Greatest Literature banner

The Greatest Literature of All Time

This is our flagship list, the greatest works of literature in chronological order from ancient to recent times, covering all creative literary forms, genres, cultures and eras. It has been updated repeatedly since its first publication two decades ago, as new works have appeared and assessments of old works have evolved.

How were these titles chosen? Why "999"? What changes have we seen over the years? For a complete explanation and history, see "Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list".

In short though, this list is based on the assimilation of more than 200 other popular lists, anthologies, academic curricula and literary awards, as well as on years of research into the work of hundreds more critics, scholars, writers, readers and other knowledgeable sources.

The Greatest Literature list is for major creative works. A few short pieces of exceptional importance have been included but most short works are reserved for the Greatest Stories, Greatest Short Poems and other lists. Nonfiction works have been included only if they are considered to have literary value as creative works beyond their factual content.

For a briefer ranking of the most acclaimed works, see the Top 99 Works of Literature.

For a (much) more exhaustive survey, see the Really Long List of Great Literature.

Latest update: March 14, 2024

The 999 greatest works of literature
in chronological order

Ancient | Medieval | Renaissance | 18th-century | 19th-century | 20th-century | 21st-century.

c.2100–1200 BCE
Babylon
poem
c.1990 BCE
Egypt
story
c.1875 BCE
Egypt
story
c.1200–100
Various authors
Judah, Israel, Babylon, Egypt
prose and poetry collection
c.1000–600 BCE
Classic of Poetry
Various
China
poetry collection
c.750 BCE
Greece
poem 
c.700 BCE
Greece
poem
 
Greece
poem
c.600 BCE–200 CE
Ramayana
Valmiki
India
poem
c.610–580 BCE
Sappho's Poems
Sappho
Greece
poetry collection
c.600–500 BCE
Aesop's Fables
Aesop
Greece
story collection
including The Fox and the Grapes, The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and others
c.520–440 BCE
Epinician Odes
Pindar
Greece
poetry collection
475 BCE
Olympian
Pindar
Greece
poetry collection
472 BCE
The Persians
Aeschylus
Greece
play
458 BCE
The Oresteia
Aeschylus
Greece
play series
including Agamemnon, The Eumenides, The Libation Bearers
c.450–425 BCE
Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus
Greece
play
442–441 BCE
Sophocles
Greece
play
431 BCE
Medea
Euripides
Greece
play
429 BCE
Sophocles
Greece
play
428 BCE
Hippolytus
Euripides
Greece
play
 
Andromache
Euripides
Greece
play
423 BCE
The Clouds
Aristophanes
Greece
play
422 BCE
The Wasps
Aristophanes
Greece
play
c.420–410 BCE
Electra
Sophocles
Greece
play
418 BCE
Electra
Euripides
Greece
play
415 BCE
The Trojan Women
Euripides
Greece
play
414 BCE
The Birds
Aristophanes
Greece
play
411 BCE
Lysistrata
Aristophanes
Greece
play
406 BCE
The Bacchae
Euripides
Greece
play
405 BCE
The Frogs
Aristophanes
Greece
play
401 BCE
Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
Greece
play
c.400 BCE–400 CE
Mahābhārata
Anonymous
India
poem
c.380 BCE
Plato
Greece
dialogue
c.270 BCE
Idylls
Theocritus
Greece
poetry collection
c.250 BCE
Voyage of the Argonauts
Appollonius of Rhodes
Greece
poem
c.200 BCE
The Twin Brothers
Plautus
Rome
play
c.50 BCE
On the Nature of Things
Lucretius
Rome
poem
c.41–37 BCE
Eclogues
Virgil
Rome
poetry collection
c.35–30 BCE
Satires
Horace
Rome
poetry collection
29 BCE
Georgics
Virgil
Rome
poetry collection
c.29–19 BCE
Aeneid
Virgil
Rome
poem
c.29–16 BCE
Elegies
Sextus Propertius
Rome
poetry collection
23–13 BCE
Odes
Horace
Rome
poetry collection
c.10 BCE
The Art of Love
Rome
poem
c.8 CE
Rome
poem
c.48–110 CE
Various
Greece, Syria, Palestine, others
prose and poetry collection
c.60-70 CE
Satyricon
Gaius Petronius Arbiter
Rome
novel
c.86–103 CE
Epigrams
Martial
Rome
poetry collection
c.100 CE
Parallel Lives
Plutarch
Greece
biography
c.100–127 CE
Satires
Juvenal
Rome
poetry collection
c.150 CE
The Golden Ass
Lucius Apuleius
Numidia
novel
c.300 CE
The Vision of Vasavadatta
Bhāsa
India
play
c.400 CE
The Recognition of Sakuntala
Kalidasa
India
play

Back to top of page

c.700 CE
England
poem
c.759
Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and others
Japan
poetry collection
c.800–1200
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Anonymous
Persia
story collection
c.800–1400
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous
Persia
story collection
including Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni, The Tale of the Three Apples, The Barber's Tale of Himself, and others
977–1010
The Book of Kings
Ferdowsi
Persia
poem
c.1000
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Sei Shonagon
Japan
diary
c.1000–1300
The Poetic Edda
Anonymous
Iceland
poem
c.1020
Japan
novel
c.1100
Song of Roland
Anonymous
France
poem
 
Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyám
Persia
poetry collection
c.1100–1250
Volsungsaga
Anonymous
Iceland
poem
c.1140
The Poem of the Cid
Anonymous
Spain
poem
1177
The Conference of the Birds
Farid od-Din Attar
Persia
poem
c.1177–1181
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
Chrétien de Troyes
France
poem
c.1180
Lais of Marie de France
Marie de France
England
poetry collection
c.1200
The Nibelungenlied
Anonymous
Germany
poem
1210
Tristan und Isolde
Gottfied von Strassburg
Germany
poem
c.1220
The Tale of the Heike
Anonymous
Japan
novel
1230–1275
Romance of the Rose
Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun
France
poem
c.1250
The Saga of Burnt Njal
Anonymous
Iceland
poem
1257
The Orchard
Saadi Shirazi
Persia
poetry collection
1258
The Garden
Saadi Shirazi
Persia
poetry collection
1258–1273
Masnavi
Rumi
Persia
poem
1307
The Divine Comedy
Alighieri Dante
Italy
poem
1327–1368
Il Canzoniere
Francesco Petrarch
Italy
poetry collection
1348
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy
story collection
c.1350
The Divān of Hafez
Hafez
Persia
poem
1352
The Triumphs
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy
poem
c.1360–1400
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Luo Guanzhong
China
novel
c.1360–1589
Water Margin
Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong
China
novel
1362
The Vision of Piers the Ploughman
William Langland
England
Poetry
c.1382–1386
Troilus and Cressida
Geoffrey Chaucer
England
poem
1387
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Anonymous
England
poem
c.1387–1400
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
England
prose and poetry collection
1405
The Book of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan
Italy
novel
1483–1495
Orlando Innamorato
Matteo Maria Boiardo
Italy
poem
1485
Le Morte d'Arthur
Thomas Malory
England
novel
1494
Ship of Fools
Sebastian Brant
Germany
poetry collection
1499
La Celestina
Fernando de Rojas
Spain
novel

Back to top of page

1516
Utopia
Thomas More
England
novella
1516–1532
Orlando Furioso
Ludovico Ariosto
Italy
poem
1528
The Book of the Courtier
Baldasarre Castiglione
Italy
nonfiction
1532–1564
The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel
Francois Rabelais
France
novel series
including Pantagruel, Gargantua, The Third Book of Pantagruel, The Fourth Book of Pantagruel, The Fifth Book of Pantagruel
1558
The Heptaméron
Marguerite de Navarre
France
story collection
1572
The Lusiads
Luis de Camoëns
Portugal
poem
1580–1593
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
Philip Sidney
England
novel
1586
The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd
England
play
1587
Tamburlaine the Great
Christopher Marlowe
England
play
1589
The Faerie Queen
Edmund Spenser
England
poem
c.1590
The Golden Lotus
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng
China
novel
c.1590–1599
Satires
John Donne
England
poetry collection
 
Elegies
John Donne
England
poetry collection
1591
Richard III
William Shakespeare
England
play
1592
Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en
China
novel
 
Christopher Marlowe
England
play
1594
Doctor Faustus
Christopher Marlowe
England
play
 
The Unfortunate Traveller
Thomas Nashe
England
novel
 
A Midsummer Night's Dream
England
play
 
Henry IV, Part 2
England
play
1598
The Peony Pavilion
Tang Xianzu
China
play
c.1599
Henry V
England
play
1601
England
play
1601–1602
Twelfth Night
England
play
1603
A Woman Killed with Kindness
Thomas Heywood
England
play
1604
England
play
1604–1605
The Honest Whore
Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton
England
play
1605
Investiture of the Gods
Xu Zhonglin
China
novel
1606
Volpone
Ben Jonson
England
play
c.1606
England
play
 
England
play
1609
England
poetry collection
including Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?; When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes; and others
1610
The Alchemist
Ben Jonson
England
play
1611
England
play
 
Solitudes
Luis de Góngora
Spain
poem
1622
The Changeling
Thomas Middleton, William Rowley
England
play
1633
John Ford
England
play
 
The Temple
George Herbert
England
poetry collection
1635
Life Is a Dream
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Spain
play
1636
Le Cid
Pierre Corneille
France
play
1643
The Mayor of Zalamea
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Spain
play
1648
Hesperides
Robert Herrick
England
poetry collection
including To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time; Upon Julia’s Clothes; and others
1662
The School for Wives
France
play
1664
France
play
1666
France
play
1667
Paradise Lost
John Milton
England
poem
 
Andromaque
Jean Racine
France
play
1668–1694
La Fontaine's Fables
Jean de La Fontaine
France
poetry collection
including The Fox and the Crow, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and others
1671
Samson Agonistes
John Milton
England
poem
1675
William Wycherley
England
play
1677
John Dryden
England
play
 
Phèdre
Jean Racine
France
play
1678
The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan
England
novel
 
La Princesse de Clèves
Madame de La Fayette
France
novella
1688
Aphra Behn
England
novella
1697
Tales of Mother Goose
Charles Perrault
France
story collection
including Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and others
1700
The Way of the World
William Congreve
England
play

Back to top of page

1702
The Narrow Road to the Interior
Matsuo Bashō
Japan
prose and poetry collection
1712–1714
England
poem
1719
Daniel Defoe
England
novel
1719–1720
Love in Excess
Eliza Haywood
England
novel
1722
Moll Flanders
Daniel Defoe
England
novel
1726
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
Ireland
novel
1728
The Beggar's Opera
John Gay
England
play
1728–1742
The Dunciad
England
poem
1730
The Game of Love and Chance
Marivaux
France
play
1731
Manon Lescaut
Antoine François Prévost
France
novel
1740
Pamela
Samuel Richardson
England
novel
1742
Joseph Andrews
Henry Fielding
England
novel
1748
Clarissa
Samuel Richardson
England
novel
1749
Tom Jones
Henry Fielding
England
novel
1750
The Scholars
Wu Jingzi
China
novel
1751
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
Tobias Smollett
England
novel
1753
The Mistress of the Inn
Carlo Goldoni
Italy
play
1759
Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
Samuel Johnson
England
novella
 
Candide
Voltaire
England
novella
1759–1767
England
novel
1761
Julie; or, The New Heloise
Jean Jacques Rousseau
England
novel
c. 1763
Three Hundred Tang Poems
Du Fu, Li Bai and others
China
poetry collection
1764
Horace Walpole
England
novella
1771
Humphrey Clinker
Tobias Smollett
England
novel
1774
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Germany
novel
1775
The Rivals
Richard Sheridan
England
play
 
The Barber of Seville
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
France
play
1777
The School for Scandal
Richard Sheridan
England
play
1778
Evelina
Fanny Burney
England
novel
1779
Nathan the Wise
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Germany
play
 
Fables and Parables
Ignacy Krasicki
Poland
play
1782
Dangerous Liaisons
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
France
novel
1784
The Marriage of Figaro
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
France
play
1785
The Task
William
Cowper
play
1786
Scotland
poetry collection
1789–1794
Songs of Innocence and Experience
William Blake
England
poetry collection
1791
Life of Samuel Johnson
James Boswell
England
biography
 
