Ulysses by James JoyceFinnegans Wake by James JoyceThe Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerMoby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman MelvilleGravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Most Difficult Novels
601 books — 2,066 voters

Faust, First Part by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaThe Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheSteppenwolf by Hermann HessePerfume by Patrick Süskind
German Classics
227 books — 150 voters
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde1984 by George OrwellThe Stranger by Albert CamusCrime and Punishment by Fyodor DostoevskySophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
Best Philosophical Fiction
355 books — 736 voters

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathJane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë1984 by George OrwellThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Books on Loneliness
518 books — 499 voters
The Stranger by Albert CamusCrime and Punishment by Fyodor DostoevskyThe Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaThe Trial by Franz KafkaNausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
Best Existential Fiction
462 books — 785 voters

The Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThe Trial by Franz KafkaSteppenwolf by Hermann HessePerfume by Patrick Süskind
Best German/Austrian/Swiss Literature
951 books — 973 voters
The Stranger by Albert Camus1984 by George OrwellSiddhartha by Hermann HesseThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Best Philosophical Literature
1,224 books — 2,826 voters