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Best of World Literature

Description: Literature originating from places other than America, United Kingdom or Western Europe.

Members: 42 participating members (show all)

All members' list: [1] 2 3 4 5Sort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
18,025 members, 396 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (1), biscanac (1), jain (1), steller0707 (1), CGlanovsky (1), gypsysmom (2), ahef1963 (4), Dilara86 (5), roby72 (5), thorold (8), amandameale (8) — 5 more, Himalmitra (10), FranzK72 (19), thecoroner (24), kara.shamy (63), cej1027

2
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
8,395 members, 168 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: gypsysmom (1), hipdeep (1), inge87 (1), Laura1124 (2), steller0707 (2), Himalmitra (2), aulsmith (2), Dilara86 (4), augustau (5), amandameale (5), ahef1963 (6)

3
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
25,047 members, 393 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (1), thecoroner (1), rplinke (1), Laura1124 (3), gypsysmom (3), roby72 (4), raperper (4), augustau (6), amandameale (7), Himalmitra (8), iggyjreilly (14)

4
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera
20,714 members, 245 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: sturlington (1), TehilaKoblenz (1), gypsysmom (4), amandameale (6), CGlanovsky (8), Himalmitra (9), jain (16), FranzK72 (18), roby72 (21), thecoroner (22), mspixieears

5
The Epic of Gilgamesh
by Anonymous
8,819 members, 105 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (1), Himalmitra (1), aulsmith (1), CGlanovsky (2), ahef1963 (5), merrystar (11), raperper (13), jain (22), augustau (31), kara.shamy (64)

6
Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
25,316 members, 372 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: biscanac (2), ahef1963 (3), Laura1124 (4), merrystar (4), TehilaKoblenz (4), iggyjreilly (4), steller0707 (6), augustau (8), gypsysmom (8), roby72 (18)

7
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
40,040 members, 605 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: thorold (2), biscanac (3), FranzK72 (4), Laura1124 (5), thecoroner (5), TehilaKoblenz (5), iggyjreilly (5), augustau (9), merrystar (9), CGlanovsky (48)

8
Fictions
by Jorge Luis Borges
6,637 members, 100 reviews
4.38 stars (4.38 stars)

Lists: prdasilva (1), merrystar (1), thecoroner (3), FranzK72 (5), CGlanovsky (7), roby72 (7), thorold (9), Himalmitra (15), raperper (17)

9
Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie
12,620 members, 229 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (6), FranzK72 (6), CGlanovsky (6), roby72 (6), thecoroner (8), ahef1963 (8), augustau (10), Himalmitra (11), iggyjreilly (13), kara.shamy (65), mspixieears

10
The House of the Spirits
by Isabel Allende
12,517 members, 220 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: TehilaKoblenz (2), hipdeep (2), steller0707 (3), merrystar (5), augustau (7), thecoroner (7), FranzK72 (9), CGlanovsky (14), roby72 (22)

11
A Bend in the River
by V. S. Naipaul
2,933 members, 54 reviews
3.7 stars (3.7 stars)

Lists: philna (1), gypsysmom (5), thecoroner (6), Laura1124 (7), BookWallah (11), augustau (12), amandameale (16), iggyjreilly (17), roby72 (41)

12
A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
8,536 members, 240 reviews
4.37 stars (4.37 stars)

Lists: KimarieBee (1), Himalmitra (3), Dilara86 (3), steller0707 (5), gypsysmom (6), augustau (13), iggyjreilly (16), ahef1963 (33)

13
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
27,525 members, 859 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: spamboxyay (1), TehilaKoblenz (3), BookWallah (5), steller0707 (7), gypsysmom (7), Laura1124 (8), augustau (14), ahef1963 (39)

14
The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
25,979 members, 299 reviews
4.38 stars (4.38 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (2), thecoroner (2), roby72 (3), steller0707 (4), CGlanovsky (4), Himalmitra (7), raperper (16)

15
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
11,645 members, 181 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: 8heist (1), amandameale (10), augustau (11), BookWallah (13), roby72 (14), raperper (15), Himalmitra (23), mspixieears

16
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
48,067 members, 1,238 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: BookWallah (2), TehilaKoblenz (7), ahef1963 (7), Laura1124 (9), steller0707 (10), gypsysmom (12), augustau (16), roby72 (17)

