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Ultimate Best Books

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Ultimate Best Books

Ranked by points from the world's most prestigious book lists. How many have you read?

The Bostonians

The Bostonians

Henry James

4.0 (1)

"Olive will come down in about ten minutes; she told me to tell you that."

#481
RANK
688
POINTS
The Abyss

The Abyss

Marguerite Yourcenar

3.5 (2)

#482
RANK
683
POINTS
The Periodic Table

The Periodic Table

Primo Levi

4.33 (3)

There are the so-called inert gases in the air we breathe.

#483
RANK
682
POINTS
Sea of Poppies

Sea of Poppies

Amitav Ghosh

5.0 (1)

The vision of a tall-masted ship, at sail on the ocean, came to Deeti on an otherwise ordinary day, but she knew instantly that the apparition was a sign of destiny for she had never seen such a vessel before, not even in a dream: how could she have, living as she did in northern Bihar, four hundred miles from the coast?

#484
RANK
677
POINTS
Shadow of the Torturer

Shadow of the Torturer

Gene Wolfe

4.0 (4)

It is possible I already had some presentiment of my future.To those who have preceded me in the study of the posthistoric world, and particularly to those collectors - too numerous to name here - who have permitted me to examine artifacts surviving so many centuries of futurity, and most especially to those who have allowed me to visit and photograph the era's few extant buildings, I am truly grateful. G.W. (Appendix)

#485
RANK
674
POINTS
Man's Fate

Man's Fate

Andre Malraux

5.0 (1)

Should he try to raise the mosquito-netting?

#486
RANK
673
POINTS
Goodbye to All That

Goodbye to All That

Robert Graves

5.0 (2)

As a proof of my readiness to accept autobiographical conventions, let me at once record my two earliest memories.

#487
RANK
672
POINTS
#488
RANK
662
POINTS
The Riddle of the Sands

The Riddle of the Sands

Erskine Childers

4.5 (2)

I have read of men who, when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude - save for a few black faces - have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism. It was in some such spirit, with an added touch of self-consciousness, that, at seven o'clock in the evening of 23rd September in a recent year, I was making my evening toilet in my chambers in Pall Mall.

#489
RANK
659
POINTS
#490
RANK
652
POINTS