Don Quixote

The first modern novel and, by near-universal critical consensus, the greatest work of fiction ever written, Don Quixote was published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. Miguel de Cervantes invented the unreliable narrator, the meta-novel, and the modern antihero in a single stroke — achievements that make every novel on this list, including #2 War and Peace, a direct descendant of his work. Over 700 editions are currently in print worldwide, and it has been translated into more languages than any book except the Bible. The story of an ageing nobleman who mistakes windmills for giants is as philosophically alive and as funny today as it was four centuries ago.