The Greatest Western Books of All Time

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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
1209 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1211 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
1212 A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis Sigmund Freud 1920 Austrian German
1213 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1214 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1216 Billy Liar Keith Waterhouse 1959 British English
1217 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1218 The Egyptian Mika Waltari 1945 Finnish Finnish
1220 The Return of the Soldier Rebecca West 1918 British English
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1221 Thank You, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1934 British English
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1223 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1224 The Snow Leopard Peter Matthiessen 1978 American English
1226 The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle Tobias Smollett 1751 British English
1226 What Is To Be Done? Vladimir Il’ich Lenin 1902 Russian Russian
1228 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
1229 Songs of Innocence and Experience William Blake 1789 British English
1230 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 1918 American English
1231 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
1233 The History Of Gil Blas Of Santillana Alain-René Lesage 1715 French French
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
1237 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
1238 The Age of Anxiety W. H. Auden 1947 British English
1239 The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne John Donne 1952 British English
1240 Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith 1950 American English
1241 The Life Before Us Romain Gary 1975 French French
1242 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis José Saramago 1984 Portuguese Portuguese
1243 Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
1244 The Travels of Marco Polo Marco Polo 1300 Italian Old french
1245 Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell 1933 British English
1246 Danube Claudio Magris 1986 Italian Italian
1247 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 British English
1248 The Conservative Mind Russell Kirk 1953 American English
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1250 The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Selma Lagerlöf 1906 Swedish Swedish
1251 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
1253 Absolute Beginners Colin MacInnes 1959 British English
1255 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1257 Lives of the Caesars Suetonius 121 Roman Latin
1259 The Female Eunuch Germaine Greer 1970 Australian English
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1262 Maud Martha Gwendolyn Brooks 1953 American English
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1264 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1265 On Writing Stephen King 2000 American English
1266 The Heptameron Marguerite de Navarre 1558 French French
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1268 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
1269 The Unknown Soldier Väinö Linna 1954 Finnish Finnish
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1273 Robert Browning's Poetry Robert Browning 1833 British English
1273 Selected Poems of Lord Byron Lord Byron 1800 British English
1275 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1276 The Feynman Lectures on Physics Richard P. Feynman 1963 American English
1277 A High Wind in Jamaica Richard Hughes 1929 British English
1279 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1281 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1283 Cybernetics Norbert Wiener 1948 American English
1284 The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser 1590 British English
1285 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
1288 The 13 Clocks James Thurber 1950 American English
1289 A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin 1996 American English
1290 Lilith George MacDonald 1895 Scottish English
1291 Parzival Wolfram Eschenbach 1200 German Middle high german
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
1293 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
1294 Peyton Place Grace Metalious 1956 American English
1295 Phenomenology of Mind G. W. F. Hegel 1807 German German
1296 The Works of Moliere Molière 1666 French French
1298 The Days of His Grace Eyvind Johnson 1960 Swedish Swedish
1297 Poetics Aristotle -322 Greek Greek
1301 The Road Less Traveled M. Scott Peck 1978 American English
1302 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1303 The Seventh Cross Anna Seghers 1942 German German
1304 Collected Poems Stéphane Mallarmé 1887 French French
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1306 Widdershins G. Oliver Onions 1911 British English
1307 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor 1976 American English
1308 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
1309 The Member Of The Wedding Carson McCullers 1946 American English
1310 Our Man In Havana Graham Greene 1958 British English
1312 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1311 Boredom Alberto Moravia 1960 Italian Italian
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1314 Under Satan's Sun Georges Bernanos 1926 French French
1316 The Fountain Overflows Rebecca West 1956 British English
1317 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1318 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich 1984 American English
1320 God and Man at Yale William F. Buckley, Jr 1951 American English
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1323 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller 1960 American English
1324 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1325 A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark 1988 British English
1326 The Compleat Angler Izaak Walton 1653 British English
1327 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke 1689 British English
1328 Parable Of The Sower Octavia E. Butler 1993 American English
1329 Exodus Leon Uris 1958 American English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1332 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1334 Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton 1941 British English
1336 Peter Schlemihl Adalbert von Chamisso 1814 German German
1337 A Legacy Sybille Bedford 1956 German English
1338 Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury 1962 American English
1339 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
1340 As You Like it William Shakespeare 1600 British English
1341 The Graduate Charles Webb 1963 American English
1342 The Principles of Psychology William James 1890 American English
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1345 The Naked Ape Desmond Morris 1967 British English
1346 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
1347 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1350 Seven Against Thebes Aeschylus -467 Greek Ancient greek
1351 The Suppliants Aeschylus -463 Greek Ancient greek