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DeutschThe most popular books in English.
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.
Jacques Tardi
Spectacular faux-woodcut vistas make Tardi’s groundbreaking “icepunk” story a retro classic. In its ongoing quest to showcase the wide range of Jacques Tardi’s bibliography, Fantagraphics reaches all the way back to one of his earliest, and most distinctive graphic novels: A …
Don Cheadle
An Academy Award-nominated actor and a renowned human rights activist team up to change the tragic course of history in the Sudan--with readers' help. While Don Cheadle was filming Hotel Rwanda, a new crisis had already erupted in Darfur, in nearby Sudan. In September 2004, …
Anton Szandor Lavey
Satan Speaks! is the fifth and final book by Anton LaVey, completed a few days before his death on October 29, 1997. It was published the following year by Feral House. The book consists of sixty-one "unorthodox, paradoxical and humorous" essays written by "the most …
Jack Higgins
Midnight Runner is a novel by Jack Higgins published in 2002. It is his tenth Sean Dillon novel.
G. K. Chesterton
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book is sometimes referred to as a metaphysical thriller.
Roger MacBride Allen
The Ring of Charon is a science fiction book by American writer Roger MacBride Allen, first published in 1990 by Tor Books. It is the first in a series of three books under the name of The Hunted Earth. The story unfolds as an unknown alien race captures Earth with the use of a …
Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is a 1997 transdisciplinary nonfiction book by Jared Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1998, it won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize …
Cecily von Ziegesar
Unforgettable is the fourth book in The It Girl series, released in 2007. It was written by a ghostwriter with suggestions from Cecily von Ziegesar. Aimed toward young adults, it is a spin-off from the bestselling Gossip Girl series.
Zhou Wei Hui
Her second semi-autobiographical novel of desire and lust in a new city far from China...According to the author, Marrying Buddha is the continuation of her first novel Shanghai Baby, the international bestseller which was banned in China and catapulted her to fame and notoriety …
Steve Saint
End of the Spear is a book written by Steve Saint. It was published in connection with the film of the same name. The book chronicles the continuing story that began with Elisabeth Elliot's 1957 bestseller Through Gates of Splendor. The book focuses on the Waodani tribe of …
Yaroslav Trofimov
The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda is a non-fiction book by Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov about the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca. Hundreds of Islamic radicals led by Saudi preacher Juhayman …
Rosemary Kirstein
The Steerswoman is a 1989 fantasy/science fiction novel by Rosemary Kirstein. It follows the journey of Rowan, who is a Steerswoman in an age that is just beginning to gain technology and advancement, though most don’t understand it and those who do hoard the knowledge amongst …
Charles Finch
Returning from a continental honeymoon with his lifelong friend and new wife, Lady Jane Grey, Charles Lenox is asked by a colleague in Parliament to consult in the murder of a footman, bludgeoned to death with a brick. His investigation uncovers both unsettling facts about the …
Gaston Leroux
The Phantom of the Opera is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in Le Gaulois from September 23, 1909, to January 8, 1910. It was published in volume form in April 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. The novel is partly inspired by historical …
Michel Leiris
"Not only one of the frankest of autobiographies, but also a brilliantly written book, Leiris' Manhood mingles memories, philosophic reflections, sexual revelation, meditations on bullfighting, and the life-long progress of self-discovery."—Washington Post Book World "Leiris …
Robert Antelme
Arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Dachau, Robert Antelme recovered his freedom a year later when François Mitterand, visiting the camp in an official capacity, recognized the dying Antelme and had him spirited to Paris. Antelme's story of his experiences in Germany--his …
Pierre Michon
Small Lives (Vies minuscules), Pierre Michon’s first novel, won the Prix France Culture. Michon explains that he wrote it "to save my own skin. I felt in my body that my life was turning around. This book born in an aura of inexpressible joy and catharsis rescued me more …
Alina Reyes
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS is an erotic adventure story in which the reader can choose what happens next. The book is divided into two halves(men read from one end,women the other)and each chapter gives a choice of sexual fantasies or 'doors'to open next.The story opens,in both …
Stendhal
Lucien Leuwen is the second major novel written by French author Stendhal in 1834, following The Red and the Black. It remained unfinished due to the political culture of the July Monarchy in the 1830s and Stendhal's fears of losing his government position by offending the …
Charles Lindbergh
The Spirit of St. Louis is an autobiographical account by Charles Lindbergh about the events leading up to and including his 1927 solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, a custom-built, single engine, single-seat monoplane. The book was published on September 14, …
Henry James
The Princess Casamassima is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1885-1886 and then as a book in 1886. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics …
Tahir Shah
Tahir Shah’s The Caliph’s House, describing his first year in Casablanca, was hailed by critics and compared to such travel classics as A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun. Now Shah takes us deeper into the heart of this exotic and magical land to uncover mysteries that …
William Safire
Freedom is a historical novel by American essayist William Safire, set in the early years of the American Civil War. It concludes with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The novel shows how its main characters grapple with the dilemmas of political …
