The Greatest Western Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2824 Bint F. Bordewijk 1934 Dutch Dutch
2825 Lottie And Lisa Erich Kästner 1949 German German
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2827 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
2828 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2829 A Contract With God Will Eisner 1978 American English
2830 Alraune Hanns Heinz Ewers 1911 German German
2830 The Room In The Tower E. F. Benson 1912 British English
2830 The Listener And Other Stories Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
2833 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2834 The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag Robert A. Heinlein 1942 American English
2835 How to Cook a Wolf M. F. K. Fisher 1942 American English
2837 Kassandra And The Wolf Margarita Karapanou 1974 Greek Greek
2838 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
2839 Ashenden, Or, The British Agent W. Somerset Maugham 1928 British English
2841 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
2840 The Magician's Nephew C. S. Lewis 1955 British English
2842 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 American English
2843 The Book Of Ptath A. E. van Vogt 1943 American English
2844 Sisterhood Is Powerful Robin Morgan 1970 American English
2845 Things Georges Perec 1965 French French
2847 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2848 The Ghost Stories Of Edith Wharton Edith Wharton 1937 American English
2849 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2851 A Bullet In The Ballet Caryl Brahms &S. J. Simon 1937 British English
2852 The Counterlife Philip Roth 1986 American English
2854 The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge 1974 British English
2855 The Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
2856 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
2857 The Dog Of The South Charles Portis 1979 American English
2860 The Ghost Pirates William Hope Hodgson 1909 British English
2860 The Haunters And The Haunted Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1859 British English
2860 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Hanns Heinz Ewers 1910 German German
2860 Tales Of Wonder Matthew Lewis 1801 British English
2864 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
2866 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
2867 House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday 1968 American English
2868 Dead Zone Stephen King 1979 American English
2869 Strophic Poems Hadewijch 1250 Dutch Middle dutch
2870 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
2871 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman 1985 American English
2873 The Moral Essays Giacomo Leopardi 1832 Italian Italian
2874 The Horseman on the Roof Jean Giono 1951 French French
2877 The Patriot Antonio Fogazzaro 1906 Italian Italian
2878 Scouting For Boys Robert Baden-Powell 1908 British English
2879 The Comedy Of Errors William Shakespeare 1594 British English
2880 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1825 British English
2881 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
2882 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2884 The Busconductor Hines James Kelman 1984 British English
2883 Physics And Beyond Werner Heisenberg 1971 German German
2885 The Tragedy Of Y Ellery Queen 1932 American English
2886 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
2887 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2888 Hadji Murat Leo Tolstoy 1912 Russian Russian
2889 Olvidado Rey Gudú Ana María Matute 1996 Spanish Spanish
2890 The Traveller Oliver Goldsmith 1764 Irish English
2892 The Caretaker Harold Pinter 1960 British English
2893 Seven Days In New Crete Robert Graves 1949 British English
2893 Silverlock John Myers Myers 1949 American English
2896 Speculations About Jakob Uwe Johnson 1959 German German
2897 Indigo Beverly Jenkins 1996 American English
2898 Moneyball Michael M. Lewis 2003 American English
2899 A Private Affair Beppe Fenoglio 1963 Italian Italian
2900 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
2901 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2902 Waverley Sir Walter Scott 1814 British English
2903 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2904 Longsword, Earl Of Salisbury Thomas Leland 1762 Irish English
2904 Zofloya Charlotte Dacre 1806 British English
2904 The Return Walter de la Mare 1910 British English
2908 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2909 Villa Des Roses Willem Elsschot 1913 Belgian Dutch
2910 Ruth Elizabeth Gaskell 1853 British English
2912 Délie Maurice Scève 1544 French French
2912 A Simple Soul Gustave Flaubert 1877 French French
2912 The Odyssey Nikos Kazantzakis 1938 Greek Greek
2915 The Broken Sword Poul Anderson 1954 American English
2916 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
2917 Legend David Gemmell 1984 British English
2918 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 British English
2919 Barometer Rising Hugh MacLennan 1941 Canadian English
2920 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
2921 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
2922 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
2923 The African Queen C. S. Forester 1935 British English
2924 The Poems of Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1855 American English
2925 The Castle Of Iron L. Sprague de Camp 1950 American English
2927 The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson 1979 American English
2928 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2930 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
2931 Martian Time Slip Philip K. Dick 1964 American English
2932 The Compleat Werewolf And Other Stories Of Fantasy And Science Fiction Anthony Boucher 1969 American English
2933 On Overgrown Paths Knut Hamsun 1949 Norwegian Norwegian
2935 The Better Angels Of Our Nature Steven Pinker 2011 American English
2936 The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution C. P. Snow 1959 British English
2937 Jauche Und Levkojen Christine Brückner 1975 German German
2938 Best Ghost Stories Sheridan Le Fanu 1923 Irish English
2938 The Demon Lover Elizabeth Bowen 1927 British English
2938 Beyond The Wall Of Sleep H. P. Lovecraft 1919 American English
2938 The Ghost Book Cynthia Asquith 1926 British English
2938 Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker 1914 British English
2938 The Supernatural Omnibus Montague Summers 1931 British English
2938 Wandering Ghosts F. Marion Crawford 1911 American English
2938 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
2938 Visible And Invisible E. F. Benson 1923 British English
2947 Sighs And Smiles François Haverschmidt 1867 Dutch Dutch
2948 Eva Trout Elizabeth Bowen 1968 Irish English
2949 Redwall Brian Jacques 1986 British English
2950 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2951 Nevsky Prospekt Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
2952 Exit, Voice, And Loyalty Albert Hirschman 1970 American English
2953 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2954 The Dark Country Dennis Etchison 1981 American English
2956 Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels 1996 Canadian English
2958 The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky 1902 Russian Russian
2959 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
2960 Jefferson and His Time Dumas Malone 1948 American English
2961 Prison Notebooks Antonio Gramsci 1948 Italian Italian
2962 Au Bonheur Des Dames Émile Zola 1883 French French