The Greatest Western Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
934 The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen 1899 American English
935 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
936 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
939 Émile Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
941 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
942 Cannery Row John Steinbeck 1945 American English
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
944 Indian Summer Adalbert Stifter 1857 Austrian German
945 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male Alfred C. Kinsey 1948 American English
946 The Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith 1892 British English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
948 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
951 A Princess Of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912 American English
952 Two Treatises of Government John Locke 1689 British English
953 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
957 The Little World Of Don Camillo Giovanni Guareschi 1948 Italian Italian
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
961 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
963 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
964 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
965 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
970 The Maias Eça de Queirós 1888 Portuguese Portuguese
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
972 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
974 The Poems of John Keats John Keats 1817 British English
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
976 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
978 The History Of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray 1852 British English
979 The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 British English
980 News from Nowhere William Morris 1890 British English
981 It Stephen King 1986 American English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
985 Mythology Edith Hamilton 1942 American English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
992 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
993 Essays of E. B. White E. B. White 1977 American English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
995 Dombey and Son Charles Dickens 1846 British English
997 Julie, or the New Heloise Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1761 French French
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1002 Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko 1977 American English
1004 2001 Arthur C. Clarke 1968 British English
1005 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1007 The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs 1961 American English
1008 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1011 Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1012 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
1013 Green Mansions W. H. Hudson 1904 British English
1014 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter 1902 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1016 Poems Of C. P. Cavafy C. P. Cavafy 1935 Greek Greek
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
1018 Principia Mathematica Isaac Newton 1687 British Latin
1019 The Interior Castle Teresa of Avila 1588 Spanish Spanish
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1021 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1026 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English
1030 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes 1641 French Latin
1032 The Epistle To The Romans Karl Barth 1919 Swiss German
1034 The Bostonians Henry James 1886 American English
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1036 The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony Henry Handel Richardson 1917 Australian English
1037 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
1039 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1040 The German Lesson Siegfried Lenz 1968 German German
1041 On War Carl Von Clausewitz 1832 German German
1042 Franny and Zooey J. D. Salinger 1961 American English
1043 Danny The Champion Of The World Roald Dahl 1975 British English
1044 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1045 Selected Essays of T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1932 British English
1046 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1047 The Egoist George Meredith 1879 British English
1048 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy 1984 American English
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1050 The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi 1990 British English
1051 The Phenomenon Of Man Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1955 French French
1052 Treatise on Radioactivity Marie Curie 1910 French French
1053 The Kalevala Elias Lönnrot 1835 Finnish Finnish
1054 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
1055 Story of Ferdinand Munro Leaf 1936 American English
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
1057 The Master of Ballantrae Robert Louis Stevenson 1889 British English
1058 Memories, Dreams, Reflections Carl Jung 1963 Swiss German
1059 The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Bernal Díaz del Castillo 1632 Spanish Spanish
1060 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
1061 First Love Ivan Turgenev 1860 Russian Russian
1061 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1061 The Case of Sergeant Grischa Arnold Zweig 1927 German German
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1065 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English