Jamaica Kincaid
At the Bottom of the River is a collection of short stories by Caribbean novelist Jamaica Kincaid. Published in 1983, it was her first short story collection. The collection consists of ten inter-connected short stories, seven of which were previously published in The New Yorker …
Walter Kirn
Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever is a 2009 memoir by Walter Kirn. It describes his own trip through the American education system from rural Minnesota to Princeton University. The author also wrote an earlier essay under the same title for The …
Ludwig von Mises
Liberalism is an influential book by Austrian School economist and libertarian thinker Ludwig von Mises, containing economic analysis and indicting critique of socialism. It was first published in 1927 by Gustav Fischer Verlag in Jena and defending classical liberal ideology …
Willard V. Quine
Word and Object is a 1960 work by Willard Van Orman Quine, his most famous book. In it, Quine expands upon the line of thought of his earlier writings in From a Logical Point of View, and reformulates some of his earlier arguments, such as his attack on the analytic-synthetic …
Jacques Lacarrière
Gnostics have always sought to know” rather than to accept dogma and doctrine, often to their peril. This inquiry into Gnosticism examines the character, history, and beliefs of a brave and vigorous spiritual quest that originated in the ancient Near East and continues into the …
P. G. Wodehouse
Indiscretions of Archie is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 14 February 1921 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 15 July 1921 by George H. Doran, New York. The book was adapted from a series of short stories, originally …
P. G. Wodehouse
Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 12 October 1972 by Barrie & Jenkins, London and in the United States on 6 August 1973 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York under the title The Plot That Thickened. Monty …
Mary Baker Eddy
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the central text of the Christian Science religion. Mary Baker Eddy described it as her "most important work." She began writing it in February 1872 and the first edition was published in 1875.
Bertrand Russell
Power: A New Social Analysis by Bertrand Russell is a work in social philosophy written by Bertrand Russell. Power, for Russell, is one's ability to achieve goals. In particular, Russell has in mind social power, that is, power over people. The volume contains a number of …
James Bamford
The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America is a book on the National Security Agency by author James Bamford.
Helen Cross
My Summer Of Love is a novel by Helen Cross, first published in Great Britain in 2001, winning a Betty Trask Award in the subsequent year. Set in the fictional Yorkshire market town of Whitehorse, and the surrounding area, it tells the story of the intense relationship that …
Jilly Cooper
Appassionata is a book published in 1996 that was written by Jilly Cooper.
Gilles Deleuze
Proust and Signs is a 1964 book by Gilles Deleuze in which he explores the system of signs within the work of the celebrated French novelist Marcel Proust. It was translated into English by Richard Howard. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part Deleuze looks at …
Walter Scott
Guy Mannering or The Astrologer is a novel by Sir Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, but changed his mind soon after starting. The book was a huge …
Michel Foucault
The Archaeology of Knowledge is a 1969 book by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. It is a methodological and historiographical treatise promoting what Foucault calls "archaeology" or the "archaeological method", an analytical method he implicitly used in his previous works …
Ross Leckie
Hannibal is a 1995 historical novel by Scottish writer Ross Leckie. The book relates the exploits of Hannibal's invasion of Rome beginning in 218 BC, narrated by the Carthaginian general in his retirement. It was the first of the Carthage trilogy, covering the Punic Wars. The …
Peter L. Berger
Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective is a book on sociology by Dr. Peter L. Berger, published in 1963. In Invitation to Sociology Berger sets out the intellectual parameters and calling of the scientific discipline of sociology. Many of the themes presented in this …
Elke Heidenreich
A bold and self-serving tom cat reigns supreme both in the farmyard in Italy where he was born and later in the comfortable home in Germany to which a vacationing couple takes him and his helpless sister. A bold and self-serving tom cat reigns supreme both in the farmyard in …
Lawrence Durrell
The Black Book is a novel by Lawrence Durrell, published in 1938 by the Obelisk Press. It is set with two competing narrators: Lawrence Lucifer on Corfu, in Greece, and Death Gregory in London. Faber and Faber offered to publish the novel in an expurgated edition, but on the …
Robert Foster
The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: from The Hobbit to The Silmarillion is a reference book for the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, compiled and edited by Robert Foster. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth is a major expansion of Foster's A Guide to …
G. A. Henty
The Cat of Bubastes, A Tale of Ancient Egypt is a historical novel for young people by British author G.A. Henty. It is the story of a young prince who becomes a slave when the Egyptians conquer his people, then is made a fugitive when his master accidentally kills a sacred cat. …
Patrick Rambaud
The Retreat is a historic novel by the French author Patrick Rambaud that was first published in 2000. The English translation by Will Hobson appeared in 2004. The Retreat describes the occupation of Moscow by the French Army in 1812 and its disastrous retreat. The action in the …
Philip José Farmer
Dark Is The Sun is a science fiction novel by Philip José Farmer, first published in 1979. It tells the story of the people and creatures left on Earth when the Sun is dead and the universe is heading towards the Big Crunch.
