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
5406 I Love Dick Chris Kraus 1997 American English
5407 A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra 2013 American English
5408 Melancholy Jon Fosse 1995 Norwegian Norwegian
5409 Last Days of Summer Steve Kluger 1998 American English
5410 The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy 1986 American English
5411 Captain Alatriste Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1996 Spanish Spanish
5412 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
5413 Bad Science Ben Goldacre 2008 British English
5413 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5416 The Brodeck Report Philippe Claudel 2007 French French
5420 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5421 What The Dead Know Laura Lippman 2007 American English
5423 The City And The Pillar Gore Vidal 1948 American English
5424 Religion And The Decline Of Magic Keith Thomas 1971 British English
5425 Glorious Exploits Ferdia Lennon 2024 Irish English
5426 At Night All Blood Is Black David Diop 2018 French French
5428 Squire Haggard's Journal Michael Green 1975 British English
5428 Venus On The Half Shell Philip José Farmer 1975 American English
5428 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5428 Hello Summer, Goodbye Michael G. Coney 1975 British English
5428 The Machine Gunners Robert Westall 1975 British English
5433 The House At Old Vine Norah Lofts 1961 British English
5435 The Office J.J. Voskuil 1996 Dutch Dutch
5436 Death On The Ice Cassie Brown 1972 Canadian English
5439 The Andy Warhol Diaries Andy Warhol 1989 American English
5437 Communism In Spain In The Franco Era Jorge Semprún 1980 Spanish Spanish
5438 The Black Echo Michael Connelly 1992 American English
5441 Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1968 French Unknown
5446 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson 2010 American English
5447 The bells of Bicêtre Georges Simenon 1963 Belgian French
5447 The Burn Vassily Aksyonov 1975 Russian Russian
5447 The Politics of Ecstasy Timothy Leary 1968 American English
5447 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5447 Così Parlò Bellavista Luciano De Crescenzo 1977 Italian Italian
5456 Ballad of the Salt Sea Hugo Pratt 1967 Italian Italian
5457 Mercy Among The Children David Adams Richards 2000 Canadian English
5458 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5459 Angels And Spaceships Fredric Brown 1954 American English
5460 The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom 2019 American English
5461 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5464 Gift Of Gold Jayne Ann Krentz 1988 American English
5465 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
5466 In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields Bernard-Marie Koltès 1986 French French
5468 L'étrange Destin De Wangrin Amadou Hampâté Bâ 1973 French French
5467 Six Days Of The Condor James Grady 1974 American English
5469 The Birthday Boys Beryl Bainbridge 1991 British English
5470 Markings Dag Hammarskjöld 1963 Swedish Swedish
5470 And There Was Light Jacques Lusseyran 1963 French French
5473 The Unicorn Iris Murdoch 1963 British English
5474 Working Studs Terkel 1974 American English
5476 Inherit The Stars James P. Hogan 1977 American English
5477 Fado Alexandrino António Lobo Antunes 1983 Portuguese Portuguese
5477 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5479 Strumpet City James Plunkett 1969 Irish English
5480 The Ministry For the Future Kim Stanley Robinson 2020 American English
5481 The Inferno Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
5484 The Ants E. O. Wilson, Bert Hölldobler 1990 American English
5482 The House At Sunset Norah Lofts 1962 British English
5485 Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty 2014 Australian English
5486 Sillabari Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
5487 Body Rags Galway Kinnell 1968 American English
5487 Dark symphony James A. Emanuel (Comp), Theodore L. Gross 1968 American English
5490 The Slap Christos Tsiolkas 2008 Australian English
5491 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 American English
5492 The Lost Daniel Mendelsohn 2006 American English
5493 Royally Screwed Emma Chase 2016 American English
5495 Unsafe At Any Speed Ralph Nader 1965 American English
5494 All Creatures Great And Small James Herriot 1972 British English
5496 Signs Of Fire Jorge de Sena 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
5497 Ethnic America Thomas Sowell 1981 American English
5499 After the Flood P. C. Jersild 1982 Swedish Swedish
5498 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald 1971 American English
5500 Over Sea, Under Stone Susan Cooper 1965 British English
5501 Steps To An Ecology Of Mind Gregory Bateson 1972 American English
5507 Seven Days In June Tia Williams 2021 American English
5501 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5501 Does God Exist? Hans Küng 1978 German German
5501 The Trip To Panama Janosch 1978 German German
5508 Always Come Evening Robert E. Howard 1957 American English
5510 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5511 The Visit Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1956 Swiss German
5512 Riders In The Chariot Patrick White 1961 Australian English
5513 The Shadow Over Innsmouth H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
5514 Hell House Richard Matheson 1971 American English
5515 Journal Of A Soul Pope John XXIII 1964 Italian Italian
5517 Dolores Claiborne Stephen King 1992 American English
5518 The Willows Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
5520 Lost Worlds Clark Ashton Smith 1944 American English
5520 Sleep No More August Derleth 1944 American English
5522 The Logic of Scientific Discovery Karl Popper 1934 Austrian German
5523 Mao's China And After Maurice Meisner 1977 American English
5524 A Humument Tom Phillips 1970 British English
5525 Poems Of Francis Thompson Francis Thompson 1893 British English
5526 Not After Midnight Daphne du Maurier 1971 British English
5527 Tales Of The Black Widowers Isaac Asimov 1974 American English
5528 The Rise And Fall Of The Third Chimpanzee Jared Diamond 1991 American English
5529 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store James McBride 2023 American English
5568 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5530 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5530 Lovci Mamutů Eduard Štorch 1918 Czech Czech
5530 Podivné Přátelství Herce Jesenia Ivan Olbracht 1962 Czech Czech
5530 Velbloud Uchem Jehl František Langer 1923 Czech Czech
5530 Summer Of Caprice Vladislav Vančura 1926 Czech Czech
5530 S Lodí, Jež Dováží čaj A Kávu Konstantin Biebl 1928 Czech Czech
5530 The Sufferings Of Prince Sternenhoch Ladislav Klíma 1928 Czech Czech
5530 Povídání O Pejskovi A Kočičce Josef Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
5530 Kohout Plaší Smrt František Halas 1930 Czech Czech
5530 Marketa Lazarová Vladislav Vančura 1931 Czech Czech
5530 Caesar Jan Werich, Jiří Voskovec 1932 Czech Czech
5530 Nikola The Outlaw Ivan Olbracht 1933 Czech Czech
5530 Zapomenuté Světlo Jakub Deml 1934 Czech Czech
5530 Balada Z Hadrů Jan Werich, Jiří Voskovec 1935 Czech Czech
5530 The White Disease Karel Čapek 1937 Czech Czech
5530 Torzo Naděje František Halas 1939 Czech Czech
5530 Cesta K Mrazu Jiří Orten 1941 Czech Czech
5530 Cirkus Humberto Eduard Bass 1941 Czech Czech
5530 Saturnin Zdeněk Jirotka 1942 Czech Czech
5530 Říkejte Si Se Mnou František Hrubín 1943 Czech Czech
5530 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech