 1984 Polish Polish
9098 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9131 Mutant Message Down Under Marlo Morgan 1991 American English
9159 Decolonising The Mind Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1986 Kenyan English
9192 The Geography Of Madness Frank Bures 2016 Unknown English
9229 Sun Dancing Geoffrey Moorhouse 1997 British English
9262 Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri 2008 Indian English
9275 The Butcher's Wife And Other Stories Li Ang 1983 Taiwanese Chinese
9289 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
9294 A River Called Time Mia Couto 2002 Mozambican Portuguese
9317 The Dark Side Of Love Rafik Schami 2004 German German
9328 Sylvanus Now Donna Morrissey 2004 Canadian English
9377 Here And Beyond Edith Wharton 1926 American English
9524 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
9533 City Of Veils Zoë Ferraris 2009 Saudi Arabian English
9543 Binti Nnedi Okorafor 2015 Nigerian English
9544 Guests Of The Sheik Elizabeth Warnock Fernea 1965 American English
9550 Selected Poems Jacob Glatstein 1972 Polish Yiddish
9605 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
9623 Efuru Flora Nwapa 1966 Nigerian English
9659 Spring Moon Betty Bao Lord 1981 Chinese English
9660 The King Of The Rattling Spirits Miha Mazzini 2021 Slovenian Slovenian
9698 I Heard The Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven 1967 Canadian English
9731 Wait Five Minutes Shelley Ingram, Willow G. Mullins 2019 Unknown English
9744 A Fanatic Heart Edna O'Brien 1974 Irish English
9769 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
9793 Sassafrass, Cypress, And Indigo Ntozake Shange 1982 American English
9836 Fountain And Tomb Naguib Mahfouz 1975 Egyptian Arabic
9858 Wife Of The Gods Kwei Quartey 2009 Ghanaian English
9859 The Red Tent Anita Diamant 1997 American English
9906 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9918 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
9953 The Book Of Fathers Miklós Vámos 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
10017 The Zafarani Files Jamal al- Ghitani 1976 Egyptian Arabic
10072 Verdes Valles, Colinas Rojas Ramiro Pinilla 2004 Spanish Spanish
10108 The Fifth Elephant Terry Pratchett 1999 British English
10113 The Man Who Spoke Snakish Andrus Kivirähk 2007 Estonian Estonian
10115 Blackberry Winter Margaret Mead 1972 American English
10115 Stradbroke Dreamtime Oodgeroo Noonuccal 1972 Australian English
10140 The Fisherman's Invocation Gabriel Okara 1978 Nigerian English
10155 December Bride Sam Hanna Bell 1951 British English
10169 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
10170 Laughing Boy Oliver La Farge 1929 American English
10174 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler 1992 American English
10182 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
10197 How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue 2021 Cameroonian English
10216 Hjortronlandet Sara Lidman 1955 Swedish Swedish
10246 Understanding Poetry Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks 1938 American English
10296 Girl Jamaica Kincaid 1978 Antiguan English
10309 A History Of Russian Literature Dmitry Svyatopolk Mirsky 1926 Russian English
10309 The Need For Roots Simone Weil 1949 French French
10377 Green City In The Sun Barbara Wood 1988 American English
10406 Nice Big American Baby Judy Budnitz 2005 American English
10443 Limbo Carobeth Laird 1975 American English
10443 Rain Of Scorpions And Other Stories Estela Portillo Trambley 1975 American English
10502 Between The Woods And The Water Patrick Leigh Fermor 1986 British English
10574 Women Of The Shadows Ann Cornelisen 1976 American English
10590 Goodbye, Mr. Chips James Hilton 1934 British English
10601 Firekeeper's Daughter Angeline Boulley 2021 American English
10664 Men At Arms Terry Pratchett 1993 British English
10727 The Teahouse Fire Ellis Avery 2006 American English
10742 Tracks Louise Erdrich 1988 American English
10745 The Collector Of Treasures Bessie Head 1977 Botswanan English
10780 Sandalwood Death Yan Mo 2001 Chinese Chinese
10797 The Stripping of the Altars Eamon Duffy 1992 British English
10796 Lilas Rouge Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker 2012 Unknown French
10803 Kin Miljenko Jergović 2013 Croatian Croatian
10819 Firelight and Woodsmoke Claude Michelet 1979 French French
10832 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10831 The Sand Child Tahar Ben Jelloun 1985 Moroccan French
10856 The Stories Bernard Malamud 1983 American English
10885 Kampung Boy Lat 1979 Malaysian Malay
10893 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10910 A Small Country Sian James 1979 British English
10982 Love Must Not Be Forgotten Jie Zhang 1980 Chinese Chinese
10982 Or Else, The Lightning God And Other Stories Catherine Lim 1980 Singaporean English
11046 Hellfire Leesa Gazi 2019 Bangladeshi Bengali
11052 The Complete Plays of T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1969 British English
11053 The Roots Of Ticasuk Ticasuk Brown 1981 American English