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
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
792 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 1968 British English
793 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
794 The Royal Game Stefan Zweig 1941 Austrian German
795 Baby And Child Care Benjamin Spock 1946 American English
796 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
798 The Life Of Arseniev Ivan Bunin 1930 Russian Russian
799 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
800 The Loved One Evelyn Waugh 1948 British English
801 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
806 The Story of Art Ernest H. Gombrich 1950 British English
807 The Book of the City of Ladies Christine De Pizan 1405 French French
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
809 Poems by Machado Antonio Machado 1907 Spanish Spanish
810 Amadis of Gaul Garci R. de Montalvo 1508 Spanish Spanish
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
813 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell 1851 British English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
815 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 French French
816 The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke 1759 British English
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
821 Castle Rackrent Maria Edgeworth 1800 British English
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
823 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 1962 American English
824 Rhymes And Legends Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1871 Spanish Spanish
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
826 Voss Patrick White 1957 Australian English
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
828 Lost Horizon James Hilton 1933 British English
829 The Road to Serfdom Friedrich von Hayek 1944 Austrian English
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
831 Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers 1903 British English
832 The Last Of The Just André Schwarz-Bart 1959 French French
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
839 Winnetou Karl May 1893 German German
841 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
843 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
844 Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930 Austrian German
845 Evelina Fanny Burney 1778 British English
846 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
849 Regeneration Pat Barker 1991 British English
850 The Revolt of the Masses José Ortega y Gasset 1930 Spanish Spanish
851 Essays, First And Second Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
854 Cane Jean Toomer 1923 American English
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
860 The Solitudes Luis de Góngora 1613 Spanish Spanish
861 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
863 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo 1632 Italian Italian
866 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
867 Heidi Johanna Spyri 1881 Swiss German
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
870 Economy and Society Max Weber 1922 German German
871 Wieland Charles Brockden Brown 1798 American English
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
875 Greguerias Ramón Gómez de la Serna 1910 Spanish Spanish
876 Lysistrata Aristophanes -411 Greek Ancient greek
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
879 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
880 Orthodoxy G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
881 Utopia Thomas More 1516 British Latin
883 Thaïs Anatole France 1890 French French
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
886 Riders of the Purple Sage Zane Grey 1912 American English
887 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
889 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
891 Golem Gustav Meyrink 1915 Austrian German
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
894 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
896 She H. Rider Haggard 1887 British English
897 The Darkroom Of Damocles W.F. Hermans 1958 Dutch Dutch
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
902 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
905 Coming of Age in Samoa Margaret Mead 1928 American English
906 Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington 1901 American English
907 Hyperion Friedrich Holderlin 1797 German German
908 The Life of a Good-For-Nothing Joseph von Eichendorff 1826 German German
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
911 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber 1905 German German
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
913 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
914 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1938 American English
915 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
916 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
917 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951 British English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
919 The Poems Of Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
921 Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian 1969 British English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
923 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
925 Deliverance James Dickey 1970 American English
926 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 French French
927 Cat and Mouse Günter Grass 1961 German German
928 Tobacco Road Erskine Caldwell 1932 American English
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
931 The House by the Medlar Tree Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
932 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
933 Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro 1971 Canadian English