The Greatest Books of All Time on Unknown

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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
579 The Outsider And Others H. P. Lovecraft 1939 American English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
1308 Widdershins G. Oliver Onions 1911 British English
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1738 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
1776 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
1946 Medusa E. H. Visiak 1929 British English
1949 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
2072 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
2143 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2142 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
2319 The Sacred Night Tahar Ben Jelloun 1987 Moroccan French
2400 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2540 Journal, 1935 44 Mihail Sebastian 1996 Romanian Romanian
3160 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3296 Maps Nuruddin Farah 1986 Somali English
3638 Trans-Atlantyk Witold Gombrowicz 1953 Polish Polish
3638 Oh, These Times Catherine the Great 1790 Russian Unknown
3638 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3638 The White Ship Chinghiz Aitmatov 1970 Kyrgyz Russian
3638 Childe Harold Of Dysna Moyshe Kulbak 1939 Belarusian Yiddish
3638 On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs Olha Kobylianska 1909 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3861 The Wrath of the Ancestors Archibald Campbell Jordan 1940 South African English
3861 Amal'eZulu B. W. Vilakazi 1945 South African Zulu
3861 The Soul of the White Ant Eugène N. Marais 1925 South African Afrikaans
3949 Le Passé Simple Driss Chraibi 1954 Moroccan French
4142 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4142 Le Vieux Nègre Et La Médaille Ferdinand Oyono 1956 French French
4142 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4229 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4449 Abyssinian Chronicles Moses Isegawa 1998 Dutch English
4555 A Naughty Boy G'afur G'ulоm 1940 Uzbek Uzbek
4556 Inkinnsela Yase Mgungundlovu Sibusiso Nyembezi 1961 South African Zulu
4704 The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts 1922 British English
4744 Nos Matamos O Cão Tinhoso Bernardo Honwana 1964 Mozambican Portuguese
4755 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British English
4777 Helping Verbs Of The Heart Peter Esterhazy 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
4948 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4993 Utenzi Wa Vita Vya Uhuru Robert Bin Shabaan 1967 Tanzanian Swahili
5144 The Nine Mile Walk Harry Kemelman 1967 American English
5501 The Crowned Wanderer Rahim Esenov 1994 Turkmen Unknown
5510 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5519 Nós Os Do Makulusu José Luandino Vieira 1974 Angolan Portuguese
5616 Shadow 81 Lucien Nahum 1978 American English
5667 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
5688 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5696 A Madness Of The Heart Richard Neely 1976 American English
5936 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
6101 Le Jeune Homme De Sable Williams Sassine 1979 French French
6323 Opportunity Charlotte Grimshaw 2007 New Zealand English
6342 The Lost Country Luminița Cioabă 2002 Romanian Unknown
6537 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6546 Heirs To The Great Sinner Sheikh San’on Erkin A’zam 2004 Unknown Unknown
7068 Adventures Of A Breath Hayam Abbas Al-Homi 1989 Egyptian Unknown
7068 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7087 Klotsvog Margarita Khemlin 2009 Russian Russian
7128 Blanche Passes Go Barbara Neely 2000 American English
7569 All Fires The Fire Julio Cortazar 1966 Argentinian Spanish
7635 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
8059 Cutting The Rose Efua Doorkenoo 1994 Ghanaian English
8145 Carbide Andriy Lyubka 2014 Ukrainian Ukrainian
8145 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
8145 Alindarka’s Children Alhierld Bakharevich 2014 Belarusian Belarusian
8307 When Death Comes Stealing Valerie Wilson Wesley 1994 American English
8443 The Harvest Of Chronos Mojca Kumerdej 2016 Slovenian Slovenian
8443 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8536 Morituri Yasmina Khadra 1997 Algerian French
8562 Third World Express Mongane Wally Serote 1997 South African English
9094 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9094 Life Went On Anyway Oleg Sentsov 2019 Ukrainian Russian
9260 The Candy House Jennifer Egan 2022 American English
9314 My Husband Rumena Bužarovska 2020 Macedonian Macedonian
9570 Jenny Treibel Theodor Fontane 1892 German German
9570 Pigeons On The Grass Wolfgang Koeppen 1951 German German
9658 The King Of The Rattling Spirits Miha Mazzini 2021 Slovenian Slovenian
9768 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
10824 Montauk Max Frisch 1975 Swiss German
10903 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
11185 Black List, Section H Francis Stuart 1971 Irish English
11463 Alice Adams Booth Tarkington 1921 American English
11463 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 1926 American English
11463 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes 1930 American English
11463 The Store Thomas Sigismund Stribling 1932 American English
11463 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin 1943 American English
11463 The Edge of Sadness Edwin O'Connor 1961 American English
11506 A Drama In Muslin George Moore 1886 Irish English
11676 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
12139 The Emperor Of Ice Cream Brian Moore 1965 Irish English
12899 Birchwood John Banville 1973 Irish English
14516 The Banyan Tree Christopher Nolan 1999 Irish English
14676 Love And Sleep Sean O'Reilly 2002 Unknown Unknown
14725 The Parts Keith Ridgway 2003 Irish English
15010 Song Of Time Ian R. MacLeod 2008 British English
15010 A Disaffection James Kelman 1989 Scottish English
15010 Downriver Iain Sinclair 1991 British English
15768 The Fig Tree Aubrey Menen 1959 Indian English
17113 Hobby Jane Yolen 1996 American Unknown
17113 Nova Swing M. John Harrison 2006 British English
17113 Slow Water Annamarie Jagose 2003 New Zealander English
17113 The Shag Incident Stephanie Johnson 2002 New Zealander English
17113 Live Bodies Maurice Gee 1998 New Zealander English
17113 Baumgartner’s Bombay Anita Desai 1988 Indian English
17113 The Trotternama I. Allan Sealy 1988 Indian English
17113 When Dreams Travel Githa Hariharan 1999 Indian English
17113 Old Cypress Nisha Da Cunha 1991 Indian Unknown
17113 The Devil In The Dustbin Indi Rana 1989 Unknown Unknown
17113 Riceyman Steps Arnold Bennett 1923 British English
17113 Adam's Breed Radclyffe Hall 1926 British English
17113 Miss Mole E. H. Young 1930 British English
17113 The Voyage Charles Morgan 1940 British English
17113 A House Of Children Joyce Cary 1941 British English
17113 Young Tom Forrest Reid 1944 British English
17113 Travellers L. A. G. Strong 1950 British English
17113 Poor Man's Tapestry G. Oliver Onions 1946 British English
17113 The Far Cry Emma Smith 1949 British English
17113 Through The Valley Robert Henriques 1950 British English
17113 Father Goose W. C. Chapman-Mortimer 1899 British Unknown
17113 The New Men C. P. Snow 1954 British English
17113 The Masters In Sequence C. P. Snow 1951 British English
17113 Mother And Son Ivy Compton-Burnett 1955 British English