The most popular books in English
from 19801 to 20000

What books are currently the most popular and which are the all time classics? Here we present you with a mixture of those two criteria. We update this list once a month.

19807. The Foreigner's Gift: The Americans, the Arabs, and …

Fouad Ajami

The Foreigner's Gift: The Americans, the Arabs, and the Iraqis in Iraq is a book by Fouad Ajami.

19810. The Oppermanns

Lion Feuchtwanger

First published in 1934 but fully imagining the future of Germany over the ensuing years, The Oppermanns tells the compelling story of a remarkable German Jewish family confronted by Hitler's rise to power. Compared to works by Voltaire and Zola on its original publication, this …

19813. Wall Jumper

Peter Schneider

A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe's most charismatic and enigmatic cityIt isn't Europe's most beautiful city or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in …

19814. Destination: Universe!

A. E. van Vogt

Destination: Universe! is the second collection of science fiction short stories by A. E. van Vogt, published in hardcover by Pellegrini & Cudahy in 1952, and repeatedly reprinted in paperback, by three different publishers, over the next 25 years. The first British edition …

19818. The Roots of Coincidence

Arthur Koestler

The Roots of Coincidence is a 1972 book by Arthur Koestler, an introduction to theories of parapsychology, including extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. Koestler postulates links between modern physics, their interaction with time and paranormal phenomena. It is …

19820. The Gold-Bug

Edgar Allan Poe

"The Gold-Bug" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Set on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, the plot follows William Legrand, who was recently bitten by a gold-colored bug. His servant, Jupiter, fears Legrand is going insane and goes to Legrand's friend, an unnamed narrator, …

19821. Distant view of a minaret and other stories

Alifa Rifaat

More convincingly than any other woman writing in Arabic today, Alifa Rifaat, an Egyptian, lifts the veil on what it means to be a woman living within a traditional Muslim society. Her writing articulates a subtle revolt against, and a sympathetic insight into, the place of …

19823. World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred

Keith DeCandido

World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred is a book published in 2006 that was written by Keith DeCandido.

19824. The One That Got Away

Chris Ryan

The British Army's Special Air Service is one of the world's premier special operations units. During the Gulf War, deep behind Iraqi lines, an SAS team was compromised. A fierce firefight ensued, and the eight men were forced to run for their lives. Only one, Chris Ryan, …

19828. The uncanny

Sigmund Freud

The uncanny is a collection of works by Sigmund Freud.

19831. Confession of a Murderer

Joseph Roth

Confession of a Murderer details the interior life of a man consumed by jealousy and hatred. In a Russian restaurant on Paris's Left Bank, Russian exile Golubchik alternately fascinates and horrifies a rapt audience with a wild story of collaboration, deception, and murder in …

19833. On a day like this

Peter Stamm

A new novel of artful understatement about mortality, estrangement, and the absurdity of life from the acclaimed author of Unformed Landscape and In Strange GardensOn a day like any other, Andreas changes his life. When a routine doctor’s visit leads to an unexpected prognosis, …

19835. The basic writings of Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

This classic edition of The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud includes complete texts of six works that have profoundly influenced our understanding of human behavior. The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud is presented here in the translation by Dr. A. A. Brill, who for almost forty …

19837. Royal Highness

Thomas Mann

Royal Highness is the delightfully ironic tale of a small, decadent German duchy and its invigoration by the intellect and values of an independent-minded American woman. Peopled with a range of characters from aristocrat to artisan, Royal Highness provides a microcosmic view of …

19838. Alraune

Hanns Heinz Ewers

Alraune is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald.

19841. Rumpole's Last Case

John Mortimer

Rumpole's Last Case is a 1987 collection of short stories by John Mortimer about defence barrister Horace Rumpole. They were adapted from his scripts for the TV series of the same name. The stories were: "Rumpole and the Winter Break" "Rumpole and the Blind Tasting" "Rumpole and …

19844. The Quest for Christa T.

Christa Wolf

When The Quest for Christa T. was first published in East Germany ten years ago, there was an immediate storm: bookshops in East Berlin were given instructions to sell it only to well-known customers professionally involved in literary matters; at the annual meeting of East …

19845. Lust

Elfriede Jelinek

Lust is a novel by Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek. Originally published in German in 1989, it was translated into English in 1992 by Michael Hulse.