Thumbs down: librorumamans, Himalmitra

17
The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
12,463 members, 153 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (1), sturlington (3), gypsysmom (13), roby72 (13), ahef1963 (20), thecoroner (33)

18
Life and Fate
by Vasily Grossman
2,882 members, 78 reviews
4.37 stars (4.37 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (4), amandameale (4), raperper (6), roby72 (9), FranzK72 (10), Himalmitra (17)

19
The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
10,741 members, 128 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (3), thorold (7), steller0707 (8), CGlanovsky (10), ahef1963 (10), Himalmitra (12)

20
The Bridge on the Drina
by Ivo Andrić
2,073 members, 56 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: amandameale (1), Dilara86 (7), FranzK72 (8), thecoroner (15), augustau (17), roby72 (72)

21
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
34,098 members, 944 reviews
3.56 stars (3.56 stars)

Lists: merrystar (2), TehilaKoblenz (6), ahef1963 (9), Laura1124 (10), augustau (15), roby72 (39)

22
Hopscotch
by Julio Cortázar
4,451 members, 92 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: Carina.P (1), FranzK72 (3), iggyjreilly (3), thecoroner (10), roby72 (26)

23
My Name Is Red
by Orhan Pamuk
6,512 members, 154 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: amandameale (2), thorold (6), steller0707 (9), FranzK72 (15), roby72 (20), thecoroner (30)

24
The Housekeeper and the Professor
by Yoko Ogawa
2,731 members, 200 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: KimarieBee (2), mkbird (3), jain (6), steller0707 (15), augustau (19)

25
Labyrinths
by Jorge Luis Borges
6,186 members, 78 reviews
4.42 stars (4.42 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (4), thorold (5), merrystar (10), CGlanovsky (17), roby72 (37), steller0707 (52)

26
The Good Soldier Svejk
by Jaroslav Hašek
3,131 members, 51 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: thorold (4), FranzK72 (13), CGlanovsky (19), augustau (20), thecoroner (36), roby72 (59)

27
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje
10,679 members, 161 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: philna (2), jain (10), gypsysmom (11), amandameale (13), augustau (18), ahef1963 (21), Himalmitra (24), mspixieears

Thumbs down: sturlington, BookWallah, aulsmith

Explanations:

sturlington (0): Canadian

aulsmith (0): Canadian

jain (10): Canada is a place "other than America, United Kingdom or Western Europe".

28
Soul Mountain
by Gao Xingjian
2,294 members, 34 reviews
3.52 stars (3.52 stars)

Lists: DB71991 (1), CGlanovsky (12), FranzK72 (21), thecoroner (27), roby72 (32)

29
Complete Poems
by C.P. Cavafy
1,699 members, 25 reviews
4.36 stars (4.36 stars)

Lists: mkbird (1), thorold (3), aulsmith (7), Himalmitra (18)

30
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
7,704 members, 305 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: BookWallah (9), Laura1124 (11), steller0707 (18), jain (19), cej1027

31
The Iliad / The Odyssey
by Homer
4,733 members, 46 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: augustau (1), roby72 (1), raperper (1), Himalmitra (5), gypsysmom (10), mspixieears

Thumbs down: merrystar, BookWallah, thecoroner, aulsmith

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): While Greece is currently in Eastern Europe, Ancient Greece is the seat of Western European culture.

32
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by Haruki Murakami
16,426 members, 349 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: CGlanovsky (9), roby72 (12), iggyjreilly (15), ahef1963 (18), mspixieears

33
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6,009 members, 281 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (6), steller0707 (11), amandameale (14), gypsysmom (16), ahef1963 (52)

34
Conversation in the Cathedral
by Mario Vargas Llosa
1,091 members, 22 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (7), roby72 (10), Himalmitra (19), raperper (24), thecoroner (26)

35
The Makioka Sisters
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
1,886 members, 40 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (9), amandameale (11), FranzK72 (12), thecoroner (17), roby72 (46)

36
Heart of Darkness [Norton Critical Edition]
by Joseph Conrad
2,963 members, 21 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (12), gypsysmom (14), steller0707 (17), Himalmitra (28), ahef1963 (54), cej1027, mspixieears

Thumbs down: jain, aulsmith

Explanations:

jain (0): imo it's acceptable to consider him a Polish author--I just don't like the book.

aulsmith (0): I know he's Polish and this is about Africa, but he's generally considered a British author.

