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
3099 Why We Can't Wait Martin Luther King 1964 American English
3100 Ball Four Jim Bouton 1970 American English
3103 Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart 2010 American English
3104 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3105 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie 1984 American English
3106 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3107 The Adventures Of Cipollino Gianni Rodari 1951 Italian Italian
3108 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Douglas Adams 1987 British English
3109 Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche 1886 German German
3110 The Warden Anthony Trollope 1855 British English
3111 Anagrams Lorrie Moore 1986 American English
3112 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
3113 The Life of Andrew Jackson Marquis James 1937 American English
3114 Foster Claire Keegan 2010 Irish English
3115 Affinity Sarah Waters 1999 British English
3116 Principia Ethica George Edward Moore 1903 British English
3117 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
3119 Sessanta Racconti Dino Buzzati 1958 Italian Italian
3120 The Mortal Wound Raffaele La Capria 1961 Italian Italian
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3124 Cover Her Face P. D. James 1962 British English
3125 Undine Baron Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué 1811 German German
3126 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
3127 The Screwtape Letters C. S. Lewis 1942 British English
3128 Attis And Other Poems Catullus -53 Roman Latin
3129 Mr. Weston's Good Wine T. F. Powys 1927 British English
3130 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
3131 Little Nicholas Rene Goscinny 1959 French French
3133 Intruder in the Dust William Faulkner 1948 American English
3134 Daddy Long Legs Jean Webster 1912 American English
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3137 The Keep F. Paul Wilson 1981 American English
3138 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
3139 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
3140 Great Heart James West Davidson, John Rugge 1988 American English
3141 Als Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir Carl Zuckmayer 1966 German German
3142 The Shrinking Man Richard Matheson 1956 American English
3143 The Cask Freeman Wills Crofts 1920 British English
3145 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
3146 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
3147 Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons 1989 American English
3148 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3149 Chronicles Jean Froissart 1370 French Middle french
3150 Malevil Robert Merle 1972 French French
3151 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
3152 The Complete Poems Of San Juan De La Cruz San Juan de la Cruz 1618 Spanish Spanish
3153 Dark Forces Kirby McCauley 1980 American English
3154 We Are For The Dark Robert Aickman 1951 British English
3155 Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin 1955 American English
3157 The Honorary Consul Graham Greene 1973 British English
3156 The Castafiore Emerald Hergé 1963 Belgian French
3158 The Flounder Günter Grass 1977 German German
3159 Nine Princes In Amber Roger Zelazny 1970 American English
3160 Who Made Stevie Crye? Michael Bishop 1984 American English
3161 Weights And Measures Joseph Roth 1937 Austrian German
3163 Fierce Attachments Vivian Gornick 1987 American English
3164 Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 2014 American English
3165 Gender Trouble Judith Butler 1990 American English
3166 Red Moon and Black Mountain Joy Chant 1970 British English
3167 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1988 American English
3169 North Seamus Heaney 1975 Irish English
3170 Hitchcock Francois Truffaut 1966 French French
3171 The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell 2000 American English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3175 My Early Life Winston Churchill 1930 British English
3175 Spring And All William Carlos Williams 1923 American English
3175 The Thirtieth Year Ingeborg Bachmann 1961 Austrian German
3178 Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood 2017 American English
3179 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3181 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3182 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3184 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3185 Moon Palace Paul Auster 1989 American English
3186 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
3186 Eothen Alexander William Kinglake 1844 British English
3188 City, Sister, Silver Jáchym Topol 1994 Czech Czech
3189 The Judas Window Carter Dickson 1938 British English
3190 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
3192 The Age of Reason Thomas Paine 1794 British English
3193 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
3194 The Best And The Brightest David Halberstam 1972 American English
3195 The Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas 1974 American English
3196 The Crock Of Gold James Stephens 1912 Irish English
3199 Mao II Don DeLillo 1991 American English
3201 The Perennial Philosophy Aldous Huxley 1945 British English
3200 Story Of A Soul Thérèse of Lisieux 1898 French French
3202 The Pillar And Ground Of The Truth Pavel Florensky 1914 Russian Russian
3203 Trap For Cinderella Sebastien Japrisot 1963 French French
3204 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby 1992 British English
3206 The Prize Daniel Yergin 1991 American English
3207 Submission Michel Houellebecq 2015 French French
3208 Travels With My Aunt Graham Greene 1969 British English
3210 The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton 1943 British English
3209 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
3212 Betty Blue Philippe Djian 1985 French French
3213 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3215 The Forgotten Beasts Of Eld Patricia A. McKillip 1974 American English
3216 The Year of the Hare Arto Paasilinna 1975 Finnish Finnish
3217 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3219 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
3220 The American Cinema Andrew Sarris 1968 American English
3221 Aphrodite Pierre Louÿs 1896 French French
3222 Ecce Homo Friedrich Nietzsche 1908 German German
3223 Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder Lawrence Weschler 1995 American English
3224 Forever Flowing Vasily Grossman 1970 Russian Russian
3225 The Driver's Seat Muriel Spark 1970 British English
3226 Much Ado about Nothing William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3227 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3229 Phantastes George McDonald 1858 British English
3230 Growing Up Absurd Paul Goodman 1960 American English
3231 This Bridge Called My Back Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa 1981 American English
3232 The Strategy Of Conflict Thomas Schelling 1960 American English
3234 Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner 2005 American English
3235 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3236 The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble 1987 British English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English