19846. Line

Axel Jensen

19860. The Execution of Justice

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Execution of Justice is a 1985 novel by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It tells the story of an attorney who is tasked to reinvestigate a man sentenced for murder. The book criticises elements of the legal system and ponders on the nature of justice. It was adapted …

19862. Reunion

Alan Dean Foster

Reunion is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book is the seventh chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

19864. The Clone Republic

Steven L. Kent

The Clone Republic is the first book in the Clone series of novels, set in 2508 AD. It is followed by Rogue Clone, The Clone Alliance, The Clone Elite, The Clone Betrayal, The Clone Sedition, The Clone Empire, The Clone Redemption, and The Clone Assassin.

19865. The Drinker

Hans Fallada

The Drinker is a novel by German writer Hans Fallada, first published posthumously in 1950. Fallada began the novel, in 1944, when he was imprisoned in a criminal asylum for the attempted murder of his wife. It is autobiographical, in diary form, and tells the story of a man in …

19866. Under Fire

W. E. B. Griffin

Under Fire is a book published in 2002 that was written by W. E. B. Griffin.

19869. Memoirs from the women's prison

Nawal El Saadawi

Mudhakkirātī fī sijn al-nisāʼ is a book written by Nawal El Saadawi.

19870. Andromeda Klein

Frank Portman

Andromeda Klein is Frank Portman's second young adult novel published in 2009. The story focuses on high school occultist, Andromeda, who simultaneously tries to save her beloved local library from modernization and solve the various mysteries surrounding: her missing much-older …

19872. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Bertolt Brecht

Described by Brecht as 'a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all', Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler - recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster's takeover of the city's greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of …

19873. The Swiss Family Robinson

Johann D. Wyss

The Swiss Family Robinson is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family shipwrecked in the East Indies en route to Port Jackson, Australia.

19881. Apt Pupil

Stephen King

Apt Pupil is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in the 1982 novella collection Different Seasons, subtitled "Summer of Corruption".

19883. The Space Vampires

Colin Wilson

The Space Vampires is a British science fiction horror novel written by author Colin Wilson, and first published in England and the United States by Random House in 1976. This is Wilson's fifty-first book. It is about the remnants of a race of intergalactic vampires who are …

19888. Atlantis: The Antediluvian World

Ignatius L. Donnelly

Atlantis: The Antediluvian World is a pseudoscientific book published in 1882 by Minnesota populist politician Ignatius L. Donnelly, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1831. Donnelly considered Plato's account of Atlantis as largely factual and attempted to establish …

19889. The Saints of the Sword

John Marco

The Saints of the Sword is a book published in 2001 that was written by John Marco.

19891. Second Fiddle

Mary Wesley

Second Fiddle is a best-selling novel by British author Mary Wesley.

19895. The life of Henry Brulard

Stendhal

Vie de Henri Brulard is an unfinished autobiography by Stendhal. It was begun on November 23, 1835 and abandoned March 26, 1836 while the author was serving as the French Consul in Civitavecchia. Stendhal had severe doubts about contemporary interest in his autobiography, so he …

19897. Lord Kelvin's Machine

James Blaylock

Lord Kelvin's Machine is a science fiction novel by author James P. Blaylock. It was released in 1992 by Arkham House in an edition of 4,015 copies. The author's first book published by Arkham House, the novel is the third in Blaylock's Steampunk series, following The Digging …

19898. The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Vincent Bugliosi

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder is a 2008 book by former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. It argues that George W. Bush took the United States into the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses and should be tried for murder for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq. The …

19899. Trapped

James Alan Gardner

Trapped is a science fiction novel written by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner and published in 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints. The book is the sixth installment in Gardner's "League of Peoples" series of novels, set in the mid-25th century. …

19900. Medicine River

Thomas King

Medicine River is a novel written by author Thomas King. It was first published by Viking Canada in 1989. The book was later adapted into a television movie starring Graham Greene and Tom Jackson.

