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
2287 The History of the Siege of Lisbon José Saramago 1989 Portuguese Portuguese
2288 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
2289 The White Guard Mikhail Bulgakov 1925 Russian Russian
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2291 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2292 Consciousness Explained Daniel Dennett 1991 American English
2293 The Divided Self R. D. Laing 1960 British English
2295 My Father's Glory Marcel Pagnol 1957 French French
2296 The Limits To Growth Donella H. Meadows 1972 American English
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2298 The Getting Of Wisdom Henry Handel Richardson 1910 Australian English
2300 Journals Meriwether Lewis, William Clark 1804 American English
2301 Le Roman Inachevé Louis Aragon 1956 French French
2302 Ironweed William Kennedy 1983 American English
2303 Machine Dreams Jayne Anne Phillips 1984 American English
2304 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
2305 Stockholm series Per Anders Fogelström 1960 Swedish Swedish
2306 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2307 The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins 1976 British English
2308 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2309 Chance And Necessity Jacques Monod 1970 French French
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2312 Room At The Top John Braine 1957 British English
2313 The Left-Handed Woman Peter Handke 1976 Austrian German
2314 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2315 Backlash Susan Faludi 1991 American English
2316 The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monsarrat 1951 British English
2319 The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross St. John of the Cross 1578 Spanish Spanish
2320 Lavengro George Borrow 1851 British English
2321 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2323 The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward H. P. Lovecraft 1941 American English
2325 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014 American English
2326 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2328 Tom Brown's School Days Thomas Hughes 1857 British English
2329 Romola George Eliot 1863 British English
2330 Whitney, My Love Judith McNaught 1985 American English
2331 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
2332 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
2333 The Devil In Velvet John Dickson Carr 1951 American English
2334 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2335 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2336 Libra Don DeLillo 1988 American English
2337 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2338 The Pearl John Steinbeck 1947 American English
2339 Master of the Senate Robert Caro 2002 American English
2340 Personal History Katharine Graham 1997 American English
2341 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2342 Mastro Don Gesualdo Giovanni Verga 1889 Italian Italian
2343 Song of Songs Christian Church -500 Jewish Hebrew
2344 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2345 Goblin Market Christina Georgina Rossetti 1862 British English
2346 The Well Of The Unicorn Fletcher Pratt 1948 American English
2347 A Summons to Memphis Peter Taylor 1986 American English
2348 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2349 Bulfinch's Mythology Thomas Bulfinch 1855 British English
2350 The Inheritors William Golding 1955 British English
2351 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2353 Contact Carl Sagan 1985 American English
2355 Enemies, A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer 1972 American Yiddish
2356 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
2357 The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe 1992 Irish English
2358 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1955 American English
2359 August 1914 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971 Russian Russian
2360 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2362 Our Nig Harriet E. Wilson 1859 American English
2363 Sybil Benjamin Disraeli 1845 British English
2365 One Two Three . . . Infinity George Gamow 1947 American English
2366 Little Big Man Thomas Berger 1964 American English
2367 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
2368 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2369 On Growth and Form D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson 1917 British English
2370 The Power of One Bryce Courtenay 1989 Australian English
2371 Happiness, as Such Natalia Ginzburg 1973 Italian Italian
2372 The Man Who Planted Trees Jean Giono 1953 French French
2373 The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald 1945 American English
2373 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2373 The Tales Of Hoffmann E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
2381 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2373 Put Out More Flags Evelyn Waugh 1942 British English
2373 South Wind Norman Douglas 1917 British English
2373 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2373 Roxana Daniel Defoe 1724 British English
2373 The Vatican Cellars André Gide 1914 French French
2382 Battle Cry of Freedom James M. McPherson 1988 American English
2383 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
2385 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2386 Viper’s Tangle François Mauriac 1932 French French
2387 Emil I Lönneberga Astrid Lindgren 1963 Swedish Swedish
2388 Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler 1988 American English
2389 It Can't Always Be Caviar Johannes Mario Simmel 1960 Austrian German
2390 The Wheel of Time Series Robert Jordan 1990 American English
2391 The Face of Battle John Keegan 1976 British English
2392 Beyond Sleep W.F. Hermans 1966 Dutch Dutch
2394 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 2005 American English
2395 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos 1989 American English
2396 Maurice Guest Henry Handel Richardson 1908 Australian English
2397 The Drowned and the Saved Primo Levi 1986 Italian Italian
2399 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
2400 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2401 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2402 The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens 1912 Irish English
2403 The Poems Of John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester John Wilmot 1680 British English
2404 The City Of Marvels Eduardo Mendoza 1986 Spanish Spanish
2405 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
2406 Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
2407 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2408 The Fight Norman Mailer 1975 American English
2409 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2411 The Fear Of Freedom Erich Fromm 1941 German English
2412 The Americanization of Edward Bok Edward Bok 1920 American English
2413 Loitering With Intent Muriel Spark 1981 British English
2414 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956 American English
2415 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
2416 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2417 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2418 The Age of Jackson Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1945 American English
2419 A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 1940 British English
2421 Natural Right and History Leo Strauss 1953 American English
2422 Phaedrus Plato -370 Greek Ancient greek
2423 Galileo Bertolt Brecht 1938 German German