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
8550 Monster Walter Dean Myers 1999 American English
8550 Down Under Bill Bryson 2000 American English
8555 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8552 Forbidden Beverly Jenkins 2016 American English
8558 Word And Object Willard Van Orman Quine 1960 American English
8557 The Woodwitch Stephen Gregory 1988 British English
8559 The Tall Man Chloe Hooper 2008 Australian English
8562 Under The Banner Of Heaven Jon Krakauer 2003 American English
8563 Beautiful Swimmers William Warner 1976 American English
8565 Open Lisa Moore 2002 Canadian English
8568 Witness Jamel Brinkley 2023 American English
8569 Ghost Wars Steve Coll 2004 American English
8569 Slavery by Another Name Douglas A. Blackmon 2008 American English
8572 The Cultural Contradictions Of Capitalism Daniel Bell 1976 American English
8572 The Joyless Economy Tibor Scitovsky 1976 American English
8575 Fear Itself Ira Katznelson 2013 American English
8577 Deviations Gayle Rubin 2011 American English
8576 Let The Trumpet Sound Stephen B. Oates 1982 American English
8579 Witchmark C. L. Polk 2018 Canadian English
8583 John Wesley's Sermons Albert C. Outler 1991 American English
8585 The Last Of The Vikings Johan Bojer 1921 Norwegian Norwegian
8585 The Road To Calvary Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy 1921 Russian Russian
8588 The Accidental Indies Robert Finley 2000 Canadian English
8591 Sold Patricia McCormick 2006 American English
8590 Jack Ulf Lundell 1976 Swedish Swedish
8589 The Postcard Anne Berest 2021 French French
8594 The Monkey's Raincoat Robert Crais 1987 American English
8596 The Wise Man's Fear Patrick Rothfuss 2011 American English
8598 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
8598 As They Were M. F. K. Fisher 1982 American English
8597 The Adventures Of Tintin Hergé 1929 Belgian French
8601 Beauties, Beasts And Enchantment Jack Zipes 1989 American English
8601 Blood Is Not Enough Ellen Datlow 1989 American English
8604 Nisei Daughter Monica Itoi Sone 1953 American English
8605 A Fever In The Heartland Timothy Egan 2023 American English
8608 Fact, Fiction, And Forecast Nelson Goodman 1955 American English
8609 The Dyer's Hand W. H. Auden 1962 British English
8609 Poems Of Roy Fuller Roy Fuller 1962 British English
8609 Shadow Lands Johannes Bobrowski 1962 German German
8609 Poems Of Robert Hayden Robert Hayden 1962 American English
8609 Rationale Of The Dirty Joke G. Legman 1968 American English
8609 Lyrical And Critical Essays Albert Camus 1968 French French
8616 The Devil's Teeth Susan Casey 2005 American English
8617 Shark's Fin And Sichuan Pepper Fuchsia Dunlop 2008 British English
8619 Enrique's Journey Sonia Nazario 2006 American English
8620 Cooked Michael Pollan 2013 American English
8623 Carnality Lina Wolff 2019 Swedish Swedish
8624 Age Of Fracture Daniel T. Rodgers 2011 American English
8625 Play The Monster Blind Lynn Coady 2000 Canadian English
8626 The Storm And Other Things Eugenio Montale 1978 Italian Italian
8627 Stargirl Jerry Spinelli 2000 American English
8633 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8632 The 13 Storey Treehouse Andy Griffiths 2011 Australian English
8634 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman 2022 American English
8635 Red Prophet Orson Scott Card 1988 American English
8635 The Knight And Knave Of Swords Fritz Leiber 1988 American English
8638 Donde Las Mujeres Álvaro Pombo 1996 Spanish Spanish
8640 The Whole Internet Ed Krol 1992 American English
8640 Other Russias Victoria Lomasko 2017 Russian Russian
8639 Patient Zero Jonathan Maberry 2009 American English
8640 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8644 The Fraud Zadie Smith 2023 British English
8646 Catiline Orations Marcus Tullius Cicero -63 Roman Latin
8645 Water Marq de Villiers 2000 Canadian English
8647 Orality And Literacy Walter J. Ong 1982 American English
8648 Spindle’s End Robin McKinley 2000 American English
8649 The Raj Quartet Paul Scott 1976 British English
8651 The Leiber Chronicles Fritz Leiber 1990 American English
8657 Domestic Manners of the Americans Fanny Trollope 1832 British English
8657 The Dollmaker Harriette Arnow 1954 American English
8657 The Abbot Sir Walter Scott 1820 Scottish English
8654 Jane Maggie Nelson 2005 American English
8654 Pedigree Patrick Modiano 2005 French French
8654 Three Days With My Mother François Weyergans 2005 Belgian French
8662 Krabat Otfried Preußler 1971 German German
8667 The Bridge Hart Crane 1930 American English
8666 Taking Rights Seriously Ronald Dworkin 1977 American English
8668 Twenty Years After Alexandre Dumas 1845 French French
8663 The Heiress Effect Courtney Milan 2013 American English
8663 Lord Of Wicked Intentions Lorraine Heath 2013 American English
8671 The Rape of the Lock Alexander Pope 1712 British English
8672 The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom 1971 Dutch English
8673 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English
8674 Peace Like A River Leif Enger 2001 American English
8675 From Blood And Ash Jennifer L. Armentrout 2020 American English
8677 Birds Saint-John Perse 1963 French French
8677 Collected Poems Wilfred Owen 1963 British English
8677 Selected Plays And Libretti Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1963 Austrian German
8677 Fables Of Identity Northrop Frye 1963 Canadian English
8683 You Are Not So Smart David McRaney 2011 American English
8683 The Chronology Of Water Lidia Yuknavitch 2011 American English
8677 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8683 In Defense Of Sanity G. K. Chesterton 2011 British English
8683 Adapt Tim Harford 2011 British English
8677 The Peanuts Treasury Charles M. Schulz 1969 American English
8687 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8690 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer 2005 American English
8688 Fantasy Literature For Children And Young Adults Ruth Nadelman Lynn 1989 American English
8688 The Poetic Fantastic Patrick D. Murphy 1989 American English
8692 Wicked Gregory Maguire 1995 American English
8695 The Discomfort Of Evening Lucas Rijneveld 2018 Dutch Dutch
8696 Amberlough Lara Elena Donnelly 2017 American English
8697 Throne Of Glass Sarah J. Maas 2012 American English
8700 Inner City Blues Paula L. Woods 1999 American English
8700 Those Bones Are Not My Child Toni Cade Bambara 1999 American English
8700 Cry, Heart, But Never Break Glenn Ringtved 2001 Danish Danish
8698 It's Me, Eddie Eduard Limonov 1978 Russian Russian
8699 Too Much Lip Melissa Lucashenko 2018 Australian English
8703 Blacklist Sara Paretsky 2003 American English
8703 Millennium People J. G. Ballard 2003 British English
8706 W.E.B. Du Bois David Levering Lewis 2000 American English
8708 Strategies Of Fantasy Brian Attebery 1992 American English
8711 Journey To The Land Of Flies And Other Travels Aldo Buzzi 1996 Italian Italian
8710 Tom Cringle's Log Michael Scott 1829 British English
8712 The Dead Of Jericho Colin Dexter 1981 British English
8714 Sweet Talk Stephanie Vaughn 1990 American English
8715 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
8716 Are We There Yet? A Journey Around Australia Alison Lester 2004 Australian English
8718 Dark Star Safari Paul Theroux 2002 American English
8721 Innocent Blood P. D. James 1980 British English