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
13359 The Great Tradition F. R. Leavis 1948 British English
13359 The Poetical Works Of Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott 1830 Scottish English
13359 An Iceland Fisherman Pierre Loti 1886 French French
13359 All The Emperor’s Horses David Kidd 1960 American English
13359 The Time Regulation Institute Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1954 Turkish Turkish
13511 The Norton Anthology Of Latino Literature Ilan Stavans 2005 Multiple English
13519 My Native Land Chung Li-ho 1956 Chinese Chinese
13528 Palace of Desire Naguib Mahfouz 1957 Egyptian Arabic
13528 Sugar Street Naguib Mahfouz 1957 Egyptian Arabic
13550 Waiting for the Mahatma R. K. Narayan 1955 Indian English
13559 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
13587 Spring Snow Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
13599 Le Rouet D'ivoire And Jean Des Brebis Ou Le Livre De La Misère Émile Moselly French French
13599 En France Marius-Ary Leblond 1909 French French
13599 Les Filles De La Pluie André Savignon French French
13599 Le Peuple De La Mer Marc Elder 1913 French French
13599 Nêne Ernest Pérochon 1920 French French
13599 Vent De Mars Henri Pourrat 1941 French French
13599 Les Eaux Mêlées Roger Ikor 1955 French French
13599 The Law Roger Vailland 1957 French French
13599 The Fruits Of Winter Bernard Clavel 1968 French French
13599 L'epervier De Maheux Jean Carrière 1972 French French
13711 The Aerodrome Rex Warner 1941 British English
13715 The Headmaster Ritual Taylor Antrim 2007 American English
13715 Kintu Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi 2014 Ugandan English
13801 The Blue And The Black Wang Lan 1963 Chinese Unknown
13817 Villa Tarantola Vincenzo Cardarelli 1948 Italian Unknown
13817 Within The Walls Giorgio Bassani 1956 Italian Italian
13817 The Forests Of Norbio Giuseppe Dessì 1965 Italian Italian
13817 Le Quattro Ragazze Wieselberger Fausta Cialente 1976 Italian Italian
13817 La Miglior Vita Fulvio Tomizza 1977 Italian Italian
13817 Il Natale Del 1833 Mario Pomilio 1983 Italian Italian
13817 Nottetempo, Casa Per Casa Vincenzo Consolo 1992 Italian Italian
13817 Il Dolore Perfetto Ugo Riccarelli 2004 Italian Italian
13817 The Eight Mountains Paolo Cognetti 2016 Italian Italian
13885 Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett 2009 British English
13885 Essential Pleasures Robert Pinsky 2009 American English
13917 Son's Big Doll Huang Chun-ming 1968 Chinese Chinese
13923 The Cowboy And The Cossack Clair Huffaker 1973 American English
14009 Family Catastrophe Wang Wen-hsin 1973 Chinese Chinese
14025 The Wife's Tale Aida Edemariam 2018 Canadian English
14107 Kulto Ni Santiago Kristian Cordero Filipino Filipino
14130 Passagère Du Silence Fabienne Verdier 2001 French French
14165 The Whirlwind Chiang Kuei 1977 Chinese Unknown
14206 Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey 1971 American English
14232 A Year in Provence Peter Mayle 1989 British English
14232 LaRose Louise Erdrich 2016 American English
14232 In Custody Anita Desai 1984 Indian English
14232 Jerusalem Jez Butterworth 2009 British English
14347 Blood Tie Mary Lee Settle 1977 American English
14347 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
14383 The Chess Master Ah Cheng 1984 Chinese Chinese
14385 The Deliverance Ellen Glasgow 1904 American English
14402 28 Summers Elin Hilderbrand 2020 American English
14410 A Man Of The People Chinua Achebe 1966 Nigerian English
14429 A Small Town Called Hibiscus Gu Hua 1983 Chinese Chinese
14433 Taiwanese Trilogy Chung Chao-cheng 1984 Taiwanese Chinese
14434 Foma Gordeyev Maxim Gorky 1899 Russian Russian
14457 Collected Stories of Peter Taylor Peter Taylor 1969 American English
14480 The Banyan Tree Christopher Nolan 1999 Irish English