38
Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
10,985 members, 240 reviews
3.84 stars (3.84 stars)

Lists: augustau (2), BookWallah (6), jain (18), gypsysmom (25)

39
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
4,756 members, 247 reviews
3.69 stars (3.69 stars)

Lists: BookWallah (1), steller0707 (13), augustau (24), kara.shamy (66)

40
The Invention of Morel
by Adolfo Bioy Casares
2,199 members, 65 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (7), augustau (21), FranzK72 (36), thecoroner (43), CGlanovsky (49)

41
The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
17,956 members, 328 reviews
3.88 stars (3.88 stars)

Lists: philna (4), steller0707 (12), iggyjreilly (12), augustau (22)

42
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
11,124 members, 240 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: sturlington (5), BookWallah (7), steller0707 (14), gypsysmom (26)

43
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
8,888 members, 400 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: gypsysmom (15), roby72 (15), ahef1963 (47), kara.shamy (67), mspixieears

44
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
6,492 members, 143 reviews
3.57 stars (3.57 stars)

Lists: CGlanovsky (16), augustau (23), roby72 (27), FranzK72 (30), steller0707 (53)

46
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
7,622 members, 313 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: sturlington (8), TehilaKoblenz (9), CGlanovsky (18), roby72 (55)

47
Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo
22,724 members, 308 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: isworoami (1), 8heist (2), amandameale (3), CGlanovsky (5), raperper (5), gypsysmom (9)

Thumbs down: merrystar, jain, BookWallah, thecoroner, aulsmith

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): Western Europe

48
The Sound of the Mountain
by Yasunari Kawabata
1,069 members, 17 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: jain (4), FranzK72 (26), roby72 (69), mspixieears

49
Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles
5,783 members, 63 reviews
3.69 stars (3.69 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (2), CGlanovsky (3), raperper (3), roby72 (8), Himalmitra (16), ahef1963 (17)

Thumbs down: merrystar, BookWallah, thecoroner, aulsmith

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): I think of Ancient Greece as Western

50
Omeros
by Derek Walcott
1,019 members, 19 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: thorold (1), thecoroner (9), roby72 (64)

51
Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
16,291 members, 440 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: CGlanovsky (13), gypsysmom (17), roby72 (36), mspixieears

52
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
6,889 members, 135 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: merrystar (8), Laura1124 (13), steller0707 (22), gypsysmom (80)

53
We: A Novel
by Yevgeny Zamyatin
7,377 members, 199 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: sturlington (2), merrystar (7), thecoroner (25)

54
Mother
by Maxim Gorky
1,081 members, 24 reviews
3.57 stars (3.57 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (10), thecoroner (19), FranzK72 (23), roby72 (70)

55
The Nose
by Nikolai Gogol
335 members, 13 reviews
3.62 stars (3.62 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (14), FranzK72 (17), CGlanovsky (22), roby72 (67)

56
Arrow of God
by Chinua Achebe
1,122 members, 19 reviews
3.7 stars (3.7 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (4), Dilara86 (9), gypsysmom (18)

57
Snow Country
by Yasunari Kawabata
2,857 members, 73 reviews
3.73 stars (3.73 stars)

Lists: gypsysmom (19), thecoroner (20), FranzK72 (33), roby72 (43)

58
The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai
6,459 members, 179 reviews
3.41 stars (3.41 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (16), ahef1963 (23), gypsysmom (35), kara.shamy (68)

59
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
4,211 members, 238 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (19), steller0707 (24), augustau (25), gypsysmom (92)

60
Waiting for the Barbarians
by J. M. Coetzee
3,919 members, 71 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: gypsysmom (20), FranzK72 (27), thecoroner (32), CGlanovsky (54)

61
Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
8,723 members, 506 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (18), augustau (26), steller0707 (26), gypsysmom (95)

62
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
6,078 members, 301 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: BookWallah (4), Laura1124 (14), gypsysmom (23)

64
To the End of the Land
by David Grossman
1,339 members, 61 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: iggyjreilly (7), inge87 (14), gypsysmom (22)

65
The Home and the World
by Rabindranath Tagore
577 members, 12 reviews
3.69 stars (3.69 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (10), roby72 (11), Himalmitra (21)

66
Cancer Ward
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
3,222 members, 44 reviews
4.08 stars (4.08 stars)

Lists: augustau (3), gypsysmom (34), roby72 (38)

67
R.U.R.
by Karel Čapek
851 members, 23 reviews
3.61 stars (3.61 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (6), aulsmith (13), CGlanovsky (35)