Justine
Marquis de Sade
France
novel
1791–1792
Dream of the Red Chamber
Cao Zhan
China
novel
1792
The Nun
Denis Diderot
France
novel
1794
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe
England
novel
1795–1796
William Meister's Apprenticeship
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Germany
novel
1796
Camilla
Fanny Burney
England
novel
 
The Monk
Matthew Lewis
England
novel
 
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
Denis Diderot
France
novel
1797
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
England
poem
1797–1799
Hyperion
Friedrich Hölderlin
Germany
novel
1797–1806
Hymns and Fragments
Friedrich Hölderlin
Germany
poetry collection
1798–1800
Lyrical Ballads
William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge
England
poetry collection
1800
Maria Edgeworth
Ireland
novella

Back to top of page

1807
Corinne
Germaine de Stael
France
novel
1808–1832
Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Germany
play
1810
The Lady of the Lake
Walter Scott
Scotland
poem
1811
England
novel
 
Michael Kohlhaas
Heinrich von Kleist
Germany
novella
1812
Poems
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Germany
poetry collection
 
Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss
Switzerland
novel
1812–1818
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
George Gordon Byron
England
poem
1812–1857
Germany
story collection
including Cinderella, Little Red Cap, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Tom Thumb, and others
1813
England
novel
1814
England
novel
 
Waverley
Walter Scott
Scotland
novel
1815
England
novel
1816
Adolphe
Benjamin Constant
Switzerland
novel
1817
Rob Roy
Walter Scott
Scotland
novel
1818
Endymion
John Keats
England
poem
 
Nightmare Abbey
Thomas Love Peacock
England
novella
 
England
novel
1819
Ivanhoe
Walter Scott
Scotland
novel
1819–1824
Don Juan
George Gordon Byron
England
poem
1820
Odes
John Keats
England
poetry collection
 
Prometheus Unbound
Percy Byssche Shelley
England
poem
 
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Maturin
Ireland
novel
1821
The Prince of Homburg
Heinrich von Kleist
Germany
play
1825
Boris Godunov
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1825–1832
Eugene Onegin
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1826
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
United States
novel
1827
Book of Songs
Heinrich Heine
Germany
poetry collection
1827–1842
The Betrothed
Alessandro Manzoni
Italy
novel
1831
Queen Margot
Alexandre Dumas
France
play
 
Victor-Marie Hugo
France
novel
 
The Red and the Black
Stendhal
France
novel
1833
Eugénie Grandet
Honoré de Balzac
France
novel
1834
Old Goriot
Honoré de Balzac
France
novel
1835
Canti
Giacomo Leopardi
Italy
poetry collection
1836
The Government Inspector
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
play
1837
The Bronze Horseman
Aleander Pushkin
Russia
poem
1837–1843
Lost Illusions
Honoré de Balzac
France
novel
1838
England
novel
1839
The Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal
France
novel
 
United States
story collection
including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall, MS. Found in a Bottle, and others
1840
A Hero of Our Time
Mikhail Lermontov
Russia
novel
1841
The Deerslayer
James Fenimore Cooper
United States
novel
1842
The Demon
Mikhail Lermontov
Russia
poem
 
Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
novel
1843
England
novella
1843–1847
A Harlot High and Low
Honoré de Balzac
France
novel
1844
Poems
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
England
poetry collection
 
The Luck of Barry Lyndon
William Makepeace Thackeray
England
novel
 
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas
France
novel
1844–1846
The Count of Monte-Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
France
novel
1845
Carmen
Prosper Mérimée
France
novella
 
The Raven and Other Poems
United States
poetry collection
1846
Cousin Bette
Honoré de Balzac
France
novel
 
The Devil's Pool
George Sand
France
novel
1847
England
novel
 
England
novel
 
Evangeline
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
United States
poem
1848
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë
England
novel
 
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray
England
novel
 
The Lady of the Camellias
Alexandre Dumas, fils
France
novel
1850
Sonnets from the Portuguese
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
England
poetry collection
 
In Memoriam
Alfred Lord Tennyson
England
poem
 
The Prelude
William Woodsworth
England
poem
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
novel
1851
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
United States
novel
 
The House of Seven Gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
novel
1852
Camille
Alexandre Dumas, fils
France
play
 
Enamels and Cameos
Théophile Gautier
France
poetry collection
 
A Sportsman's Sketches
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
story collection
 
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
United States
novel
1853
England
novel
 
Cranford
Elizabeth Gaskell
England
novel
1855
Men and Women
Robert Browning
England
poetry collection
including Love Among the Ruins, Evelyn Hope, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, Andrea del Sarto, and others
 
North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell
England
novel
 
The Warden
Anthony Trollope
England
novel
1855–1892
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
United States
poetry collection
including Song of Myself; I Sing the Body Electric; O Captain! My Captain!; Pioneers! O Pioneers!; and others
1857
England
novel
 
Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope
England
novel
 
The Flowers of Evil
Charles Baudelaire
France
Poetry
 
Gustave Flaubert
France
novel
 
The Virginians
William Makepeace Thackeray
England
novel
 
Oblomov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov
Russia
novel
1859–1883
The Legend of the Ages
Victor Hugo
France
poetry collection
1859–1885
Idylls of the King
Alfred Lord Tennyson
England
poetry collection
1860
England
novel
 
Max Havelaar
Multatuli
Holland
novel
 
The Storm
Alexander Ostrovsky
Russia
play
1861
England
novel
 
Silas Marner
England
novel
1862
Goblin Market and Other Poems
Christina Rossetti
England
poetry collection
 
Victor-Marie Hugo
France
novel
 
Fathers and Sons
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novel
1864
Jules Verne
France
novel
 
Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novella
1865
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
England
novella
1865–1869
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1866
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
1867
Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
Norway
play
1868
England
novel
 
Therese Raquin
Émile Zola
France
novel
1868–1869
Louisa May Alcott
United States
novel
 
The Songs of Maldoror
Comte de Lautréamont
France
poem
1869
Collected Poems
Matthew Arnold
England
poetry collection
 
Lorna Doone
Richard Blackmore
England
novel
 
Phineas Finn
Anthony Trollope
England
novel
 
A Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert
France
novel
1870
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne
France
novel
 
