Comments on: Alternatives to Christie, Sedaris, Bryson

Question: Alternatives to Christie, Sedaris, Bryson

fatbird — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:20:59 -0800

Looking for recommendations for authors similar to Agatha Christie, David Sedaris, and Bill Bryson.

I've exhausted those three authors, and am looking for others who are similar.

Generally I want something entertaining, not depressing, not a difficult read, and somewhat the same style. We're talking fall-asleep-while-reading-at-bedtime writers, not soul-searching.

Another mystery author would be great. Already done Dashiell Hammett.

What I like about David Sedaris and Bill Bryson is the funny life-story aspect.

Thanks for any and all recommendations.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:26:54 -0800

For the upper-class British side of Agatha Christie, but funny, try P.G. Wodehouse (not mystery).

Have you read all the Sherlock Holmes books? Another light mystery series you could try are the Fletch novels, which aren't much like the Chevy Chase movies.

By: puckish

puckish — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:27:57 -0800

David Rakoff (best sampled by audiobook)

By: puckish

puckish — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:28:47 -0800

And Sarah Vowell, in keeping with the TAL theme.

By: zinfandel

zinfandel — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:44:25 -0800

Ngiao Marsh

By: firei

firei — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:47:03 -0800

I always preferred Mary Higgins Clark over Agatha Christie, so, you might want to give her a go, if you haven't already!

By: headnsouth

headnsouth — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:51:07 -0800

Oooh you're gonna love Tim Cahill.

By: bluestocking

bluestocking — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:00:41 -0800

If you haven't read Dorothy Sayers yet, I think you'll definitely enjoy her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:01:16 -0800

Tony Hawks is one of my faves.

Also: I asked a question a while back that might be of interest: What are some good, light-hearted, humorous travel books?

By: maudlin

maudlin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:07:50 -0800

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is non-twee, funny British fantasy. You can read them out of order, so dip in anywhere you like. Lots of recommendations here.

Donald E. Westlake, especially anything from his Dortmunder series.

By: General Malaise

General Malaise — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:08:22 -0800

Augusten Burrows and Jonathan Ames are very similar in style to David Sedaris and Bill Bryson.

By: metagnathous

metagnathous — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:11:09 -0800

Greg Mathews should meet your needs very well. I just read his novel Come To Dust. It's basically noir infused with a good amount of absurdity. Good stuff, not too heavy, but quite entertaining.

By: gt2

gt2 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:27:15 -0800

If you like Bill Bryson, you might like Peter Mayle, Stephen Clarke, and Paul Theroux. They all write fairly ironic, funny travelogue-type books.

I like the Nero Wolfe mystery series by Rex Stout. Those are totally light mysteries - they go as fast as Agatha Christies and are just as mindless and entertaining. : )

By: Bigfoot Mandala

Bigfoot Mandala — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:00:32 -0800

Seconding Sayers and Wodehouse.

By: alms

alms — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:13:12 -0800

If you like Bill Bryson, you'll love Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen. Do yourself a favor. Skip all the other books that people recommend to you in this thread, and read this one first. You won't regret it.

By: latch24

latch24 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:25:34 -0800

Georgette Heyer - love her detective fiction (here named 'thrillers', scroll to the very bottom for titles)

By: ArgentineBlonde

ArgentineBlonde — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:47:06 -0800

Randy Wayne White (his non-fiction essays, haven't read his Doc Ford novels) and a second recommendation for Tim Cahill.

By: neuron

neuron — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:15:05 -0800

An hilarious travelogue is Douglas Adams's Last Chance to See.

By: so_gracefully

so_gracefully — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:01:10 -0800

If you are into hyperintellectual feminist writers, Katha Pollitt is a good one. I also second the recommendation of David Rakoff!

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:12:11 -0800

3rd Sayers.
Also in the mystery vein, you might like Boris Akunin.

By: transporter accident amy

transporter accident amy — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:18:58 -0800

Nonfiction - Mary Roach
Fiction - Douglas Copeland

By: x46

x46 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:38:47 -0800

Mary Roberts Rinehart who Wikipedia calls the American Agatha Christie.

By: bluefly

bluefly — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:06:16 -0800

Sarah Caudwell for the Agatha Christie. Also, you can check out this previous question I asked for other Agatha Christie-ish books.

By: goo

goo — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:36:26 -0800

Robertson Davies was an excellent Canadian author who might fit the bill. He wrote trilogies about communities/ groups of people so you get a few different life stories (albeit fictional), and his stories are usually quite dark in places, and very intelligent and funny. The Salterton trilogy (Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailties is a good one to start with.

By: phatkitten

phatkitten — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:09:18 -0800

Those are three of my favorite authors! :)

For more "funny life-story aspect" reading, especially if you liked Bryson's travel writings, try The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost. He moves to what he thinks is an island paradise and discovers that it's "possibly the Worst Place on Earth." I'm about halfway through this right now and it's fantastic.

You might also like A. J. Jacobs's The Know-It-All, in which he documents his efforts to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. It's basically a memoir with a lot of random trivia from the encyclopedia thrown in, and it quite often left me out of breath from laughing so hard.

Both of these authors have written another book or two.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:47:33 -0800

For the dry, self-effacing travelogue, I find Tim Moore about as close to Bryson's style as can be.

By: qldaddy

qldaddy — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:47:48 -0800

Thirding Cahill.
Also David Quammen for travel.

By: prufrock

prufrock — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:25:33 -0800

Nthing Wodehouse. Also,

Jerome K Jerome for humour.

John Dickson Carr for mystery.

By: rustcellar

rustcellar — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:00:13 -0800

Sayers, again. Some people aren't huge fans of the Lord Peter novels that feature Harriet Vane, and Whose Body is also iffy, but the Lord Peter stories and other novels like Murder Must Advertise are great.

By: dizziest

dizziest — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:11:04 -0800

Mary Stewart and Josephine Tey, for clever, slightly old-fashioned British mysteries.