68
Collected Fictions
by Jorge Luis Borges
4,596 members, 55 reviews
4.6 stars (4.6 stars)

Lists: CGlanovsky (11), amandameale (15), roby72 (29)

69
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol
8,207 members, 109 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (11), thecoroner (12), roby72 (47)

70
Season of Migration to the North
by Tayeb Salih
1,405 members, 43 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (8), augustau (29), CGlanovsky (29)

71
The Grass Is Singing
by Doris Lessing
2,032 members, 69 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: thorold (10), steller0707 (19), gypsysmom (36)

72
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
11,519 members, 300 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: BookWallah (8), augustau (30), gypsysmom (37)

73
2666
by Roberto Bolaño
5,862 members, 162 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (13), roby72 (25), FranzK72 (29)

74
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
by Jorge Amado
1,198 members, 25 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: iggyjreilly (1), thecoroner (44)

75
A Hero of Our Time
by Mikhail Lermontov
3,376 members, 57 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (16), FranzK72 (25), roby72 (31)

76
The Bhagavad Gita : The song of God
by Anonymous
8,648 members, 86 reviews
3.94 stars (3.94 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (2), Himalmitra (13)

77
A House for Mr Biswas
by V. S. Naipaul
3,113 members, 63 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: Laura1124 (15), iggyjreilly (19), roby72 (60)

78
The Woman in the Dunes
by Kōbō Abe
2,702 members, 58 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: iggyjreilly (18), CGlanovsky (20), roby72 (50)

79
A Personal Matter
by Kenzaburō Ōe
1,656 members, 29 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (16), thecoroner (28), roby72 (48)

80
Resurrection
by Leo Tolstoy
2,622 members, 32 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (23), FranzK72 (32), roby72 (33)

81
Oblomov
by Ivan Goncharov
3,017 members, 60 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (21), FranzK72 (34), roby72 (42)

82
Pedro Páramo
by Juan Rulfo
2,725 members, 62 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (20), thecoroner (34), CGlanovsky (46)

83
War with the Newts
by Karel Čapek
1,758 members, 50 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (29), CGlanovsky (33), FranzK72 (35)

84
The President
by Miguel Ángel Asturias
849 members, 15 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (24), thecoroner (38), roby72 (53)

85
Heart of a Dog
by Mikhail Bulgakov
2,765 members, 54 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (28), thecoroner (39), roby72 (52)

86
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
by Leo Tolstoy
2,180 members, 20 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (22), thecoroner (48), roby72 (61)

87
The Black Book
by Orhan Pamuk
2,027 members, 32 reviews
3.66 stars (3.66 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (31), thecoroner (46), roby72 (56)

88
Quo Vadis
by Henryk Sienkiewicz
3,026 members, 53 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (41), roby72 (44), thecoroner (45)

89
Black Rain
by Masuji Ibuse
773 members, 24 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (38), roby72 (49), thecoroner (51)

90
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
by Mario Vargas Llosa
2,377 members, 65 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (37), thecoroner (49), roby72 (62)

91
Of Love and Shadows
by Isabel Allende
2,928 members, 47 reviews
3.66 stars (3.66 stars)

Lists: merrystar (3), gypsysmom (50)

93
The Street of Crocodiles
by Bruno Schulz
1,214 members, 38 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: augustau (4), CGlanovsky (32)

94
Inés of My Soul
by Isabel Allende
2,401 members, 80 reviews
3.66 stars (3.66 stars)

Lists: inge87 (5), gypsysmom (24)

95
Kusamakura
by Natsume Soseki
560 members, 9 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: FranzK72 (40), thecoroner (50), roby72 (71)

96
The Tiger's Wife
by Téa Obreht
4,887 members, 320 reviews
3.52 stars (3.52 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (25), kara.shamy (70), gypsysmom (94)

97
Poems of a Black Orpheus
by Leopold Sedar Senghor
4 members, 0 reviews

Lists: thorold (12), aulsmith (16)

98
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
by Matsuo Bashō
1,187 members, 22 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (11), steller0707 (20)

99
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
8,451 members, 156 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: CharlesTheB (6), CGlanovsky (47)

100
Children of the Alley
by Naguib Mahfouz
755 members, 16 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (1)

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About this list

Started by: sturlington (September 2013)

Type: Numbered and unnumbered

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