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
3239 Hms Ulysses Alistair MacLean 1955 Scottish English
3240 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
3241 Sweet Dreams Michael Frayn 1973 British English
3242 The Great Bridge David McCullough 1972 American English
3243 Death Is My Trade Robert Merle 1952 French French
3244 The Thurber Carnival James Thurber 1945 American English
3245 Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau 1849 American English
3246 The Transcendent Unity Of Religions Frithjof Schuon 1953 French French
3247 A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder James De Mille 1888 Canadian English
3248 Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz Cardinal de Retz 1717 French French
3249 A Distant Mirror Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1978 American English
3250 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
3251 Lost in the Cosmos Walker Percy 1983 American English
3252 Endless Love Scott Spencer 1979 American English
3253 Dwellers In The Mirage A. Merritt 1932 American English
3254 All Hallows' Eve Charles Williams 1945 British English
3255 The Book Of Three Lloyd Alexander 1964 American English
3256 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
3257 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
3258 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
3259 A Fine And Private Place Peter S. Beagle 1960 American English
3260 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3261 The Perfect Storm Sebastian Junger 1997 American English
3263 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3264 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
3266 Old Mortality Sir Walter Scott 1816 Scottish English
3265 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3267 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
3269 The Girl, The Gold Watch And Everything John D. MacDonald 1962 American English
3270 The Twins Tessa De Loo 1993 Dutch Dutch
3271 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3273 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3274 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
3276 The Complete Plays of Jean Racine Jean Racine 1677 French French
3277 The Polish Rider Antonio Muñoz Molina 1991 Spanish Spanish
3278 Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 1992 American English
3279 Holy Week Louis Aragon 1958 French French
3281 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3282 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
3283 The Blank Slate Steven Pinker 2002 American English
3284 What Is Life? Erwin Schrödinger 1944 Austrian English
3286 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3288 Stories of Washington Irving Washington Irving 1820 American English
3287 The Aspern Papers Henry James 1888 American English
3290 Candida George Bernard Shaw 1898 Irish English
3291 On Being And Essence Thomas Aquinas 1256 Italian Latin
3292 Bérénice Jean Racine 1670 French French
3293 The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac 1958 American English
3294 Looking Backward, 2000 1887 Edward Bellamy 1888 American English
3295 Sonnets Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3296 Cyropaedia Xenophon -370 Greek Ancient greek
3299 The Gallic War And Other Writings Gaius Julius Caesar -58 Roman Latin
3300 The Works Of Philodemus Philodemus -50 Greek Greek
3301 The Red Record Ida B. Wells 1895 American English
3303 The Cocktail Party T. S. Eliot 1950 British English
3304 Personal Recollections Of Joan Of Arc Mark Twain 1896 American English
3305 The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkien 1977 British English
3306 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
3307 The Amber Witch Wilhelm Meinhold 1838 German German
3308 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch 1968 American English
3309 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3310 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1942 American English
3311 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
3312 Into The Heart Of Borneo Redmond O'Hanlon 1984 British English
3313 Roughing It Mark Twain 1872 American English
3314 Satires Juvenal 100 Roman Latin
3315 The Afternoon of Monsieur Andesmas Marguerite Duras 1962 French French
3316 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3319 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
3321 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3323 Confusion Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
3322 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3324 Tirant Lo Blanc Joanot Martorell 1490 Spanish Catalan
3324 Thomas of Reading, Or, The Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West Thomas Deloney 1599 British English
3324 The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda Miguel de Cervantes 1617 Spanish Spanish
3324 Love in Excess; or, The Fatal Enquiry Eliza Haywood 1719 British English
3324 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Scriblerus Club 1741 British English
3324 The Female Quixote Charlotte Lennox 1752 British English
3324 Reveries of a Solitary Walker Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
3324 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
3324 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
3324 Torrents of Spring Ivan Turgenev 1872 Russian Russian
3324 Pepita Jimenez Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano 1874 Spanish Spanish
3324 By the Open Sea August Strindberg 1890 Swedish Swedish
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
3324 Sandokan Emilio Salgari 1883 Italian Italian
3324 None but the Brave Arthur Schnitzler 1895 Austrian German
3324 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3324 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
3324 Impressions of Africa Raymond Roussel 1910 French French
3324 Tarr Wyndham Lewis 1918 British English
3324 Life and Death of Harriett Frean May Sinclair 1922 British English
3324 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3324 I Thought of Daisy Edmund Wilson 1929 American English
3324 The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis 1930 British English
3324 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
3324 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3324 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
3324 Eyeless in Gaza Aldous Huxley 1936 British English
3324 Summer Will Show Sylvia Townsend Warner 1936 British English
3324 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3324 The Living and the Dead Patrick White 1941 Australian English
3324 The Harvesters Cesare Pavese 1941 Italian Unknown
3324 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
3324 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
3324 The Tin Flute Gabrielle Roy 1945 Canadian French
3324 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3324 House in the Uplands Erskine Caldwell 1946 American English
3324 Journey to the Alcarria Camilo José Cela 1948 Spanish Spanish
3324 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French
3324 The Guiltless Hermann Broch 1950 Austrian German
3324 Asphodel Hilda Doolittle 1921 American English
3324 Forever a Stranger Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
3371 Fable Of Polyphemus And Galatea Luis de Góngora 1627 Spanish Spanish
3372 The Nazi And The Barber Edgar Hilsenrath 1971 German German
3373 The Green Child Herbert Read 1935 British English
3375 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
3374 A Man's Place Annie Ernaux 1983 French French
3376 Le Cid Pierre Corneille 1637 French French