19902. The Skeptic's Dictionary

Robert Todd Carroll

The Skeptic's Dictionary is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 with nearly 400 entries. As of January …

19908. Falkenberg’s Legion

Jerry Pournelle

Falkenberg’s Legion is a book published in 1990 that was written by Jerry Pournelle.

19916. A Little Princess

Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess is a 1905 children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is an expanded version of Burnett's 1888 short story entitled Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's, which was first serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine from 1887 to 1888. According to Burnett, …

19920. Anna, Soror ...

Marguerite Yourcenar

These three tales are set in the Renaissance. Nathanael, the protagonist of "An Obscure Man" is innocent and shaped by his suffering. In "A Lovely Morning" Nathanael's son Lazarus escapes his tutelage to join a group of actors. The final story, "Anna, Soror" in an account of …

19921. A frozen woman

Annie Ernaux

A Frozen Woman charts Ernaux's teenage awakening, and then the parallel progression of her desire to be desirable and her ambition to fulfill herself in her chosen profession - with the inevitable conflict between the two. And then she is thirty years old, a teacher married to …

19922. Little Vampire Goes to School

Joann Sfar

Little Vampire has decided that despite his ability to fly, freedom to turn himself into a rat, a wolf, or a bat--even his unquestioned right to "bite little girls till they bleed, without ever getting into trouble"--that what he really wants to do is go to school. The kind with …

19924. Carmen and Other Stories

Prosper Mérimée

Carmen, Merimee's classic tale of passion and power, provided the inspiration for one of the world's most enduringly popular operas, and numerous films. Like Carmen, the other stories in this book, including Mateo Falcone, The Etruscan Vase, and The Venus of Ille, explore the …

19925. The Hoodoodad (The Spiffy Adventures of McConey Vol. …

Lewis Trondheim

Lewis Trondheim McConey's excitable pal Richie suffers a string of bad luck and believes he's been cursed by an ancient artifact — but is it all in his head? Or is the lack of concrete evidence all part of the curse? "Better to have doggy-doo on the sole of my foot than pigeon …

19927. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins

Eric Kimmel

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins is a book written by Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

19928. Wonderland

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates’s Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. Spanning from the Great Depression to the turbulent Vietnam War era, Wonderland is the epic account of Jesse Vogel, a boy who …

19931. A Winter in Majorca

George Sand

A Winter in Majorca is an autobiographical travel novel written by George Sand, at the time in a relationship with Frédéric Chopin. Although published in 1842, it appeared for the first time in 1841 in the Revue des deux Mondes. In the novel, Sand relates the details of her trip …

19932. Thais

Anatole France

Thaïs is a novel by Anatole France published in 1890. It is based on events in the life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt, a legendary convert to Christianity who is said to have lived in the 4th century. It was the inspiration for the opera of the same name by Jules Massenet.

19933. The Crystal Stopper

Maurice Leblanc

The Crystal Stopper is a mystery novel by Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. The novel appeared in serial form in the French newspaper Le Journal from September to November 1912 and was released as a novel subsequently. Maurice Leblanc …

19934. Golf in the Kingdom

Michael Murphy

Golf in the Kingdom is a 1971 novel by Michael Murphy. It has sold over a million copies and been translated into 19 languages. Golf in the Kingdom tells the story of Michael Murphy, a young traveler who accidentally stumbles on a mystical golfing expert while in Scotland. …

19935. My Lord John

Georgette Heyer

My Lord John is an unfinished historical fiction novel by the British author Georgette Heyer, published posthumously in 1975 after her death the previous year. It traces the early lives of the "young lordings" – Harry, Thomas, John, and Humfrey – all sons of the future …

19938. Fortress Besieged

Qian Zhongshu

Fortress Besieged was written by Qian Zhongshu, published in 1947, and is widely considered one of the masterpieces of twentieth century Chinese literature. The novel is a humorous tale about middle-class Chinese society in the late 1930s. It was made into a popular television …

19943. Edgar Huntly

Charles Brockden Brown

Edgar Huntly, Or, Memoirs of a Sleepwalker is a 1799 novel by the American author Charles Brockden Brown.

