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
13362 The Great Tradition F. R. Leavis 1948 British English
13362 The Poetical Works Of Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott 1830 Scottish English
13362 An Iceland Fisherman Pierre Loti 1886 French French
13362 All The Emperor’s Horses David Kidd 1960 American English
13362 The Time Regulation Institute Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1954 Turkish Turkish
13513 The Norton Anthology Of Latino Literature Ilan Stavans 2005 Multiple English
13521 My Native Land Chung Li-ho 1956 Chinese Chinese
13529 Palace of Desire Naguib Mahfouz 1957 Egyptian Arabic
13529 Sugar Street Naguib Mahfouz 1957 Egyptian Arabic
13551 Waiting for the Mahatma R. K. Narayan 1955 Indian English
13560 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
13588 Spring Snow Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
13600 Le Rouet D'ivoire And Jean Des Brebis Ou Le Livre De La Misère Émile Moselly French French
13600 En France Marius-Ary Leblond 1909 French French
13600 Les Filles De La Pluie André Savignon French French
13600 Le Peuple De La Mer Marc Elder 1913 French French
13600 Nêne Ernest Pérochon 1920 French French
13600 Vent De Mars Henri Pourrat 1941 French French
13600 Les Eaux Mêlées Roger Ikor 1955 French French
13600 The Law Roger Vailland 1957 French French
13600 The Fruits Of Winter Bernard Clavel 1968 French French
13600 L'epervier De Maheux Jean Carrière 1972 French French
13712 The Aerodrome Rex Warner 1941 British English
13716 The Headmaster Ritual Taylor Antrim 2007 American English
13716 Kintu Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi 2014 Ugandan English
13802 The Blue And The Black Wang Lan 1963 Chinese Unknown
13818 Villa Tarantola Vincenzo Cardarelli 1948 Italian Unknown
13818 Within The Walls Giorgio Bassani 1956 Italian Italian
13818 The Forests Of Norbio Giuseppe Dessì 1965 Italian Italian
13818 Le Quattro Ragazze Wieselberger Fausta Cialente 1976 Italian Italian
13818 La Miglior Vita Fulvio Tomizza 1977 Italian Italian
13818 Il Natale Del 1833 Mario Pomilio 1983 Italian Italian
13818 Nottetempo, Casa Per Casa Vincenzo Consolo 1992 Italian Italian
13818 Il Dolore Perfetto Ugo Riccarelli 2004 Italian Italian
13818 The Eight Mountains Paolo Cognetti 2016 Italian Italian
13886 Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett 2009 British English
13886 Essential Pleasures Robert Pinsky 2009 American English
13918 Son's Big Doll Huang Chun-ming 1968 Chinese Chinese
13924 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
14348 Blood Tie Mary Lee Settle 1977 American English
14348 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
14384 The Chess Master Ah Cheng 1984 Chinese Chinese
14386 The Deliverance Ellen Glasgow 1904 American English
14403 28 Summers Elin Hilderbrand 2020 American English
14411 A Man Of The People Chinua Achebe 1966 Nigerian English
14430 A Small Town Called Hibiscus Gu Hua 1983 Chinese Chinese
14434 Taiwanese Trilogy Chung Chao-cheng 1984 Taiwanese Chinese
14435 Foma Gordeyev Maxim Gorky 1899 Russian Russian
14458 Collected Stories of Peter Taylor Peter Taylor 1969 American English
14481 The Banyan Tree Christopher Nolan 1999 Irish English
14488 The Jiling Chronicles Li Yung-p'ing 1986 Chinese Unknown
14496 Farewell To My Concubine Lilian Lee 1985 Chinese Chinese
14499 The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1988 British English
14549 An Oxcart For Dowry Wang Chen-ho 1988 Taiwanese Chinese
14551 Turbulence Jia Pingwa 1987 Chinese Chinese
14553 The Ancient Ship Zhang Wei 1987 Chinese Chinese
14599 The World Until Yesterday Jared Diamond 2012 American English
14626 Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon 1913 French French
14646 Fin De Siècle Splendor Chu Tʽien-wen 1990 Chinese Chinese
14665 Raise The Red Lantern Su Tong 1990 Chinese Chinese
14680 The Country House John Galsworthy 1907 British English
14698 Radiance Of Tomorrow Ishmael Beah 2014 American English
14709 White Deer Plain Chen Zhongshi 1993 Chinese Chinese
14751 Musashi Eiji Yoshikawa 1935 Japanese Japanese
14780 The Peony Pavilion Tang Xianzu 1598 Chinese Chinese
14830 The Great Hunger Johan Bojer 1918 Norwegian Norwegian
14826 The Turning Wheel Stuart Cloete 1937 South African English
14852 City Of The Queen Shin Shu-ching 1994 Chinese Chinese
14856 All Of A Kind Family Sydney Taylor 1951 American English
14899 When Rain Clouds Gather Bessie Head 1968 Botswana English
14939 Java Head Joseph Hergesheimer 1919 American English
14951 Blood Wedding Federico García Lorca 1933 Spanish Spanish
14985 Breath, Eyes, Memory Edwidge Danticat 1994 Haitian English
14985 Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver 1990 American English
14985 Tales From Firozsha Baag Rohinton Mistry 1987 Indian English
14985 The Antelope Wife Louise Erdrich 1998 American English
14985 The Beauty Of Everyday Things Soetsu Yanagi 2019 Japanese Japanese
14985 The Bear And The Nightingale Katherine Arden 2017 American English
14985 The Humans Stephen Karam 2014 American English
14985 The Woman Who Rides Like A Man Tamora Pierce 1986 American English
14985 I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett 2010 British English
14985 Pyramids Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
14983 M.C. Higgins, The Great Virginia Hamilton 1974 American English
14985 Christianity Diarmaid MacCulloch 2010 British English
14985 The Enlightenment Of The Greengage Tree Shokoofeh Azar 2017 Iranian Persian
14985 The Heart Of Redness Zakes Mda 2000 South African English
14985 Please Look After Mom Kyung-sook Shin 2008 Korean Korean
14985 The Glass Sided Ants’ Nest Peter Dickinson 1968 British English
14985 Strega Nona Tomie dePaola 1975 American English
14985 Rosarita Anita Desai 2024 Unknown English
14985 Death In Spring Merce Rodoreda 1986 Spanish Catalan
14985 The End Of Drum Time Hanna Pylväinen 2023 Unknown English
14985 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
14985 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
15607 The Old Capital Chu Tʽien-hsin 1996 Chinese Chinese
15615 The Cathedral Hugh Walpole 1922 British English
15640 舊址 Li Rui 1998 Chinese Chinese
15657 Certain People Of Importance Kathleen Thompson Norris 1922 American English
15675 The Love Story Of A Young Monk Wang Zengqi 2011 Chinese Chinese
15679 Children Of Loneliness Anzia Yezierska 1923 American English
15685 Lucky Worries About His Country Chang Ta-chun 2001 Chinese Chinese
15686 River Spirit Leila Aboulela 2023 Sudanese English
15725 The Diary Of A Parish Clerk Steen Steensen Blicher 1824 Danish Danish
15741 The Bridal Canopy Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1931 Israeli Hebrew
15790 The Fig Tree Aubrey Menen 1959 Indian English
15780 Xala Ousmane Sembène 1973 Senegalese French
15801 Runaway Horses Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
15802 The Sinners Yusuf Idris 1959 Egyptian Arabic
15774 The Morning Is Near Us Susan Glaspell 1940 American English
15777 Other Gods Pearl S. Buck 1940 American English