If You Like…

BOOKLISTS BY GENRE | PAST PRINTED BOOKLISTS | BOOK TALK BOOKLISTS

The following are lists of of stylistic and thematic “readalikes.” If you like the writing style of any of these specific authors, or the thematic tones of some of these specific titles, you might also enjoy some of the additional authors and/or titles in these individual booklists. “Hotlinked” titles within these booklists will connect you to the holdings screens in our catalog, so that you can check on the availability of individual books (or authors). Titles which are not hotlinked in any of these lists, might not be owned by the Lincoln City Libraries but may appear here for the sake of providing classic reading recommendations. You may wish to pursue such titles (or authors) through other sources, including the library’s Interlibrary Loan request service.

— New addition to this site within the past two months
— Updated with new entries within the past two months

AUTHOR READALIKES

The following booklists are organized around the writing styles of particularly popular authors. If you like their books, you might want to try some similar authors.

• Jean Auel  (pre-historical novels/epics)
• Jo Beverley  (historical romances, particularly in the Medieval, Georgian and Regency periods)
• Ray Bradbury  (character-driven science fiction, fantasy and horror with a strong sense of place)
• Lois McMaster Bujold  (science fiction sagas featuring military action and political intrigues)
• Tom Clancy  (techno-thrillers)
• Robin Cook  (medical thrillers)
• Patricia Cornwell  (forensic mystery/thrillers)
• Louise Erdrich  (contemporary fiction, frequently dealing with the lives of modern Native Americans of North Dakota)
• Janet Evanovich  (humorous, mystery/adventure novels with female protagonists)
• C.S. Forester  (the “Horatio Hornblower” naval adventures)
• Sue Grafton  (mysteries with female protagonists)
• John Green  (compelling YA fiction, especially about relationships)
• Philippa Gregory  (historical biographical fiction, meticulous in its dedication to historical accuracy)
• Laurell K. Hamilton  (fantasy/horror/mystery/romance with strong female protaganists)
• Carl Hiaasen  (humorous thrillers with bizarre characters)
• Eleanor Hibbert (a.k.a. Victoria Holt)  (Gothic Romances)
• Colleen Hoover  (contemporary romances, psychological suspense for both adults and YA, often with characters addressing personal traumas)
• Craig Johnson  (the Walt Longmire western-set mystery series)
• Jan Karon  (contemporary “gentle” reads)
• Stephen King  (contemporary horror)
• Beverly Lewis  (Amish Christian fiction — mostly romances)
• Robert Ludlum  (tense, globe-spanning political thrillers/espionage)
• James Patterson  (fast-paced, violent thrillers with crime/mystery elements)
• Louise Penny  (the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series, featuring strong sense of place, and a great deal of character relationship growth)
• Terry Pratchett  (humorous, satirical fantasy, bordering on parody)
• Ruth Rendell  (mysteries and psychological suspense)
• Sidney Sheldon & Danielle Steel (contemporary emotional dramas featuring rich and powerful people)
• Danielle Steel & Sidney Sheldon  (contemporary emotional dramas featuring rich and powerful people)
• Superheroes in Film and TV  (DVDs and digital streaming versions of Superhero movies and TV series)
• Anne Tyler  (contemporary fiction focusing on family relationships and quirky characters)
• Alison Weir  (well-researched historical fiction, usually focusing on royal romantic intrigues)
• P.G. Wodehouse  (farcical British romps that poke fun at class differences)
• Zane  (erotic romance fiction, with an emphasis on African-American characters)

INDIVIDUAL TITLE READALIKES

The following booklists are organized around appeal factors of specific books. If you like these books, you might want to try some similar titles by other authors.

• Bel Canto  (psychological dramas featuring varied casts of characters; emphasis on music as a healing or unifying force)
• Bridget Jones’s Diary  (light-hearted contemporary “Chick Lit”)
• The Color Purple  (classic epistolary novel dealing with the southern U.S.)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  (an autistic boy goes out on his own to try to uncover the truth about the death of a neighborhood dog)
• Cutting for Stone  (novel about a young doctor’s formative years in Ethiopia and his early years as an immigrant doctor in the United States)
• The Da Vinci Code  (thrillers/mysteries involving history, secret societies, art and/or religion)
• Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President  (historical non-fiction account of the assassination attempt against President James Garfield, and his subsequent medical maltreatment)
• The Devil in the White City  (detailed history of late 1800s in Chicago — the World’s Fair – and a notorious serial killer)
• Die Hard  (a.k.a. “Have a Merry Hard-Edged Christmas” — action films with a strong Christmas or holiday flavor)
• Downton Abbey  (stylish period piece, exploring social classes, personal relationships and a world at war during the early 20th century)
• The Far Away Brothers: Two Migrant Brothers and the Making of an American Life  (non-fiction about the experiences of immigrants to the United States in the 21st century)
• The Flavia de Luce series  (1950s-era British mysteries featuring a youthful scientific sleuth)
• Gone Girl  (dark, tense, suspenseful thriller with unreliable narrators)
• The Great Gatsby  (historical fiction – early 20th century U.S. – “bigger-than-life” protagonists)
• The Handmaid’s Tale  (dystopian exploration of women’s roles in a patriarchal/theocratic near-future setting)
• The Harry Potter series  (youthful “coming-of-age” featuring magic and Good vs. Evil)
• The Help  (race relations, domestic help and the civil rights era)
• The Hunger Games  (dystopian coming-of-age story, featuring a strong female teen protaganist balancing complicated relationships and combat to the death in an arena-like setting)
• I Am a Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice  (historical account of one of Nebraska most important Native American leaders and his impact on United States history)
• The Jack Reacher series  (suspense-thrillers — lone-hero — lots of violence)
• Killers of the Flower Moon  (historical non-fiction about the crimes perpetrated against the Osage Nation to drive to drive them from their oil-rich lands)
• The Kite Runner  (stories with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds; tales of redemption; stories of refugees)
• The Left Behind Series  (Adventure thrillers with a strong religious bent, featuring spiritual warfare between the forces of Good and Evil)
• Marley & Me  (sentimental look at the relationships betweens humans and the pets who adopt them / non-fiction)
• Peace Like a River  (stories told by youthful protagonists; set in the midwest; strong family bonds; mysticism)
• People of the Book  (follows the lives of the different owners of a particular religious tome as it passes from hand-to-hand through the decades)
• The Perfect Storm  (gripping look at “Man vs. Nature” experiences, mostly non-fiction)
• Plainsong  (quiet character studies with a strong sense of place; forging non-traditional families when the traditional bonds break down)
• Stranger Things  (TV series that pays homage to early 1980s geeky references, including SF, horror and mystery in literature, movies and TV)
• To Kill a Mockingbird  (Southern family legal drama, with elements of history, racism, mystery, “Father as hero”, and a strong youthful narrative voice)
• The Thirteenth Tale  (moody tale, harkening back to gothic novels of the 1800s and 1900s – a story about the power of good literature)
• The Twilight Series  (angsty young-adult vampires or paranormal, frequently with tragic love story)
• The Woman in the Window  (tense psychological thriller featuring an unreliable narrator)
• The Worst Hard Time  (narrative history of the Dust Bowl Years (1930s) in the Midwest of the United States)

This page last updated in March 2024 sdc