King Lear of the Steppes
Ivan Turgenev
Ruissia
novella
1870–1881
The House of Life
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
England
poem 
1871
Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
England
novella
 
Rimas
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Spain
poetry collection
1872
Fairy Tales and Stories
Hans Christian Andersen
Denmark
story collection
 
England
novel
 
England
novel
 
The Possessed
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
1872–1879
Martín Fierro
José Hernández
Argentina
poem
1873
A Season in Hell
Arthur Rimbaud
France
poem
 
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne
France
novel
 
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
 
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1875
The Way We Live Now
Anthony Trollope
England
novel
1876
Daniel Deronda
England
novel
 
Mark Twain
United States
novel
1877
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell
England
novel
 
The Drunkard
Émile Zola
France
novel
1879
A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen
Norway
play
 
The Red Room
August Strindberg
Sweden
novel
1880
Nana
Émile Zola
France
novel
 
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novel
 
Ben-Hur
Lew Wallace
United States
novel
1881
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cuba
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Brazil
novel
 
The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
United States
novel
 
Mark Twain
United States
novel
1883
A Woman's Life
Guy de Maupassant
France
novel
 
The Adventures of Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi
Italy
novel
1884
Against Nature
Joris-Karl Huysman
France
novel
1884
Mark Twain
United States
novel
1885
King Solomon's Mines
H. Rider Haggard
England
novel
 
Bel Ami
Guy de Maupassant
France
novel
 
Germinal
Émile Zola
France
novel
 
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
 
Scotland
novel
 
Compassion
Benito Pérez Galdós
Spain
novel
1887
Poésies
Stéphane Mallarmé
France
poetry collection
 
At Dusk
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story collection
including Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, A Restless Guest, On the Road, Agafya, and others
 
The Father
August Strindberg
Sweden
play
1888
The Maias
José Maria Eça de Queirós
Portugal
novel
1889
Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome
England
novel
 
The Kreutzer Sonata
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
 
Mark Twain
United States
novel
 
News from Nowhere
William Morris
England
novel
 
Oscar Wilde
Ireland
novel
 
Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen
Norway
play
1892
Pelleas and Melisande
Maurice Maeterlinck
Belgium
play
 
England
story collection
including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and others
 
The Diary of a Nobody
George and Weedon Grossmith
England
novel
 
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
Ambrose Bierce
United States
story collection
1893
The Master Builder
Henrik Ibsen
Norway
play
1894
Arms and the Man
George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
play
 
Tevye Stories
Sholom Aleichem
Ukraine
story collection
1895
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells
England
novel
 
Effi Briest
Theodor Fontane
Germany
novel
 
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde
Ireland
play
 
United States
novel
1896
England
novel
 
A.E. Housman
England
poetry collection
 
The Island of Doctor Moreau
H.G. Wells
England
novel
 
The Seagull
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
 
The Bostonians
Henry James
United States
novel
1897
Ireland
novel
 
Pharoah
Bolesław Prus
Poland
novel
1898
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells
England
novel
 
Cyrano de Bergerac
Edmond Rostand
France
play
 
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
United States
novella
1899
Hunger
Knut Hamsun
Norway
novel
 
The Awakening
Kate Chopin
United States
novel
1900
Poland
novel
 
Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
 
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum
United States
novella
 
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser
United States
novel

Back to top of page

1901
Rudyard Kipling
England
novel
 
Germany
novel
 
Three Sisters
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
 
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novel
1902
England
novella
 
The Wings of the Dove
Henry James
United States
novel
1903
England
novel
 
The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers
England
novel
 
Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
play
 
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
Russia
play
 
The Ambassadors
Henry James
United States
novel
 
The Call of the Wild
Jack London
United States
novella
1904
Nostromo
England
novel
 
Riders to the Sea
John Millington Synge
Ireland
play
 
The Golden Bowl
Henry James
United States
novel
1905
Major Barbara
George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
play
 
Songs of Life and Hope
Rubén Darío
Nicaragua
poetry collection
 
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
United States
novel
1906
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair
United States
novel
1906–1921
England
novel series
including The Man of Property, In Chancery, To Let, and two interludes
1907
Songs of a Sourdough
Robert Service
Canada
poetry collection
 
The Travels of Lao Can
Liu E
China
novel
 
England
novel
 
The Playboy of the Western World
John Millington Synge
Ireland
play
 
Mother
Maxim Gorky
Russia
novel
1908
Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery
Canada
novel
 
The Old Wives' Tale
Arnold Bennett
England
novel
 
A Room with a View
E.M. Forster
England
novel
 
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame
England
novel
1910
Howards End
E.M. Forster
England
novel
1911
England
story collection
including The Blue Cross, The Invisible Man, The Hammer of God, and others
 
Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton
United States
novella
1912
Song Offerings
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengal
poetry collection
 
Zuleika Dobson
Max Beerbohm
England
novel
 
Poetical Works
Robert Bridges
England
poetry collection
 
Germany
novel
1913
Sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence
England
novel
 
Le Grand Meaulnes
Alain-Fournier
France
novel
 
Petersburg
Andrei Bely
Russia
memoir
 
My Childhood
Maxim Gorky
Russia
memoir
1913–1927
In Search of Lost Time
Marcel Proust
France
novel
in seven volumes including Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, The Guermantes Way, Time Regained
1914
Ireland
including The Sisters, Araby, Eveline, Two Gallants, Ivy Day in the Committee Room, The Dead, and others
 
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell
Ireland
novel
 
Kokoro
Sōseki Natsume
Japan
novel
 
Platero and I
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Spain
poem
 
Tarzan of the Apes
Edgar Rice Burroughs
United States
novel
1914–1917
Bunch of Stories
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengal
story collection
 
The Good Soldier
Ford Maddox Ford
England
novel
 
The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence
England
novel
 
Of Human Bondage
W. Somerset Maugham
England
novel
 
A Cloud in Trousers
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Russia
poem
 
Spoon River Anthology
Edgar Lee Masters
United States
poetry collection
1916
The Home and the World
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengal
novel
 
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
Bohemia
novella
 
France
novel
 
Pygmalion
George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
play
 
The Underdogs
Mariano Azuela
Mexico
novel
1918
Poems
Gerard Manley Hopkins
England
poetry collection
 