19946. The Astronauts

Stanisław Lem

The Astronauts is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951. To write the novel, Lem received advance payment from publishing house Czytelnik. The book became an instant success and was translated into several languages. This …

19947. Islam: The Straight Path

John Esposito

Islam: The Straight Path is an Islamic studies book that aims to give an introduction to Islam. The book, authored by John L. Esposito, was first published in 1988 by the Oxford University Press.

19953. The Ides of March

Valerio Massimo Manfredi

From the pen of the international bestselling author of The Last Legion comes a new political thriller set during the tempestuous final days of Julius Caesar's Imperial Rome. It is March in the year 44 BC. The Roman Empire stretches from modern-day Syria in the east to the …

19958. Delusions of Gender

Cordelia Fine

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference is a 2010 book by Cordelia Fine, written to debunk the idea that men and women are hardwired with different interests. The author criticizes claimed evidence of the existence of innate biological …

19959. Very Bad Deaths

Spider Robinson

Very Bad Deaths, is a science-fiction/suspense-mystery novel from Canadian science fiction author Spider Robinson. The book was followed in 2008 by a sequel, Very Hard Choices. It explores the personal implications of uncontrolled telepathy, social responsibility, and the idea …

19960. The Prophet of Akhran

Margaret Weis

The Prophet of Akhran is a book published in 1989 that was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

19961. Midnight Express

Billy Hayes

Midnight Express is a 1977 non-fiction book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer about Billy's experience as a young American who was sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey to the US. An adaptation of the book was made into an American film of the same …

19963. The Talisman

Walter Scott

The Talisman is a novel by Sir Walter Scott. It was published in 1825 as the second of his Tales of the Crusaders, the first being The Betrothed.

19965. Stories and Texts for Nothing

Samuel Beckett

Stories and Texts for Nothing is a collection of stories by Samuel Beckett. It gathers three of Beckett's short stories and the thirteen short prose pieces he named "Texts for Nothing". All of these works are collected in the Grove Press edition of Beckett's complete short prose.

19967. The Songs of Bilitis

Pierre Louys

The Songs of Bilitis is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894. The poems are in the manner of Sappho; the collection's introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient …

19973. The History of Henry Esmond

William Makepeace Thackeray

The History of Henry Esmond is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published in 1852. The book tells the story of the early life of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. A typical example of Victorian historical novels, …

19976. Dreamside

Graham Joyce

Dreamside is a fantasy novel by Graham Joyce first published in the United Kingdom by Pan Books in 1991. It was later reprinted in the United States by Tor Books in 2000. The novel's primary theme is the power of the subconscious and the futility of attempting to escape the past.

19977. The Werewolf Principle

Clifford D. Simak

The Werewolf Principle is a 1967 science fiction novel by Clifford D. Simak. It was originally published by Putnam, with a paperback edition following from Berkley Books in 1968. A British hardcover was also released in 1967, with translations following into French, Italian, …

19978. Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts

Wisława Szymborska

Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts is a book of poems by Wisława Szymborska.

19979. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays

Louis Althusser

Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays is one of the chief works of Louis Althusser. First published in 1968, it was published in English translation in 1971.

19981. Two Bad Ants

Chris Van Allsburg

Two Bad Ants is a 1988 children's book written and illustrated by American author Chris Van Allsburg.

19986. The Bewitchments of Love and Hate

Storm Constantine

The Bewitchments of Love and Hate is a book published in 1988 that was written by Storm Constantine.

19987. The Optimists

Andrew Miller

The Optimists is the fourth novel by English author, Andrew Miller, released on 21 March 2005 through Sceptre.

19993. Tramp Royale

Robert A. Heinlein

Tramp Royale is a nonfiction travelogue by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, describing how he and his wife, Ginny, went around the world by ship and plane between 1953–1954. It was published posthumously in 1992, and subsequently went out of print. Much of the book is …

19996. Babylon 5: Accusations

Lois Tilton

Accusations is the second book in the series of original science fiction novels based on the Emmy Award-winning series Babylon 5 created by J. Michael Straczynski. The book was written by Lois Tilton.



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