Ranked roundup
The best books of all time
100 ranked · updated June 2026
These quintessential works define the literary canon by masterfully exploring the complexities of human nature, social structures, and existential dread. From the intricate domestic nuances of the nineteenth century to the stark, haunting visions of dystopian regimes, these titles remain essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the enduring depth of storytelling.
How this ranking works
Ranked by appearances across critics' canons such as thegreatestbooks.org and the Bokklubben World Library, with ties broken by each title's best position among them, then mapped to the books in our catalog.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Austen earns her place through the sharp, enduring social commentary and masterful character development that defined the nineteenth-century novel of manners.
Ulysses
James Joyce
Joyce secures this position by revolutionizing narrative structure through his complex stream of consciousness technique and profound exploration of modern identity.
1984
George Orwell
Orwell remains indispensable for his chillingly accurate depiction of totalitarian surveillance and the systematic destruction of individual thought within a dystopian state.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
García Márquez captures the essence of the human experience by weaving generational trauma and fate into a rich, mythical family saga.
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy creates an enduring masterpiece by unflinchingly examining the social isolation and moral consequences stemming from adultery within a rigid society.
The Odyssey
Homer
Homer establishes the foundation of Western literature by immortalizing the archetypal journey home and the complex relationship between mortals and divine intervention.
Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale
H. Melville
Melville crafted a definitive philosophical narrative that captures the raw intensity of man’s obsessive struggle against the indifferent forces of nature.
The Stranger
Albert Camus
Camus earns his spot through his stark, unsettling examination of existential alienation and the inherent absurdity of the human condition in a indifferent world.
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
Faulkner demonstrates unparalleled technical ambition by utilizing shifting narrative perspectives to map the erosion of family integrity and the passage of time.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Dickens remains a pillar of the craft for his profound insight into class mobility and the formative experiences that define a coming-of-age journey.
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway is celebrated for his minimalist prose that highlights the dignity found in perseverance during an old man's struggle against the natural world.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy provides an unmatched panoramic view of history, balancing the intimate struggles of the Russian aristocracy against the backdrop of catastrophic war.
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
Nabokov commands his position through the sheer linguistic artistry employed to portray a deeply unreliable narrator trapped in a cycle of predatory obsession.
The Iliad
Homer
Homer’s epic remains vital for its visceral portrayal of war and the inescapable tension between individual free will and the dictates of fate.
Wuthering Heights Annotated
Emily Brontë
Brontë earns her place by creating a haunting, profoundly violent exploration of destructive obsession that transcends the conventions of the traditional gothic romance.
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Divine Comedy
Charles Eliot Norton, Dante Alighieri
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Illustrated
Mark Twain
A standout among the best books of all time.
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
A standout among the best books of all time.
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
A standout among the best books of all time.
Middlemarch
George Eliot, Javier Tavera Mas.
A standout among the best books of all time.
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A standout among the best books of all time.
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
A standout among the best books of all time.
Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A standout among the best books of all time.
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe
A standout among the best books of all time.
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Red and the Black
Stendhal
A standout among the best books of all time.
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner
A standout among the best books of all time.
Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie
A standout among the best books of all time.
Journey to the End of the Night
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
A standout among the best books of all time.
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Laurence Sterne
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Man Without Qualities: A sort of introduction. The like of it now happens (I)
Robert Musil
A standout among the best books of all time.
Dead Souls
Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Tin Drum
Günter Grass
A standout among the best books of all time.
Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann
A standout among the best books of all time.
Demons
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A standout among the best books of all time.
Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert
A standout among the best books of all time.
In Search of Lost Time Volume 3
Marcel Proust
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger
A standout among the best books of all time.
To Kill a Mockingbird 40th
Harper Lee
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien
A standout among the best books of all time.
King Lear
William Shakespeare
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
Hans Christian Andersen
A standout among the best books of all time.
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez
A standout among the best books of all time.
Othello
William Shakespeare
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Arabian Nights Entertainments
-- Anonymous, Milo Winter
A standout among the best books of all time.
Jane Eyre (Illustrated)
Charlotte Brontë
A standout among the best books of all time.
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
A standout among the best books of all time.
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren
A standout among the best books of all time.
Swann's Way
Marcel Proust
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
A standout among the best books of all time.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
A standout among the best books of all time.
Blindness
José Saramago
A standout among the best books of all time.
FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS. by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Mary Shelley
A standout among the best books of all time.
Les Misérables Volume I Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
A standout among the best books of all time.
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
A standout among the best books of all time.
Zorba the Greek
Nikos Kazantzakis
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
Leo Tolstoy
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Anonymous Anonymous
A standout among the best books of all time.
A Doll’s House
Henrik Ibsen
A standout among the best books of all time.
Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
A standout among the best books of all time.
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa
A standout among the best books of all time.
Lord of the Flies
William Golding
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
A standout among the best books of all time.
Animal Farm
George Orwell
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Leopard
Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
A standout among the best books of all time.
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
A standout among the best books of all time.
Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry
A standout among the best books of all time.
Gargantua and Pantagruel
François Rabelais
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Complete Stories
Franz Kafka
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
A standout among the best books of all time.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
A standout among the best books of all time.
Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe, D. K. Swan
A standout among the best books of all time.
Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
A standout among the best books of all time.
Pedro Páramo
Juan Rulfo, Josephine Sacabo, Margaret Sayers Peden
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
A standout among the best books of all time.
Memoirs of Hadrian
Marguerite Yourcenar
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Plague
Albert Camus
A standout among the best books of all time.
A Passage to India
E. M. Forster
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
A standout among the best books of all time.
As I Lay Dying (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
William Faulkner
A standout among the best books of all time.
Candide Voltaire
Voltaire
A standout among the best books of all time.
The Masnavi
Jalal al-Din Rumi
A standout among the best books of all time.
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
Denis Diderot
A standout among the best books of all time.
Common questions
What are some of the best books about existentialism?
If you are interested in existentialist literature, Albert Camus's 'The Stranger' is a essential read regarding moral indifference. Additionally, Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick' and James Joyce's 'Ulysses' are highly regarded for their deep engagement with existentialist themes and the search for identity.
Which classic novels explore the theme of war?
Several masterpieces on this list focus on the impact of conflict. Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' provides an epic examination of the Napoleonic Wars, while Homer’s 'The Iliad' remains the definitive classical account of the horror and heroism found on the battlefield.
Are there any famous books about class mobility?
Yes, Charles Dickens's 'Great Expectations' is a quintessential bildungsroman that examines the complexities of class mobility and social ambition. Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' also provides a sharp, insightful look at social class and marriage within the strict hierarchies of the Regency era.