Jessamyn West
The Friendly Persuasion is an American novel published in 1945 by Jessamyn West. It was adapted as the motion picture Friendly Persuasion in 1956. The book consists of 14 vignettes about a Quaker farming family, the Birdwells, living near the town of Vernon in southern Indiana …
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Fable for Another Time is a 1952 novel by the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. The narrative recounts Céline's experiences during what seems to be a hypothetical bombing of an area of Montmartre by the allies on the days preceding D-day. The whole of the action of this …
J.-H. Rosny
The Quest for Fire is a 1911 Belgian novel by "J.-H. Rosny", the pseudonym of two brothers; the author was likely the elder of the two, Joseph Henri Honoré Boex. It was first published in English in 1967. It was made into a feature film of the same name in 1981. The film stars …
Ernest Callenbach
Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach is a fictionalized history of the events leading up to the secession of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to form the steady-state, environmentalist nation of Ecotopia along the Pacific Coast of the United States. In 1975, …
Marie NDiaye
Rosie Carpe is a 2001 novel by the French writer Marie NDiaye. It received the 2001 Prix Femina. It was originally published in France by Les Éditions de Minuit. The English translation by Tamsin Black was published in 2004 in the USA by the University of Nebraska press.
Helen Palmer
A Fish out of Water is a 1961 American children's book written by Helen Palmer Geisel and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. The book is based on a short story by Palmer's husband Theodor Geisel, "Gustav, the Goldfish", which was published with his own illustrations in Redbook …
Alan Dean Foster
Star Trek Log One is a book published in 1974 that was written by Alan Dean Foster.
Mark Twain
Autobiography of Mark Twain or Mark Twain’s Autobiography refers to a lengthy set of reminiscences, dictated, for the most part, in the last few years of American author Mark Twain's life and left in typescript and manuscript at his death. The Autobiography comprises a rambling …
Liza Ward
Outside Valentine is the 2004 debut novel of American author Liza Ward, the granddaughter of two of the victims of spree killer Charles Starkweather. The book was first published on August 12, 2004 through Picador and is told from the perspective of Caril Ann Fugate, …
Tom Bissell
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter is a 2010 non-fiction book by journalist and critic Tom Bissell discussing the social relevance and importance of video games as well as defending the medium against detractors. Bissell takes a slightly ambivalent stance towards the cultural …
Walter Wangerin
The Book of the Dun Cow is a fantasy novel by Walter Wangerin, Jr.. It is loosely based upon the beast fable of Chanticleer and the Fox adapted from the story of "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Book was named The New York Times Best …
Alan Dean Foster
Voyage to the City of the Dead is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster.
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 …
Gilles Kepel
Jihad The Trail of Political Islam is a book by French author and scholar Gilles Kepel. It was originally published in French in 2000 by Gallimard, with English translations by Anthony F. Roberts from Belknap Press in 2002 and I.B. Tauris in 2006. The book provides a detailed …
Roberto Arlt
Mad Toy is the first novel of the Argentinean author Roberto Arlt. Published in 1926 by Editorial Latina, it is markedly autobiographical in nature. The original manuscripts were written in the 1920s and were drafted by Arlt in the mountains of Córdoba, in a time when his wife, …
Manuel Puig
Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages is a 1980 novel by Argentine novelist Manuel Puig. As in other works by Puig, the story is formally experimental, consisting of mostly unattributed dialogue, digressing into stories within stories. It also bears many of Puig favorite …
Reinaldo Arenas
Published in 1987, Farewell to the Sea is the third book in Reinaldo Arenas' Pentagonia which critics have often argued as his best. Set on a Cuban beach immediately following the revolution, a disenchanted poet mourns for the new suppression while his wife longs for the …
