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The Greatest Books Ever Written

Taken from the latest updated version of The Greatest Books list (thegreatestbooks.org), this list is generated from 128 "best of" book lists from a variety of great sources. An algorithm is used to create a master list based on how many lists a particular book appears on. Some lists count more than others. I generally trust "best of all time" lists voted by authors and experts over user-generated lists. On the lists that are actually ranked, the book that is 1st counts a lot more than the book that's 100th.
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In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
In Search of Lost Time
1
Marcel Proust
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
2
James Joyce
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
3
Miguel De Cervantes
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Great Gatsby
4
F. Scott Fitzgerald
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
5
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
6
Herman Melville
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace
7
Leo Tolstoy
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
8
Vladimir Nabokov
Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
Hamlet
9
William Shakespeare
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye
10
J.D. Salinger
The Odyssey (Homer)
The Odyssey
11
Homer
The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
The Brothers Karamazov
12
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
13
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)
Madame Bovary
14
Gustave Flaubert
The Divine Comedy (Dante)
The Divine Comedy
15
Dante
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
16
Mark Twain
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
17
Lewis Carroll
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
18
Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Wuthering Heights
19
Emily Bronte
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
To the Lighthouse
20
Virginia Woolf
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Catch-22
21
Joseph Heller
The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)
The Sound and the Fury
22
William Faulkner
Nineteen Eighty Four (George Orwell)
Nineteen Eighty Four
23
George Orwell
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
24
Leo Tolstoy
The Iliad (Homer)
The Iliad
25
Homer
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
Heart of Darkness
26
Joseph Conrad
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
The Grapes of Wrath
27
John Steinbeck
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
Invisible Man
28
Ralph Ellison
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
To Kill a Mockingbird
29
Harper Lee
Middlemarch (George Eliot)
Middlemarch
30
George Eliot
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Great Expectations
31
Charles Dickens
Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)
Gulliver's Travels
32
Jonathan Swift
Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)
Absalom, Absalom!
33
William Faulkner
Beloved (Ohio)
Beloved
34
Ohio
The Stranger (Albert Camus)
The Stranger
35
Albert Camus
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Jane Eyre
36
Charlotte Bronte
Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) (Anonymous)
Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights)
37
Anonymous
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
The Trial
38
Franz Kafka
The Red and the Black (Stendhal)
The Red and the Black
39
Stendhal
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
Mrs. Dalloway
40
Virginia Woolf
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