United States
novel
1919
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson
United States
story collection
c.1919
China
novella
1920
Women in Love
D.H. Lawrence
England
novel
 
Main Street
Sinclair Lewis
United States
novel
 
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
United States
novel
1920–1922
Kristin Lavransdatter
Sigrid Undset
Norway
novel series
including The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross
1920–1923
The Good Soldier Schweik
Jaroslav Hasek
Czechoslovakia
novel
1921
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Luigi Pirandello
Italy
play
1922
The Worm Ouroboros
E.R. Eddison
England
novel
 
England
poem
 
Ireland
novel
 
Rashōmon and Other Stories
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Japan
story collection
 
New Zealand
story collection
including At the Bay, The Garden Party, The Daughters of the Late Colonel, Miss Brill, and others
 
Siddhartha
Herman Hesse
Switzerland
novel
 
United States
story collection
including May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and others
 
Babbitt
Sinclair Lewis
United States
novel
1923
Duino Elegies
Rainer Maria Rilke
Germany
poetry collection
 
Saint Joan
George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
play
 
The Confessions of Zeno
Italo Svevo
Italy
novel
 
Chapayev
Dmitry Furmanov
Russia
novel
 
New Hampshire
Robert Frost
United States
poetry collection
including Fire and Ice, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and others
 
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran
United States
Prose poetry
1924
A Passage to India
E.M. Forster
England
novel
 
The Magic Mountain
Germany
novel
 
Juno and the Paycock
Sean O'Casey
Ireland
play
 
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin
Russia
novel
 
Billy Budd, Foretopman
Herman Melville
United States
novel
1925
Residence on Earth and Other Poems
Pablo Neruda
Chile
poetry collection
 
The Trial
Franz Kafka
Bohemia
novel
 
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
England
novel
 
England
poem
 
Parade's End
Ford Maddox Ford
England
novel
 
England
novel
 
The Counterfeiters
André Gide
France
novel
 
Heart of a Dog
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novella
 
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
United States
story collection
including The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife, The Three-Day Blow, The Big Two-Hearted River, and others
1926
The Castle
Franz Kafka
Bohemia
novel
 
Winnie-the-Pooh
A.A. Milne
England
story collection
 
The Counterfeiters
André Gide
France
novel
 
The Plough and the Stars
Sean O'Casey
Ireland
play
 
United States
novel
1927
England
novel
 
Steppenwolf
Herman Hesse
Switzerland
novel
 
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
United States
novella
1928
England
novel
 
Lady Chatterley's Lover
D.H. Lawrence
England
novel
 
Orlando
Virginia Woolf
France
biography
 
Nadja
André Breton
France
novel
 
The Three-Penny Opera
Bertolt Brecht
Germany
play
 
And Quiet Flows the Don
Mikhail Sholokov
Russia
novel
 
Gypsy Ballads
Federico Garcia Lorca
Spain
poetry collection
1929
A High Wind in Jamaica
Richard Hughes
England
novel
 
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Alfred Döblin
Germany
novel
 
The Time of Indifference
Alberto Moravia
Italy
novel
 
Some Prefer Nettles
Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
Japan
novel
 
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Look Homeward, Angel
Thomas Wolfe
United States
novel
1930
The Bridge
Hart Crane
United States
poem
 
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
1930–1936
U.S.A.
John Dos Passos
United States
novel series
including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money
1930–1943
The Man Without Qualities
Robert Musil
Austria
novel
1931
The Waves
England
novel
 
Pearl S. Buck
United States
novel
 
At the Mountains of Madness
H.P. Lovecraft
United States
novel
 
Guys and Dolls
Damon Runyon
United States
story collection
1932
England
novel
 
Journey to the End of the Night
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
France
novel
 
Viper's Tangle
Francois Mauriac
France
novel
 
Tobacco Road
Erskine Caldwell
United States
novel
 
Light in August
William Faulkner
United States
novel
1932–1935
Studs Lonigan
James T. Farrell
United States
novel series
including Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, Judgment Day
1933
Man's Fate
André Malraux
France
novel
 
The Tower
W.B. Yeats
Ireland
poetry collection
 
Blood Wedding
Federico Garcia Lorca
Spain
play
 
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Gertrude Stein
United States
novel
 
Miss Lonelyhearts
Nathanael West
United States
novella
 
England
novel
 
The Nine Tailors
Dorothy L. Sayers
England
novel
 
A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh
England
novel
 
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
1934–1935
Independent People
Halldór Laxness
Iceland
novel
1935
Auto-da-Fé
Elias Canetti
Austria
novel
 
China
story collection
 
Untouchable
Mulk Raj Anand
India
novel
 
United States
story collection
 
Call It Sleep
Henry Roth
United States
novel
 
Awake and Sing!
Clifford Odets
United States
play
1936
Rickshaw Boy
Lao She
China
novel
 
England
novel
 
Invitation to a Beheading
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
 
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner
United States
novel
 
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
United States
novel
1937
Out of Africa
Karen Blixen
Denmark
memoir
 
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
England
novel
 
The Blind Owl
Sadegh Hedayat
Iran
novel
 
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
United States
novel
 
United States
novella
1933
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier
England
novel
 
Brighton Rock
Graham Greene
England
novel
 
Scoop
Evelyn Waugh
England
novel
 
Nausea
Jean-Paul Sartre
France
novel
 
The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen
Ireland
novel
 
Thornton Wilder
United States
play
 
Mother Courage and Her Children
Bertolt Brecht
Germany
play
 
Ireland
novel
 
At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien
Ireland
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Lillian Hellman
United States
play
 
Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Katherine Anne Porter
United States
story collection
 
United States
novel
 
Nathanael West
United States
novel
1940
The Invention of Morel
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Argentina
novel
 
The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead
Australia
novel
 
The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene
England
novel
 
The Tartar Steppe
Dino Buzzati
Italy
novel
 
The Don Flows Home to the Sea
Mikhail Sholokov
Russia
novel
 
Poet in New York
Federico García Lorca
Spain
poetry collection
 
United States
novel
 
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers
United States
novel
 
Native Son
Richard Wright
United States
novel
1941
Blithe Spirit
Noel Coward
England
play
 
United States
novel
1941–1956
Fictions
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story collection
1942
The Outsider
Albert Camus
Algeria
novella
 