14487 The Jiling Chronicles Li Yung-p'ing 1986 Chinese Unknown
14495 Farewell To My Concubine Lilian Lee 1985 Chinese Chinese
14498 The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1988 British English
14548 An Oxcart For Dowry Wang Chen-ho 1988 Taiwanese Chinese
14550 Turbulence Jia Pingwa 1987 Chinese Chinese
14552 The Ancient Ship Zhang Wei 1987 Chinese Chinese
14598 The World Until Yesterday Jared Diamond 2012 American English
14625 Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon 1913 French French
14645 Fin De Siècle Splendor Chu Tʽien-wen 1990 Chinese Chinese
14664 Raise The Red Lantern Su Tong 1990 Chinese Chinese
14679 The Country House John Galsworthy 1907 British English
14697 Radiance Of Tomorrow Ishmael Beah 2014 American English
14708 White Deer Plain Chen Zhongshi 1993 Chinese Chinese
14750 Musashi Eiji Yoshikawa 1935 Japanese Japanese
14779 The Peony Pavilion Tang Xianzu 1598 Chinese Chinese
14828 The Great Hunger Johan Bojer 1918 Norwegian Norwegian
14851 City Of The Queen Shin Shu-ching 1994 Chinese Chinese
14855 All Of A Kind Family Sydney Taylor 1951 American English
14897 When Rain Clouds Gather Bessie Head 1968 Botswana English
14880 The Turning Wheel Stuart Cloete 1937 South African English
14936 Java Head Joseph Hergesheimer 1919 American English
14950 Blood Wedding Federico García Lorca 1933 Spanish Spanish
14984 Breath, Eyes, Memory Edwidge Danticat 1994 Haitian English
14984 Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver 1990 American English
14984 Tales From Firozsha Baag Rohinton Mistry 1987 Indian English
14984 The Antelope Wife Louise Erdrich 1998 American English
14984 The Beauty Of Everyday Things Soetsu Yanagi 2019 Japanese Japanese
14984 The Bear And The Nightingale Katherine Arden 2017 American English
14984 The Humans Stephen Karam 2014 American English
14984 The Woman Who Rides Like A Man Tamora Pierce 1986 American English
14984 I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett 2010 British English
14984 Pyramids Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
14981 M.C. Higgins, The Great Virginia Hamilton 1974 American English
14984 Christianity Diarmaid MacCulloch 2010 British English
14984 The Enlightenment Of The Greengage Tree Shokoofeh Azar 2017 Iranian Persian
14984 The Heart Of Redness Zakes Mda 2000 South African English
14984 Please Look After Mom Kyung-sook Shin 2008 Korean Korean
14984 The Glass Sided Ants’ Nest Peter Dickinson 1968 British English
14984 Strega Nona Tomie dePaola 1975 American English
14984 Rosarita Anita Desai 2024 Unknown English
14984 Death In Spring Merce Rodoreda 1986 Spanish Catalan
14984 The End Of Drum Time Hanna Pylväinen 2023 Unknown English
14984 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
14984 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
15601 The Old Capital Chu Tʽien-hsin 1996 Chinese Chinese
15609 The Cathedral Hugh Walpole 1922 British English
15634 舊址 Li Rui 1998 Chinese Chinese
15651 Certain People Of Importance Kathleen Thompson Norris 1922 American English
15669 The Love Story Of A Young Monk Wang Zengqi 2011 Chinese Chinese
15673 Children Of Loneliness Anzia Yezierska 1923 American English
15679 Lucky Worries About His Country Chang Ta-chun 2001 Chinese Chinese
15680 River Spirit Leila Aboulela 2023 Sudanese English
15719 The Diary Of A Parish Clerk Steen Steensen Blicher 1824 Danish Danish
15736 The Bridal Canopy Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1931 Israeli Hebrew
15774 The Fig Tree Aubrey Menen 1959 Indian English
15767 Xala Ousmane Sembène 1973 Senegalese French
15787 Runaway Horses Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
15786 The Sinners Yusuf Idris 1959 Egyptian Arabic
15778 The Morning Is Near Us Susan Glaspell 1940 American English
15781 Other Gods Pearl S. Buck 1940 American English