The Greatest Books of All Time on Translation
Click to learn how this list is calculated.
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.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2288 | The History of the Siege of Lisbon | José Saramago | 1989 | Portuguese | Portuguese | |
| 3532 | An Unnecessary Woman | Rabih Alameddine | 2013 | Lebanese | English | |
| 3577 | The Possessed | Elif Batuman | 2010 | Turkish | English | |
| 3638 | The Works Of John Dryden | John Dryden | 1808 | British | English | |
| 4605 | Babel | R. F. Kuang | 2022 | American | English | |
| 4857 | Zettels Traum | Arno Schmidt | 1970 | German | German | |
| 8556 | Word And Object | Willard Van Orman Quine | 1960 | American | English | |
| 9009 | The Translator | Leila Aboulela | 1999 | British | English | |
| 9231 | El Traductor | Salvador Benesdra | 1998 | Argentinian | Spanish | |
| 9294 | Findings | Richard Howard | 1970 | American | Unknown | |
| 11663 | Dawn To The West | Donald Keene | 1984 | American | English | |
| 11884 | Translating Myself And Others | Jhumpa Lahiri | 2022 | Multiple | English | |
| 12326 | Vladimir Nabokov | Brian Boyd | 1990 | British | English | |
| 12484 | The Sisters Of Sinai | Janet Soskice | 2009 | Unknown | English | |
| 14985 | Translations | Brian Friel | 1980 | Irish | English | |
| 17163 | After Babel | George Steiner | 1975 | British | English | |
| 17163 | Finding Them Gone | Red Pine | 2015 | Chinese | English | |
| 17163 | Translation As Transhumance | Mireille Gansel | 2017 | French | French | |
| 17163 | The Poet’s Bible | David Rosenberg | 1991 | Unknown | English | |
| 17163 | Selected Translations 1948–1968 | W. S. Merwin | 1969 | American | English | |
| 17163 | Drift | Caroline Bergvall | 2014 | Unknown | English | |
| 17163 | Tolk | Maja Lee Langvad | Danish | Unknown | ||
| 17163 | The Vulgate Bible | Ronald Knox, translator | English | English |