The Globe and Mail (Martin Levin, Charlotte Gray, André Alexis, A L Kennedy, and Alberto Manguel, eds.), 50 Greatest Books of All Time [2008]
73 entries: 68 monographical, five otherwise
Unrankedarranged topically
The "great books" project enacted by the Toronto daily, the Globe and Mail, was led by Levin. Besides Manguel, quite a few acclaimed writers contributed articles, including Mary Beard, Colm Tóibín, and Jane Smiley. This list is essentially what I call a book-as-list, except it took the form of a series of newspaper articles. Those articles are no longer accessible at the paper's website (though presumably available via an academic database or two). However, a discussion about the list is still up: 'Martin Levin on the Greatest Books Series'.
- Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1884English
- Marcel Proust
À la Recherche du Temps Perdu
In Search of Lost Time; In Remembrance of Things Past
originally published in seven volumes, two of which originally published as two books each, 1913-27French
- Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
1859English
- Dante
La Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21Italian
- Plato
Politeia
The Republic
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Miguel de Cervantes
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Don Quixote
originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615Spanish
- James Joyce
Ulysses
published in part serially Mar. 1918-Dec. 1920 in the Little Review; in its entirety, 1922English
- Karl Marx
Das Kapital, Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie
originally published in three volumes 1867, 1885, and 1894German
- Augustine of Hippo
Confessionum Libri Tredecim
The Confessions of St. Augustine
written 397-98Latin
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Il Principe
The Prince
1532Italian
- F Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
1925English
- George Eliot
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872English
- Adam Smith
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
1776; revised through third edition, 1784English
- Sigmund Freud
Die Traumdeutung
The Interpretation of Dreams
1899German
- Jonathan Swift
Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships
Gulliver's Travels
1726; revised 1735English
- Gabriel García Márquez
Cien Anõs de Soledad
One Hundred Years of Solitude
1967Spanish
- William Shakespeare
King Lear
1606English
- Immanuel Kant
Kritik der Reinen Vernunft
Critique of Pure Reason
1781; revised 1787German
- Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice>
originally anonymously published 1813English
Homer
- Iliad
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Odýsseia
The Odyssey
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Brat'â Karamazovy
The Brothers Karamazov
originally published serially 1880 in Rússkij VéstnikRussian
T S Eliot
- Collected Poems, 1909-1962
1936; expanded 1963; includes Prufrock and Other Observations [1917]; Poems: 1920 [1920]; 'The Waste Land'; 'The Hollow Men'; Ash Wednesday [1930]; Journey of the Magi [1927]; A Song for Simeon [1928]; Animula [1929]; Marina [1930]; Triumphal March [1931]; Sweeney Agonistes: Fragments of an Aristophanic Melodrama [1932]; Four Quartets; The Cultivation of Christmas Trees [1954]; selections from The Rock; two poems, 'Coriolan' and 'Difficulties of a Statesman', included with Triumphal March and Sweeney Agonistes in a section entitled Unfinished Poems; plus sections entitled Minor Poems, and Occasional Verses; 1936 edition, entitled Collected Poems, 1909-1935, only included 'Burnt Norton' from Four Quartets and did not include The Cultivation of Christmas Trees or the Occasional Verses sectionEnglish
- Prufrock and Other Observations
1917English
- Poems: 1920
1920English
- Journey of the Magi
1927; illustrations by Edward McKnight Kauffer; eighth of a series of 37 pamphlets collectively entitled Ariel PoemsEnglish
- A Song for Simeon
1927; with an illustration by Edward McKnight Kauffer; 16th of a series of 37 pamphlets collectively entitled Ariel PoemsEnglish
- Animula
1929; illustrations by Gertrude Hermes; 23rd of a series of 37 pamphlets collectively entitled Ariel PoemsEnglish
- Marina
1930; illustrations by Edward McKnight Kauffer; 29th of a series of 37 pamphlets collectively entitled Ariel PoemsEnglish
- Ash Wednesday
1930English
- Triumphal March
1931; illustrations by Edward McKnight Kauffer; 35th of a series of 37 pamphlets collectively entitled Ariel Poems; later made part of 'Coriolan' in the Unfinished Poems section of Eliot's Collected PoemsEnglish
- Sweeney Agonistes: Fragments of an Aristophanic Melodrama
1932English
- Four Quartets
originally published in four volumes: Burnt Norton, in Collected Poems 1909-1935, 1936; East Coker, in the New English Weekly, 1940; The Dry Salvages, in the New English Weekly, 1941; Little Gidding, in the New English Weekly, 1942English