The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand
United States
novel
1944
The Horse's Mouth
Joyce Cary
England
novel
 
Aurélien
Louis Aragon
France
novel
 
Our Lady of the Flowers
Jean Genet
France
novel
 
No Exit
Jean-Paul Sartre
France
play
 
The Makioka Sisters
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Japan
novel
1945
The Tin Flute
Gabrielle Roy
Canada
novel
 
Loving
Henry Green
England
novel
 
England
novella
 
Evelyn Waugh
England
novel
 
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Bertolt Brecht
Germany
play
 
The Glass Bead Game
Herman Hesse
Switzerland
novel
 
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams
United States
play
1945–1948
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren
Sweden
novella series
including Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, Pippi in the South Seas
1946
Zorba the Greek
Nikos Kazantzakis
Greece
novel
 
The Iceman Cometh
Eugene O'Neill
United States
play
 
All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren
United States
novel
1947
The Plague
Albert Camus
Algeria
novella
 
The Age of Anxiety
W.H. Auden
England
poem
 
Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry
England
novel
 
A Case to Answer
Edgar Lustgarten
England
novel
 
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
Germany
memoir
 
Doctor Faustus
Thomas Mann
Germany
novel
 
If This Is a Man
Primo Levy
Italy
memoir
 
A Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams
United States
play
1948
All About H. Haterr
G.V. Desani
England
novel
 
Graham Greene
England
novel
 
Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata
Japan
novel
 
Cry, the Beloved Country
Alan Paton
South Africa
novel
 
United States
novel
1949
The Kingdom of This World
Allejo Carpentier
Cuba
novel
 
The Man with the Golden Arm
Nelson Algren
United States
novel
 
The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles
United States
novel
 
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller
United States
play
1949–1959
The Emigrants
Vilhlem Moberg
Sweden
novel series
including The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, The Last Letter Home
1950
England
novel
 
The Bald Soporano
Eugène Ionesco
France
play
 
United States
story collection
 
The Martian Chronicles
United States
story collection

Back to top of page

1950–1956
C.S. Lewis
England
novel series
including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; and others
1951
Memoirs of Hadrian
Marguerite Yourcenar
Belgium
novel
 
The End of the Affair
Graham Greene
England
novel
 
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham
England
novel
 
The Daughter of Time
Josephine Tey
Scotland
novel
 
From Here to Eternity
James Jones
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
1951–1953
The Trilogy
Samuel Beckett
Ireland
novel series
including Molly, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
 
United States
novel series
including Foundation; Foundation and Empire; Second Foundation
1951–1975
A Dance to the Music of Time
Anthony Powell
England
novel series
1952
The Chairs
Eugene Ionesco
France
play
 
Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett
Ireland
play
 
Thousand Cranes
Yasunari Kawabata
Japan
novel
 
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
United States
novel
 
United States
novella
 
Wise Blood
Flannery O'Connor
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Charlotte's Web
E.B. White
United States
novel
 
A Child's Christmas in Wales
Dylan Thomas
Wales
story
1953
Childhood's End
Arthur C. Clarke
England
novel
 
The Go-Between
L.P. Hartley
England
novel
 
The Burning Plain and Other Stories
Juan Rulfo
Mexico
story collection
 
The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
1954
Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
England
novel
 
Lord of the Flies
William Golding
England
novel
 
Under the Net
Iris Murdoch
England
novel
 
The Mandarins
Simone de Beauvoir
France
novel
 
Hello Sadness
Francoise Sagan
France
novel
 
Nectar in a Sieve
Kamala Markandaya
India
novel
 
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
United States
novel
1954–1955
Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
England
novel
1955
Graham Greene
England
novel
 
Pedro Paramo
Juan Rulfo
Mexico
novella
 
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
 
The Complete Poems
Emily Dickinson
United States
poetry collection
 
The Recognitions
William Gaddis
United States
novel
 
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith
United States
novel
 
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Flannery O'Connor
United States
story collection
1956
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
João Guimarães Rosa
Brazil
novel
 
Look Back in Anger
John Osburn
England
play
 
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima
Japan
novel
 
The Visit
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Switzerland
play
 
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
United States
novel
 
Howl
Allen Ginsberg
United States
poem
 
Long Day's Journey into Night
Eugene O'Neill
United States
play
 
Night
Elie Wiesel
United States
memoir
 
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Tennessee Williams
United States
play
1956–1957
The Cairo Trilogy
Naguib Mahfouz
Egypt
novel series
1957
Voss
Patrick White
Australia
novel
 
England
novel
 
The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham
England
novel
 
Jealousy
Alain Robbe-Grillet
France
novel
 
Endgame
Samuel Beckett
Ireland
play
 
Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
 
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak
Russia
novel
 
United States
novel
 
The Wapshot Chronicle
John Cheever
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand
United States
novel
1957–1960
The Alexandria Quartet
Laurence Durrell
England
novel series
1958
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
Jorge Amado
Brazil
novel
 
The Caretaker
Harold Pinter
England
play
 
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Alan Sillitoe
England
novel
 
The Once and Future King
T.H. White
England
novel
 
The Guide
R.K. Narayan
India
novel
 
The Leopard
Giusseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Italy
novel
 
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe
Nigeria
novel
 
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Truman Capote
United States
novella
1959
Canada
story collection
including All the Years of Her Life, A Sick Call, Now That April's Here, Ancient Lineage, Two Fishermen, and others
 
The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing
England
novel
 
The Tin Drum
Günter Grass
Germany
novel
 
Henderson the Rain King
Saul Bellow
United States
novel
 
Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs
United States
novel
 
A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberrry
United States
play
 
United States
novel
1960
United States
novel
 
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller
United States
novel
 
Rabbit, Run
John Updike
United States
novel
1961
Solaris
Stanislaw Lem
Poland
novel
 
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark
Scotland
novel
 
A House for Mr Biswas
V.S. Naipaul
Trinidad
novel
 
Joseph Heller
United States
novel
 
The Moviegoer
Walker Percy
United States
novel
 
Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger
United States
novel
 
Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates
United States
novel
1962
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess
England
novel
 
The Death of Artemio Cruz
Carlos Fuentes
Mexico
novel
 
Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
novel
 
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novella
 
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Edward Albee
United States
play
 
