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
2964 The History Man Malcolm Bradbury 1975 British English
2967 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2965 The Erasers Alain Robbe-Grillet 1953 French French
2966 In A Dark Wood Wandering Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
2968 Kane and Abel Jeffrey Archer 1979 British English
2969 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2970 The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman 2000 British English
2971 The Steppe Anton Chekhov 1888 Russian Russian
2972 Collected Ghost Stories G. Oliver Onions 1935 British English
2974 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
2975 The Female Man Joanna Russ 1975 American English
2976 Penrod Booth Tarkington 1914 American English
2977 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 American English
2979 The Demon Mikhail Lermontov 1829 Russian Russian
2978 My Friends Emmanuel Bove 1924 French French
2980 Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 American English
2981 The Man of Property John Galsworthy 1906 British English
2982 The Life And Loves Of A She Devil Fay Weldon 1983 British English
2984 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
2985 The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice 1985 American English
2986 Friday Michel Tournier 1967 French French
2987 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
2988 Two Solitudes Hugh MacLennan 1945 Canadian English
2989 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
2990 The Robber Hotzenplotz Otfried Preußler 1962 German German
2991 The Tale Of Igor's Campaign Unknown 1187 Russian Old east slavic
2992 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 American English
2994 Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1910 British English
2995 The Doors Of Perception Aldous Huxley 1954 British English
2997 Childhood Leo Tolstoy 1852 Russian Russian
2998 Staying On Paul Scott 1977 British English
2999 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
3000 Poor Folk Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
3001 The Rise of the West William H. McNeill 1963 American English
3002 Monsignor Quixote Graham Greene 1982 British English
3003 The Savage Mind Claude Lévi-Strauss 1962 French French
3004 The Tragedy Of X Ellery Queen 1932 American English
3005 The Monkey's Wrench Primo Levi 1978 Italian Italian
3006 Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini 1921 Italian English
3007 Hideous Kinky Esther Freud 1992 British English
3008 Camera Lucida Roland Barthes 1980 French French
3010 The Octopus Frank Norris 1901 American English
3011 Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson 1988 American English
3013 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
3014 The Game Of Kings Dorothy Dunnett 1961 British English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3016 The American Henry James 1877 American English
3017 The House With A Clock In Its Walls John Bellairs 1973 American English
3018 The Old Men At The Zoo Angus Wilson 1961 British English
3019 Dark Of The Moon August Derleth 1947 American English
3020 Before Lunch Angela Thirkell 1939 British English
3022 The Echoing Grove Rosamond Lehmann 1953 British English
3022 The Tortoise And The Hare Elizabeth Jenkins 1936 British English
3022 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
3022 The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray 1844 British English
3022 Queen Lucia E. F. Benson 1920 British English
3022 Diary Of A Provincial Lady E. M. Delafield 1930 British English
3022 Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House Eric Hodgkins 1946 American English
3022 Pictures From An Institution Randall Jarrell 1954 American English
3022 Whisky Galore Compton Mackenzie 1947 British English
3021 The Ministry Of Fear Graham Greene 1943 British English
3022 The Madman Of Bergerac Georges Simenon 1932 Belgian French
3022 An Infamous Army Georgette Heyer 1937 British English
3022 Captain Blood Rafael Sabatini 1922 British English
3034 Novel on Yellow Paper Stevie Smith 1936 British English
3035 The Crab With The Golden Claws Hergé 1941 Belgian French
3036 Less Than Angels Barbara Pym 1955 British English
3038 Heavy Weather P. G. Wodehouse 1933 British English
3039 The Snow Goose Paul Gallico 1941 British English
3042 The Good Companions J. B. Priestley 1929 British English
3042 England, Their England A. G. Macdonell 1933 British English
3042 South Riding Winifred Holtby 1936 British English
3042 East Lynne Ellen Wood 1861 British English
3041 Baron Munchausen's Narrative Of His Marvelous Travels And Campaigns In Russia Rudolf Erich Raspe 1785 German German
3042 The Great Impersonation E. Phillips Oppenheim 1920 British English
3042 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers 1923 British English
3040 Manservant And Maidservant Ivy Compton-Burnett 1947 British English
3048 Three Hearts And Three Lions Poul Anderson 1953 American English
3051 Centennial James A. Michener 1974 American English
3052 Our Town Thornton Wilder 1938 American English
3053 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston 2019 American English
3054 National Episodes Benito Pérez Galdós 1873 Spanish Spanish
3056 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
3055 The Sinful Ones Fritz Leiber 1953 American English
3057 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3058 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3059 Advise and Consent Allen Drury 1959 American English
3061 Ratking Michael Dibdin 1988 British English
3062 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3063 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
3064 The Language Instinct Steven Pinker 1994 American English
3065 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3066 Three Guineas Virginia Woolf 1938 British English
3067 Montaillou Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 1975 French French
3068 Tintin In Tibet Hergé 1960 Belgian French
3069 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3070 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3071 Fearful Pleasures A. E. Coppard 1946 British English
3071 Kecksies And Other Twilight Tales Marjorie Bowen 1946 British English
3073 The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer 1968 American English
3074 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
3075 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3076 One Writer's Beginnings Eudora Welty 1984 American English
3078 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3081 Waiting For Lefty Clifford Odets 1935 American English
3084 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 1930 British English
3083 Under the Skin Michel Faber 2000 British English
3082 Flappers And Philosophers F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3085 Diane Arbus Marvin Israel, Doon Arbus 1972 American English
3086 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey 1968 American English
3087 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3088 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3090 Factory Girls Leslie T. Chang 2008 American English
3091 On Death and Dying Elisabeth Kübler-Ross 1969 Swiss English
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3093 The Travelling Grave L. P. Hartley 1948 British English
3094 Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers Tom Wolfe 1970 American English
3095 We're Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen 1989 British English
3096 Dogeaters Jessica Hagedorn 1990 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English