Books like Amy Snow by Tracy Rees
November 18, 2022 8:02 PM   Subscribe

I saw this book recommended on Metafilter several years ago, but I haven't been able to find the post. Turns out, it's my favorite book of all time and I want to read more like it!

It's historical fiction about someone who has been left a treasure hunt by their deceased friend that reveals a secret at the end. But really what Iike about it is that it's emotional, laugh out loud funny at times, uses language in a lyrical way, the characters are relatable, it's witty, and the plot is interesting.

I've read Tracy's other books and they're all good, but this one is hands down the best.

I'm especially interested in recommendations from people that have read Amy Snow, but definitely still want to hear from anyone who knows a book that meets the criteria above. Thanks in advance!
posted by Eyelash to Writing & Language (8 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I haven't read your book, but the description reminded me of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman:

A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different
posted by CathyG at 11:44 PM on November 18, 2022


Best answer: The Westing Game? (link goes to Wikipedia)
posted by meijusa at 12:59 AM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


If you don't mind some prosaic and lengthy descriptions of (a) weird corporate life and (b) math and codes, PopCo by Scarlett Thomas was pretty great from a treasure-hunting, big finale perspective.
posted by nkknkk at 5:19 AM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia is one of the best books I've read recently. It sounds like there are some similarities.
posted by belladonna at 6:15 AM on November 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Best answer: +1 to the above, my immediate thought was "I should put that on my reading list as it sounds like Tuesday Mooney which I really loved."
posted by babelfish at 9:33 AM on November 19, 2022


Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s about a little boy who finds a key a year after his father was killed on 9/11. The boy searches all around NYC to find why his dad has this key.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:47 AM on November 19, 2022


I haven't read Amy Snow, but this made me think of The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go.
posted by egregious theorem at 9:18 AM on November 20, 2022


I asked something with some criteria overlap previously - will watch this thread with interest!
posted by quadrilaterals at 10:34 AM on November 21, 2022


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