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
1307 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
1778 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
1945 Medusa E. H. Visiak 1929 British English
1948 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
2073 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
2108 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2143 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
2319 The Sacred Night Tahar Ben Jelloun 1987 Moroccan French
2402 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2541 Journal, 1935 44 Mihail Sebastian 1996 Romanian Romanian
3163 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3298 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
3860 The Wrath of the Ancestors Archibald Campbell Jordan 1940 South African English
3860 Amal'eZulu B. W. Vilakazi 1945 South African Zulu
3860 The Soul of the White Ant Eugène N. Marais 1925 South African Afrikaans
3947 Le Passé Simple Driss Chraibi 1954 Moroccan French
4140 Le Pauvre Christ De Bomba Mongo Beti 1956 French French
4140 Le Vieux Nègre Et La Médaille Ferdinand Oyono 1956 French French
4140 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4227 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4448 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
4705 The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts 1922 British English
4745 Nos Matamos O Cão Tinhoso Bernardo Honwana 1964 Mozambican Portuguese
4756 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British English
4779 Helping Verbs Of The Heart Peter Esterhazy 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
4950 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4994 Utenzi Wa Vita Vya Uhuru Robert Bin Shabaan 1967 Tanzanian Swahili
5145 The Nine Mile Walk Harry Kemelman 1967 American English
5502 The Crowned Wanderer Rahim Esenov 1994 Turkmen Unknown
5511 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5520 Nós Os Do Makulusu José Luandino Vieira 1974 Angolan Portuguese
5617 Shadow 81 Lucien Nahum 1978 American English
5668 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
5690 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5698 A Madness Of The Heart Richard Neely 1976 American English
5939 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
6102 Le Jeune Homme De Sable Williams Sassine 1979 French French
6324 Opportunity Charlotte Grimshaw 2007 New Zealand English
6343 The Lost Country Luminița Cioabă 2002 Romanian Unknown
6539 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6548 Heirs To The Great Sinner Sheikh San’on Erkin A’zam 2004 Unknown Unknown
7067 Adventures Of A Breath Hayam Abbas Al-Homi 1989 Egyptian Unknown
7067 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7086 Klotsvog Margarita Khemlin 2009 Russian Russian
7127 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
8057 Cutting The Rose Efua Doorkenoo 1994 Ghanaian English
8144 Carbide Andriy Lyubka 2014 Ukrainian Ukrainian
8144 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
8144 Alindarka’s Children Alhierld Bakharevich 2014 Belarusian Belarusian
8306 When Death Comes Stealing Valerie Wilson Wesley 1994 American English
8445 The Harvest Of Chronos Mojca Kumerdej 2016 Slovenian Slovenian
8445 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8538 Morituri Yasmina Khadra 1997 Algerian French
8564 Third World Express Mongane Wally Serote 1997 South African English
9097 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9097 Life Went On Anyway Oleg Sentsov 2019 Ukrainian Russian
9261 The Candy House Jennifer Egan 2022 American English
9316 My Husband Rumena Bužarovska 2020 Macedonian Macedonian
9573 Jenny Treibel Theodor Fontane 1892 German German
9573 Pigeons On The Grass Wolfgang Koeppen 1951 German German
9658 The King Of The Rattling Spirits Miha Mazzini 2021 Slovenian Slovenian
9767 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
10820 Montauk Max Frisch 1975 Swiss German
10899 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
11179 Black List, Section H Francis Stuart 1971 Irish English
11454 Alice Adams Booth Tarkington 1921 American English
11454 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 1926 American English
11454 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes 1930 American English
11454 The Store Thomas Sigismund Stribling 1932 American English
11454 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin 1943 American English
11454 The Edge of Sadness Edwin O'Connor 1961 American English
11494 A Drama In Muslin George Moore 1886 Irish English
11662 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
12121 The Emperor Of Ice Cream Brian Moore 1965 Irish English
12880 Birchwood John Banville 1973 Irish English
14481 The Banyan Tree Christopher Nolan 1999 Irish English
14645 Love And Sleep Sean O'Reilly 2002 Unknown Unknown
14694 The Parts Keith Ridgway 2003 Irish English
14985 Song Of Time Ian R. MacLeod 2008 British English
14985 A Disaffection James Kelman 1989 Scottish English
14985 Downriver Iain Sinclair 1991 British English
15786 The Fig Tree Aubrey Menen 1959 Indian English
17158 Hobby Jane Yolen 1996 American Unknown
17158 Nova Swing M. John Harrison 2006 British English
17158 Slow Water Annamarie Jagose 2003 New Zealander English
17158 The Shag Incident Stephanie Johnson 2002 New Zealander English
17158 Live Bodies Maurice Gee 1998 New Zealander English
17158 Baumgartner’s Bombay Anita Desai 1988 Indian English
17158 The Trotternama I. Allan Sealy 1988 Indian English
17158 When Dreams Travel Githa Hariharan 1999 Indian English
17158 Old Cypress Nisha Da Cunha 1991 Indian Unknown
17158 The Devil In The Dustbin Indi Rana 1989 Unknown Unknown
17158 Riceyman Steps Arnold Bennett 1923 British English
17158 Adam's Breed Radclyffe Hall 1926 British English
17158 Miss Mole E. H. Young 1930 British English
17158 The Voyage Charles Morgan 1940 British English
17158 A House Of Children Joyce Cary 1941 British English
17158 Young Tom Forrest Reid 1944 British English
17158 Travellers L. A. G. Strong 1950 British English
17158 Poor Man's Tapestry G. Oliver Onions 1946 British English
17158 The Far Cry Emma Smith 1949 British English
17158 Through The Valley Robert Henriques 1950 British English
17158 Father Goose W. C. Chapman-Mortimer 1899 British Unknown
17158 The New Men C. P. Snow 1954 British English
17158 The Masters In Sequence C. P. Snow 1951 British English
17158 Mother And Son Ivy Compton-Burnett 1955 British English