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson
United States
novel
 
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
United States
novel
 
Ship of Fools
Katherine Anne Porter
United States
novel
1962–1983
Labyrinths
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story collection
1963
The General of the Dead Army
Ismail Kadare
Albania
novel
 
Hopscotch
Julio Cortazar
Argentina
novel
 
The Garden Party
Vaclav Havel
Czechoslovakia
play
 
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré
England
novel
 
The Crucible
Arthur Miller
United States
play
 
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut
United States
novel
1964
The Rashiching of Lol Stein
Marguerite Duras
France
novel
 
Arrow of God
Chinua Achebe
Nigeria
novel
 
Herzog
Saul Bellow
United States
novel
1965
Frank Herbert
United States
novel
1965–1971
The Sea of Fertility
Yukio Mishima
Japan
novel series
including Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, The Decay of the Angel
1966
Canada
novel
 
A Jest of God
Canada
novel
 
The Magus
John Fowles
England
novel
 
Black Sheep
Georgette Heyer
England
novel
 
Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys
England
novel
 
Silence
Shūsaku Endō
Japan
novel
 
Season of Migration to the North
Tayeb Salih
Sudan
novel
 
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
United States
novel
 
Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes
United States
novel
 
The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon
United States
novel
1966–1969
Song of Lawino
Okot p'Bitek
Uganda
poem
1967
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
novel
 
Children of Gebelawi
Naguib Mahfouz
Egypt
novel
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke
England
novel
 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Tom Stoppard
England
play
 
The Third Policeman
Flann O'Brien
Ireland
novel
 
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novel
 
The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton
United States
novel
 
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
United States
novel
 
Cancer Ward
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novel
 
The First Circle
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novel
 
Belle du Seigneur
Albert Cohen
Switzerland
novel
 
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
United States
novella
 
The Lion in Winter
James Goldman
United States
play
 
United States
novel
 
Myra Breckinridge
Gore Vidal
United States
novel
1968–2001
United States
novel series
including A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, The Other Wind, and others
1969
Little Painted Mouths
Manuel Puig
Argentina
novel
 
John Fowles
England
novel
 
Master and Commander
Patrick O'Brian
England
novel
 
A Void
Georges Perec
France
novel
 
them
Joyce Carol Oates
United States
novel
 
The Godfather
Mario Puzo
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Slaughterhouse Five
Kurt Vonnegut
United States
novel
1970
Fifth Business
Robertson Davies
Canada
novel
 
Crow
Ted Hughes
England
poetry collection
 
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
United States
memoir
 
Deliverance
James Dickey
United States
novel
 
Ringworld
Larry Niven
United States
novel
1970–1983
Anniversaries
Uwe Johnson
Germany
novel
1971
Lives of Girls and Women
Alice Munro
Canada
story collection
 
The Complete Stories
Franz Kafka
Germany
story collection
 
In a Free State
V.S. Naipaul
Trinidad
novel
 
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
United States
novel
 
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner
United States
novel
1971–1983
United States
novel series
including To Your Scattered Bodies Go, The Fabulous Riverboat, The Dark Design, and others
1972
Watership Down
Richard Adams
England
novel
 
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino
Italy
novella
 
The Twilight Years
Sawako Ariyoshi
Japan
novel
 
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson
United States
novel
1973
The Siege of Krishnapur
J.G. Farrell
England
novel
 
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon
United States
novel
1974
Canada
novel
 
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John le Carré
England
novel
 
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
Heinrich Böll
Germany
novella
 
History
Elsa Morante
Italy
novel
 
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman
United States
novel
 
The Dispossessed
United States
novel
1975
W, or the Memory of Childhood
Georges Perec
France
novel
 
The Periodic Table
Primo Levi
Italy
memoir
 
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
United States
novel
 
Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow
United States
novel
1977
The Hour of the Star
Clarice Lispector
Brazil
novel
 
The Wars
Timothy Findley
Canada
novel
 
Aunt Julia and the Script-Writer
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peru
novel
 
A Part of Speech
Joseph Brodsky
Russia
poetry collection
 
Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison
United States
novel
1978
The Sea, the Sea
Iris Murdoch
England
novel
 
Life a User's Manual
Georges Perecs
France
novel
 
The Stories of John Cheever
John Cheever
United States
story collection
 
United States
novel
1979
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Italo Calvino
Italy
novel
 
A Bend in the River
V.S. Naipaul
Trinidad
novel
 
Burger's Daughter
Nadine Gordimer
South Africa
novel
 
Sophie's Choice
William Styron
United States
novel
1979–1992
England
novel series
including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and others
1980
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco
Italy
novel
 
Waiting for the Barbarians
J.M. Coetzee
South Africa
novel
 
Life and Fate
Vasily Grossman
Ukraine
novel
1981
Obasan
Joy Kogawa
Canada
novel
 
Chronicle of a Death Foretoold
Gabriel García Marquez
Colombia
novella
 
Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie
India
novel
 
The War of the End of the World
Mario Vargas Llosa
India
novel
 
July's People
Nadine Gordimer
South Africa
novel
 
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Raymond Carver
United States
story collection
 
Red Dragon
Thomas Harris
United States
novel
 
Rabbit Is Rich
John Updike
United States
novel
1982
Schindler's List
Thomas Keneally
Australia
novel
 
Wittgenstein's Nephew
Thomas Bernhard
Austria
novel
 
The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende
Chile
novel
 
Noises Off
Michael Frayn
England
play
 
"Master Harold"...and the Boys
Athol Fugard
South Africa
play
 
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
United States
novel
1982–1984
The Belgariad
David Eddings
United States
novel series
1983
The Life and Times of Michael K
J.M. Coetzee
South Africa
novel
1984
Neuromancer
William Gibson
Canada
novel
 
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
Czechoslovakia
novel
 
Money
Martin Amis
England
novel
 
J.G. Ballard
England
novel
 
Hotel du Lac
Anita Brookner
England
novel
 
The Lover
Marguerite Duras
France
novella
 
Bright Lights, Big City
Jay McInerney
United States
novel
 
Glengarry Glen Ross
David Mamet
United States
play
1985
Annie John
Jamaica Kincaid
Antigua
novel
 
Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
novel
 
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Suskind
Germany
novel
 
United States
novel
 
White Noise
Don DeLillo
United States
novel
 
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy
United States
novel
 
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
United States
novel
 
The Accidental Tourist
Anne Tyler
United States
novel
1985–1986
The New York Trilogy
Paul Auster
United States
novel series
1987
In the Skin of A Lion
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
novel
 
The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields
Canada
novel
 
The Radiant Way
Margaret Drabble
England
novel
 
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
Japan
novel
 
United States
novel
 
Misery
Stephen King
United States
novel
 
Beloved
Toni Morrison
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
1988
Oscar and Lucinda
Peter Carey
Australia
novel
 
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
Brazil
novel
 
The Shadow Lines
Amitav Ghosh
India
novel
 
The Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie
India
novel
 
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto
Japan
novel
 
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
United States
novel
 
Breathing Lessons
Anne Tyler
United States
novel
 
Nervous Conditions
Dangarembga Tsitsi
Zimbabwe
novel
1989
London Fields
Martin Amis
England
novel
 
The Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett
England
novel
 
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
England
novel
 
England
novel
 
The Great Indian Novelo
Shashi Tharoor
India
novel
 
Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
Mexico
novel
 
The Storyteller
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peru
novel
 
A Prayer for Owen Meany
United States
novel
1990
Possession
A.S. Byatt
England
novel
 
Vertigo
W.G. Sebald
Germany
novel
 
Amongst Women
John McGahern
Ireland
poem
 
Omeros
Derek Walcott
St. Lucia
poem
 
Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard
United States
novel
 
The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien
United States
story collection
1991
Couldstreet
Tim Winton
Australia
novel
 
Generation X
Douglas Coupland
Canada
novel
 
The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa
Portugal
novel
1991–1995
Pat Barker
England
novel series
including Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, The Ghost Road
1991–
Outlander
Diana Gabaldon
United States
novel series
1992
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
novel
 
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow
Peter Hoeg
Denmark
novel
 
The Triple Mirror of the Self
Zulfikar Ghose
Pakistan
novel
 
The Crow Road
Iain Banks
Scotland
novel
 
Angels in America
Tony Kushner
United States
play
 
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
United States
novel
 
Birdsong
Sebastian Faulks
England
novel
 
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth
India
novel
 
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Roddy Doyle
Ireland
novel
 
The Shipping News
Annie Proulx
United States
novel
 
Arcadia
Tom Stoppard
England
play
1994
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres
England
novel
1994–1995
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami
Japan
novel
1995
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry
Canada
novel
 
Portugal
novel
1995–2000
His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman
England
novel series
including Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
1996
Canada
novel
 
Fall on Your Knees
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Canada
novel
 
Chapayev and Pustota
Victor Pelevin
Russia
novel
 
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
United States
novel
1996–2023
A Song of Fire and Ice
George R.R. Martin
United States
novel series
including A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, and others
1997
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
India
novel
 
Underworld
Don DeLillo
United States
novel
 
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier
United States
novel
 
Mason and Dixon
Thomas Pynchon
United States
novel
 
American Pastoral
United States
novel
1997–2007
Harry Potter
J.K. Rowling
England
novel series
including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, ...the Chamber of Secrets, ...and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and others
1998
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
Wayne Johnston
Canada
novel
 
The Savage Detectives
Roberto Bolaño
Chile
novel
 
My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk
Turkey
novel
 
The Hours
Michael Cunningham
United States
novel
 
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
United States
novel
1999
Disgrace
J.M. Coetzee
South Africa
novel
 
Waiting
Ha Jin
United States
novel
 
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
United States
story collection
2000
True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter Carey
Australia
novel
 
White Teeth
Zadie Smith
England
novel
 
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Dai Sijie
France
novel
 
The Feast of the Goat
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peru
novel
 
Selected Prose and Poems
Paul Celan
Romania
prose and poetry collection
 
Bartleby and Co
Enrique Vila-Matas
Spain
novel
 
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
United States
novel
 
United States
novel
2000–2003
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
Iran
graphic novel series
including Persepolis, Persepolis 2

Back to top of page

2001
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
Alice Munro
Canada
story collection
including Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Bear Came Over the Mountain; and others
 
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
England
novel
 
Ian McEwan
England
novel
 
Austerlitz
W.G. Sebald
Germany
novel
 
The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen
United States
novel
2002
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Canada
novel
 
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
United States
novel
 
Fingersmith
Sarah Waters
Wales
novel
2003
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
England
novel
 
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa
Japan
novel
 
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
United States
novel
 
The Known World
Edward P. Jones
United States
novel
 
Vernon God Little
DBC Pierre
United States
novel
2004
A Complicated Kindness
Mariam Toews
Canada
novel
 
2666
Roberto Bolaño
Chile
novel
 
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke
England
novel
 
Cloud Atlas
David Mitchell
England
novel
 
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson
United States
novel
2005
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Australia
novel
 
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
England
novel
 
Measuring the World
Daniel Kehlmann
Germany
novel
 
The Sea
John Banville
Ireland
novel
2005–2007
Stieg Larsson
Sweden
novel series
including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
2006
The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran desai
India
novella
 
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigeria
novel
 
What Is the What
Dave Eggers
United States
memoir
 
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
United States
novel
2007
The Book of Negroes
Lawrence Hill
Canada
novel
 
The Gathering
Anne Enright
Ireland
novel
 
The Great Man
Kate Christenson
United States
novel
 
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
United States
novel
 
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
United States
novel
2008
White Tiger
Aravind Adiga
India
novel
2009
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
England
novel
 
Brooklyn
Colm Tóibín
Ireland
novel
2009–2010
IQ84
Haruki Murakami
Japan
novel
2010
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan
United States
novel
2011
Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan
Canada
novel
 
My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante
Italy
novel
2012
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
United States
novel
2013
The Luminaries
Eleanor Catton
New Zealand
novel
 
Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigeria
novel
2015–2017
Broken Earth trilogy
N.K. Jemisin
United States
novel series
including The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky
2016
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
United States
novel
2018
Too Much Lip
Melissa Lucashenko
Australia
novel
 
Normal People
Sally Rooney
Ireland
novel

Back to top of page