- The Cultivation of Christmas Trees
1954; illustrations by David Jones; part of a second series of Ariel PoemsEnglish
- Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita
1955English
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- Quran
Koran
Seventh CenturyArabic
- Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend
originally published serially May 1864-Nov. 1865English
- Jorge Luis Borges
Ficciones
originally entitled El Jardín de Senderos que se Bifurcan, published 1941; expanded 1944 and 1956Spanish
- Herodotus
Historiē
History
Fifth Century B CGreek
- Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
1851English
- Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary
originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de ParisFrench
Franz Kafka
- The Collected Stories of Franz Kafka
1971; includes Die Verwandlung [1915]; In der Strafkolonie [1919]; Betrachtung (Contemplation), 1912; Eine Landarzt. Kleine Erzählungen (A Country Doctor), 1919; Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist), 1924; Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (The Great Wall of China), 1931; and other stories previously published but uncollected in book formGerman
- Die Verwandlung
The Metamorphosis
originally published 1915 in Die Weißen BlätterGerman
- In der Strafkolonie
In the Penal Colony
1919German
--
- The Bible
The Globe and Mail specifies the King James Version, translated 1604-11 to English from the Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and the Greek (New Testament), revised 1769 by Benjamin BlayneyHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
- Isaac Newton
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
1687; revised 1713 and 1726Latin
William Butler Yeats
- The Collected Poems of W B Yeats
1933; expanded 1950; revised 1956; includes The Wind Among the Reeds [1899]; The Shadowy Waters [originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included here]; Michael Robartes and the Dancer [1921]; The Tower [1928]; The Winding Stair [1929]; Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems [1932]; New Poems [1938]; selections from The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889; The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, 1892; In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age, 1904; The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910; Responsibilities, 1914; The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, 1917, expanded 1919; A Full Moon in March, 1935; and Last Poems and Two Plays, 1939English
- The Wind Among the Reeds
1899English
- The Shadowy Waters
1900; originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included in the author's collected poemsEnglish
- Michael Robartes and the Dancer
1920English
- The Tower
1928; originally published as Seven Poems and a Fragment, 1922; The Cat and the Moon, 1924; and October Blast, 1927English
- The Winding Stair
1929English
- Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems
1932English
- New Poems
1938English
- Galileo
Dialogo Sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
1632Italian
Sophocles
- Oidipous epi Kolōnō
Oedipus at Colonus
401 B CGreek
- Oidipous Tyrannos
Oedipus Rex; Oedipus the King
ca. 429 B CGreek
- Antigone
ca. 441 B CGreek
- Vyasa
Mahabharata
includes Bhagavad Gita; ca. Ninth Century B C-Fourth CenturySanskrit
- Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1865English
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique
The Social Contract
1762French
- Michel de Montaigne
Les Essais
Essays
originally published in three volumes: 1580, 1588, and 1595French
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Faust
originally published in two volumes: first, Faust. Der Tragödie Erster Teil, published in part, 1790; in its entirey, 1808; revised 1829; second, Faust. Der Tragödie Zweiter Teil, 1832German
- Rachel Carson
Silent Spring
originally published Jun. 1962 in the New YorkerEnglish
- David Hume
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
1748English
Stories
late Nineteenth-early Twentieth centuriesRussian
- Leo Tolstoy
Voyna i Mir"
War and Peace
originally entitled 1805, published in part, 1865 and 1867; retitled and published in its entirety, 1869Russian
- Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
1792English
- Giovanni Boccaccio
Il Decameron, Cognominato Prencipe Galeotto
ca. 1351-53Italian
- Samuel Beckett
En Attendant Godot
Waiting for Godot
1953French
- Murasaki Shikibu
Genji Monogatari
The Tale of Genji
ca. early Eleventh CenturyJapanese
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers
published in 28 volumes, 1751-72French
- Henry James
The Portrait of a Lady
originally published serially Oct. 1880-Nov. 1881 in Macmillan's and Nov. 1880-Dec. 1881 in the Atlantic MonthlyEnglish