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
2554 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
2558 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2560 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2561 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2562 Segu Maryse Condé 1984 French French
2564 The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Edmund Husserl 1936 German German
2565 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2566 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2567 The Caves Of Steel Isaac Asimov 1954 American English
2568 Poesías Completas Antonio Machado 1940 Spanish Spanish
2569 Apologia Pro Vita Sua John Henry Newman 1864 British English
2569 The Idea Of A University John Henry Newman 1852 British English
2569 In Matto's Realm Friedrich Glauser 1936 Swiss German
2572 Childhood Nathalie Sarraute 1983 French French
2573 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2574 Lad Albert Payson Terhune 1919 American English
2575 The Hedgehog and the Fox Isaiah Berlin 1953 British English
2576 Patriotic Gore Edmund Wilson 1962 American English
2577 The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 Anaïs Nin 1966 French English
2578 Complete Poems E. E. Cummings 1960 American English
2579 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
2581 Trial And Error Anthony Berkeley 1937 British English
2582 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2583 Good Behaviour Molly Keane 1981 Irish English
2584 Dawn Octavia E. Butler 1987 American English
2585 Bokhandlaren som slutade bada Fritiof Nilsson Piraten 1937 Swedish Swedish
2587 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2586 A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn 1980 American English
2588 Red Shift Alan Garner 1973 British English
2589 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
2590 Sir Charles Grandison Samuel Richardson 1753 British English
2591 The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway 1989 British English
2592 Emily of New Moon L. M. Montgomery 1923 Canadian English
2593 The Gods Of Pegana Lord Dunsany 1905 Irish English
2595 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2596 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2597 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2598 A Fringe Of Leaves Patrick White 1976 Australian English
2601 Out Of The Silent Planet C. S. Lewis 1938 British English
2602 Darkness Visible William Styron 1990 American English
2603 Regarding the Pain of Others Susan Sontag 2003 American English
2604 The Wars Timothy Findley 1977 Canadian English
2606 Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 1985 American English
2607 Poems And Prose Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1797 British English
2608 Heavy Kiese Laymon 2018 American English
2609 The Gambler Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
2610 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French
2611 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
2612 The Winter's Tale William Shakespeare 1623 British English
2613 Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant U. S. Grant 1885 American English
2613 Book of Common Prayer Thomas Cranmer 1549 British English
2615 The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare 1600 British English
2616 The Rise Of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells 1885 American English
2618 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2619 The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker 1988 American English
2621 The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain 1881 American English
2622 Main Currents in American Thought Vernon L. Parrington 1927 American English
2624 Collected Writings Ambrose Bierce 1909 American English
2625 The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell 1949 American English
2626 The Captain's Daughter Alexander Pushkin 1836 Russian Russian
2627 Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty 2013 French French
2628 Selected Plays of George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw 1976 Irish English
2629 Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann 1966 American English
2630 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
2631 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
2632 Old Glory Jonathan Raban 1981 British English
2633 AA Big Book Bill W 1939 American English
2634 Tripmaster Monkey Maxine Hong Kingston 1989 American English
2635 Logical Investigations Edmund Husserl 1900 German German
2636 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
2637 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2638 The Adventures of Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey 1997 American English
2639 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
2640 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
2641 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2642 The Power Naomi Alderman 2016 British English
2643 Perpetual Peace Immanuel Kant 1795 German German
2644 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
2645 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
2646 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
2648 The ABC of Reading Ezra Pound 1934 American English
2649 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
2650 The House of Scorta Laurent Gaudé 2004 French French
2651 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie 2007 American English
2652 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2653 Sleepless Nights Elizabeth Hardwick 1979 American English
2654 Suicide Emile Durkheim 1897 French French
2657 Ariel Sylvia Plath 1965 American English
2658 The Daughter Pavlos Matesis 1990 Greek Greek
2659 Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse 1973 American English
2660 The Women's Room Marilyn French 1977 American English
2662 Daughters of Fire Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
2663 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2664 Debit And Credit Gustav Freytag 1855 German German
2665 The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle 1912 British English
2666 The Mismeasure of Man Stephen Jay Gould 1981 American English
2667 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin 1987 British English
2668 The Chrysalids John Wyndham 1955 Canadian English
2669 Sailing Alone Around the World Joshua Slocum 1900 Canadian English
2670 This Boy's Life Tobias Wolff 1989 American English
2671 Webster's Dictionary Noah Webster 1828 American English
2672 The Mysteries Of Paris Eugène Sue 1842 French French
2673 Autobiographies William Butler Yeats 1926 Irish English
2674 Microbe Hunters Paul de Kruif 1926 American English
2675 The Mountain Lion Jean Stafford 1947 American English
2676 Deep Water Patricia Highsmith 1957 American English
2677 Anne Of The Island L. M. Montgomery 1915 Canadian English
2679 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2678 The Vampyre John William Polidori 1819 British English
2680 Generation X Douglas Coupland 1991 Canadian English
2681 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2683 Twilight Stephenie Meyer 2005 American English
2684 Calamity Town Ellery Queen 1942 American English
2685 Selected Plays of Henrick Ibsen Henrik Ibsen 1900 Norwegian Norwegian
2686 The Managerial Revolution James Burnham 1941 American English
2687 Prince Caspian C. S. Lewis 1951 British English
2689 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
2690 Dependency Tove Ditlevsen 1971 Danish Danish
2691 Childhood Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
2692 The Book Of Margery Kempe Margery Kempe 1436 British Middle english