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
6528 The Painter Of Battles Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2006 Spanish Spanish
6528 Letters To Olga Vaclav Havel 1983 Czech Czech
6532 Kit's Law Donna Morrissey 1999 Canadian English
6533 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
6534 La Gloria Giuseppe Berto 1978 Italian Italian
6535 Modern Fantasy C. N. Manlove 1975 British English
6535 The Fog James Herbert 1975 British English
6537 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
6537 Hunger Roxane Gay 2017 American English
6539 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6540 Black Feminist Thought Patricia Hill Collins 1990 American English
6541 Hold Still Sally Mann 2015 American English
6546 Ride This Night Vilhelm Moberg 1941 Swedish Swedish
6544 Collected Poems Les A. Murray 1991 Australian English
6543 Voyage Of The Iceberg Richard Brown 1983 Canadian English
6547 The Boarded Window Ambrose Bierce 1891 American English
6548 A Great Deliverance Elizabeth George 1988 American English
6548 Children Of The Arbat Anatoli Rybakov 1988 Russian Russian
6548 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6548 Kindheit In Ostpreußen Marion Gräfin Dönhoff 1988 German German
6553 The Quilts Of Gee's Bend William Arnett, Alvia Wardlaw, Jane Livingston, John Beardsley 2002 American English
6554 The Bottom Of The Harbor Joseph Mitchell 1959 American English
6556 Žmogus, Kuris Miega Georges Perec 1967 French French
6558 Hernani Victor Hugo 1830 French French
6559 Prep Curtis Sittenfeld 2005 American English
6560 The Wind Eye Robert Westall 1973 British English
6561 The Tortilla Curtain T. Coraghessan Boyle 1995 American English
6562 Nights Below Station Street David Adams Richards 1988 Canadian English
6563 A Castle Of Bone Penelope Farmer 1972 British English
6566 Songs And Sonnets Atlantean Donald Sidney-Fryer 1971 American English
6568 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
6569 Nice Work David Lodge 1988 British English
6569 Toxic Shock Sara Paretsky 1988 American English
6571 The Illearth War Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
6571 Silver On The Tree Susan Cooper 1977 British English
6573 Zothique Clark Ashton Smith 1970 American English
6574 Combats Pour L'histoire Lucien Febvre 1953 French French
6575 Phenomenology Of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1945 French French
6576 Ingrid Caven Jean-Jacques Schuhl 2000 French French
6577 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
6579 Venice Jan Morris 1960 British English
6578 Indian Horse Richard Wagamese 2012 Canadian English
6580 Zuckerman Bound Philip Roth 1985 American English
6581 So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away Richard Brautigan 1982 American English
6583 Hardball Sara Paretsky 2009 American English
6584 Mrs. Caliban Rachel Ingalls 1982 American English
6585 Kvartetten Som Sprängdes Birger Sjöberg 1924 Swedish Swedish
6586 Women Philippe Sollers 1983 French French
6586 Im Bach Des Wals Paul Nizon 1983 Swiss German
6590 American Shaolin Matthew Polly 2007 American English
6589 The Works Of Johannes Bobrowski Johannes Bobrowski 1969 German German
6591 The Story Of Bobby O'malley Wayne Johnston 1985 Canadian English
6592 A Touch Of Frost R. D. Wingfield 1987 British English
6593 The Queen's Gambit Walter Tevis 1983 American English
6594 Centuria Giorgio Manganelli 1979 Italian Italian
6595 The Rape Of Nanking Iris Chang 1997 American English
6596 The Invention Of Nature Andrea Wulf 2015 German English
6597 Flood Robert Penn Warren 1964 American Unknown
6598 Long Island Colm Toibin 2024 Irish Unknown
6599 Benjamin Franklin Carl Van Doren 1938 American English
6602 The Rose Of Tibet Lionel Davidson 1962 British English
6601 A Guide For The Perplexed E. F. Schumacher 1977 British English
6603 Collected Stories Elizabeth Bowen 1980 Irish English
6604 I Wonder As I Wander Langston Hughes 1956 American English
6605 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
6606 Pavilion Of Women Pearl S. Buck 1946 American English
6607 Still Life Louise Penny 2005 Canadian English
6608 The Anomaly Hervé Le Tellier 2020 French French
6609 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
6610 The Collected Strange Stories Of Robert Aickman Robert Aickman 1999 British English
6611 The Russian Revolution Richard Pipes 1990 American English
6612 Hidden Valley Road Robert Kolker 2020 American English
6613 Gorillas In The Mist Dian Fossey 1983 American English
6614 Lars Hård Jan Fridegård 1935 Swedish Swedish
6615 The Game Of The Impossible W. R. Irwin 1976 American Unknown
6616 The Poetics Of Space Gaston Bachelard 1958 French French
6617 Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds 2000 British English
6619 The Struggle For Mastery In Europe A. J. P. Taylor 1954 British English
6618 Redeeming Love Francine Rivers 1991 American English
6620 Sea Of Slaughter Farley Mowat 1984 Canadian English
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6623 Looking For The Possible Dance A. L. Kennedy 1993 British English
6623 Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light Ivan Klima 1993 Czech Czech
6623 The Invention of Curried Sausage Uwe Timm 1993 German German
6623 The Life of Insects Victor Pelevin 1993 Russian Russian
6629 Checkmate Dorothy Dunnett 1975 British English
6629 Csárdás Diane Pearson 1975 British English
6629 No Man's Land Harold Pinter 1975 British English
6623 A General Theory Of Love Thomas Lewis 2000 American English
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6634 Land Of Wooden Gods Jan Fridegård 1932 Swedish Swedish
6635 Theatre, The Rediscovery Of Style Michel Saint-Denis 1960 French English
6632 Confessions Jaume Cabré 2011 Spanish Catalan
6637 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6637 Life With Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1983 British English
6637 Savannah Bay Marguerite Duras 1983 French French
6637 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6637 The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1983 French French
6637 The Ruin Of Kasch Roberto Calasso 1983 Italian Italian
6637 The Stadium Of Wimbledon Daniele del Giudice 1983 Italian Italian
6645 It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want To Be Paul Arden 2003 British English
6646 Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 1996 American English
6647 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek
6650 Nine Rules To Break When Romancing A Rake Sarah MacLean 2010 American English
6651 Tratado das Paixões da Alma António Lobo Antunes 1990 Portuguese Portuguese
6652 Fail Safe Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler 1962 American English
6655 Invisible Child Andrea Elliott 2021 American English
6656 Guest Of Reality Par Lagerkvist 1925 Swedish Swedish
6657 A Dream In Polar Fog Yuri Rytkheu 2005 Russian Russian
6661 Mendeleyev's Dream Paul Strathern 2000 British English
6657 Organon Of The Rational Art Of Healing Samuel Hahnemann 1989 German German
6657 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6657 Aus Dem Wörterbuch Des Unmenschen Dolf Sternberger 1989 German German
6662 You Caroline Kepnes 2014 American English
6663 Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 American English
6664 How The Word Is Passed Clint Smith 2021 American English
6665 Crying In H Mart Michelle Zauner 2021 American English
6666 The Gashlycrumb Tinies Edward Gorey 1963 American English
6667 Magorovy Labutí Písně Ivan Martin Jirous 1985 Czech Czech
6671 Future Shock Alvin Toffler 1980 American English