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
9832 The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley Hannah Tinti 2017 American English
9833 Poems Of Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini 1975 Italian Italian
9833 Poems Of Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy 1975 French French
9833 Poems Of Stevie Smith Stevie Smith 1975 British English
9833 Poems Of John Montague John Montague 1975 Irish English
9833 The Fool Edward Bond 1975 British English
9833 Exile And Return Yannis Ritsos 1975 Greek Greek
9833 Poems Of Donald Hall Donald Hall 1975 American English
9833 Mornings On Horseback David McCullough 1981 American English
9833 Simulacres Et Simulation Jean Baudrillard 1981 French French
9833 An Interrupted Life Etty Hillesum 1981 Dutch Dutch
9845 The Tales Of Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood 1938 British English
9845 The Gothic Quest Montague Summers 1938 British English
9847 A Midwife's Tale Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 1990 American English
9848 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9850 Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim David Sedaris 2004 American English
9849 Markurells In Wadköping Hjalmar Bergman 1919 Swedish Swedish
9851 Exciting Times Naoise Dolan 2020 Irish English
9854 The War Of The Buttons Louis Pergaud 1912 French French
9853 The Encyclopedia Of Fantasy John Clute 1997 British English
9852 Afterlives Abdulrazak Gurnah 2020 British English
9857 The Subjection of Women John Stuart Mill 1869 British English
9857 An Autobiography of Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope 1883 British English
9857 Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman 1871 American English
9857 The Meaning of Truth William James 1909 American English
9857 Biographia Literaria Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1817 British English
9857 An Essay on Man Alexander Pope 1734 British English
9857 Mary Queen Of Scots Antonia Fraser 1969 British English
9857 This Child's Gonna Live Sarah E. Wright 1969 American English
9857 A Week Like Any Other Natalya Baranskaya 1969 Russian Russian
9856 The Red Tent Anita Diamant 1997 American English
9857 Critical And Historical Essays Thomas Babington Macaulay 1843 British English
9857 The Betrothed Sir Walter Scott 1825 Scottish English
9857 The Black Dwarf Sir Walter Scott 1816 Scottish English
9857 Castle Dangerous Sir Walter Scott 1831 Scottish English
9857 Count Robert Of Paris Sir Walter Scott 1832 British English
9857 The Monastery Sir Walter Scott 1820 Scottish English
9857 Peveril Of The Peak Sir Walter Scott 1823 British English
9857 The Pirate Sir Walter Scott 1822 Scottish English
9857 Saint Ronan's Well Sir Walter Scott 1824 Scottish English
9857 Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky Patrick Hamilton 1935 British English
9857 The Delicate Prey Paul Bowles 1950 American English
9881 Basin And Range John McPhee 1981 American English
9882 The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue Mackenzi Lee 2017 American English
9883 The Wall Jean Paul Sartre 1939 French French
9886 Novel With Cocaine M. Ageyev 1934 Russian Russian
9884 Man And The Natural World Keith Thomas 1983 British English
9884 The Memory Of War James Fenton 1983 British English
9888 A Woman In Berlin Marta Hillers 1954 German German
9887 The Hour Of Our Death Philippe Ariès 1981 French French
9889 Round Ireland With A Fridge Tony Hawks 1998 British English
9893 The Love of a Good Woman Alice Munro 1998 Canadian English
9893 Bad Land Jonathan Raban 1996 British English
9893 The Whole Shebang Timothy Ferris 1997 American English
9892 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9897 Modern Lovers Emma Straub 2016 American English
9899 Alvin Journeyman Orson Scott Card 1995 American English
9902 A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine 2019 American English
9901 Trilobite! Richard Fortey 2000 British English
9903 A Broken Mirror Merce Rodoreda 1974 Spanish Catalan
9904 Keep On The Light Christine Campbell Thomson 1939 British English
9906 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
9905 The Demon Haunted World Carl Sagan 1995 American English
9908 Women Charles Bukowski 1978 American English
9909 The Capitalist Revolution Peter Berger 1986 American English
9907 The Oxford Book Of Letters Frank Kermode, Anita Kermode 1995 British English
9912 Miracle Creek Angie Kim 2019 American English
9912 Your House Will Pay Steph Cha 2019 American English
9915 The Messiah Of Stockholm Cynthia Ozick 1987 American English
9917 The Eyes Of The Dragon Stephen King 1987 American English
9914 The Lost Jonathan Aycliffe 1996 British English
9918 Critical Race Theory Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas 1995 American English
9919 Hail And Farewell George Moore 1911 British English
9919 The Greek Commonwealth Alfred Eckhard Zimmern 1911 British English
9919 The Everlasting Mercy John Masefield 1911 British English
9922 Children Of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 2015 British English
9924 The Problem Of Atheism Augusto Del Noce 1964 Italian Italian
9927 Poems Of Umberto Saba Umberto Saba 1976 Italian Italian
9927 The Complete Plays Joe Orton 1976 British English
9927 Collected Poems Richard Eberhart 1976 American English
9927 Streamers David Rabe 1976 American English
9927 Reflections On Espionage John Hollander 1976 American English
9927 Dimensions Of History Jay Wright 1976 American English
9925 The Bert Diaries Anders Jacobsson, Sören Olsson 1987 Swedish Swedish
9935 The Sisters Jonas Hassen Khemiri 2023 Swedish English
9936 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
9939 Crusade For Justice Ida B. Wells 1970 American English
9939 Daddy Was A Number Runner Louise Meriwether 1970 American English
9942 Medicine Walk Richard Wagamese 2014 Canadian English
9942 Joseph Marie-Hélène Lafon 2014 French French
9945 An Apartment On Uranus Paul B. Preciado 2019 Spanish French
9945 Retaguardia Roja Fernando del Rey 2019 Spanish Spanish
9947 The Great Women Superheroes Trina Robbins 1996 American English
9950 A Gothic Bibliography Montague Summers 1940 British English
9948 The Book Of Skulls Robert Silverberg 1972 American English
9951 The Souls Of China Ian Johnson 2017 American English
9952 Bombi Bitt Och Jag Fritiof Nilsson Piraten 1932 Swedish Swedish
9953 Actress Anne Enright 2020 Irish English
9957 Asylum Patrick McGrath 1996 British English
9956 The Book Of Delights Ross Gay 2019 American English
9954 Big Girl, Small Town Michelle Gallen 2020 Irish English
9958 On The Calculation Of Volume Solvej Balle 2025 Danish Danish
9960 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
9961 Winner Of The National Book Award Jincy Willett 2003 American English
9961 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
9961 The Wife Meg Wolitzer 2003 American English
9961 Mailman J. Robert Lennon 2003 American English
9961 Prairie Gothic J. M. Hayes 2003 American English
9961 San Remo Drive Leslie Epstein 2003 American English
9959 The Strange Last Voyage Of Donald Crowhurst Nicholas Tomalin, Ron Hall 1970 British English
9967 Politics Hendrik Hertzberg 2004 American English
9970 Care of the Soul Thomas Moore 1992 American English
9972 If You Come Softly Jacqueline Woodson 1998 American English
9973 Daughter Of Smoke & Bone Laini Taylor 2011 American English
9973 Legend Marie Lu 2011 American English
9973 Where’d You Go, Bernadette Maria Semple 2012 American English
9971 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch
9976 Mirror, Shoulder, Signal Dorthe Nors 2016 Danish English
9981 Shadow & Claw Gene Wolfe 1994 American English
9980 The Atrocity Archives Charles Stross 2004 British English