It is easy once you find a book that you really like to fall into reading that author’s entire canon searching for a repeat performance. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In most cases, though, it’s the book that grabbed you and perhaps you can find satisfaction in books by other authors that are similar in subject, tone or writing. Here are some examples:
If you liked: “The Da Vinci Code,” by Dan Brown, you may like: “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh.
Why: While one (“The Da Vanci Code”) is fiction and the other is purported to be nonfiction, they both tackle the same controversial issue: Did Jesus survive the cross, go on to marry and have children, a bloodline that survives today? (You might also like “The Historian,” a novel coming out in a few weeks that is a retelling of the Dracula tale like you’ve never heard it before from newcomer Elisabeth Kostova.)
If you liked: “The Lexus and the Olive Tree,” by Thomas L. Friedman, you may like: “The World Is Flat,” also by Friedman
Why: This one breaks the mold a little by featuring the same author, but one is something of a continuation of the other. In both books, Friedman argues that globalization is the most important trend in the world today and tells us how it affects many areas of our lives.
If you liked: “Saturday,” by Ian McEwan, you may like: “Windows on the World, by Frederic Beigbeder
Why: The attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, play central roles in both of these atmospheric novels by non- Americans. McEwan, an Englishman, pumps up the dread in his novel focused on one day two years after the attack in which a London doctor discusses the Iraqi war during a large protest of that war. In “Windows on the World,” French author Beigbeder sets his story with a family at the restaurant of the title during the attacks alternating with the views of a French novelist telling his story one year later at a similar site in Paris.
If you liked: “Conspiracy of Fools,” by Kurt Eichenwald, you may like: “DisneyWar,” by James B. Stewart
Why: While “Conspiracy” tells the story of the implosion of the Enron Corp. and the scandal that erupted, Stewart’s “DisneyWar” focuses on the internal warfare that has been taking place inside the entertainment giant over the last 10 years. Both center on the world of big business.
If you liked: “I Am Charlotte Simmons,” by Tom Wolfe, you may like: “Prep,” by Curtis Sittenfeld
Why: Wolfe’s novel follows the title character as she attends an elite Eastern college and comes in contact with sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. In “Prep,” Lee Fiora receives a scholarship to an elite East Coast high school where she, too, comes of age.
If you liked: “Badwater,” by Clinton McKinzie, you may like: “Out of Range,” by C.J. Box
Why: Both Box and McKinzie are relatively new Western authors who feature a lot of the outdoors in their novels – McKinzie, an avid rock climber, often features the sport in his books, and Box’s hero is a Wyoming game warden. Both are solid writers who are developing a good following.
If you liked: “1776,” by David McCullough, you may like: “His Excellency: George Washington,” by Joseph J. Ellis
Why: Here are two Pulitzer Prize- winning historians strutting their stuff. While McCullough centers his book on a pivotal year in the nascent life of the U.S. and Ellis concentrates on one major character during the same period, that one character, as you might imagine, figures prominently in both books. Both are said to be teriffic reads.
If you liked: “Silence of the Lambs” and “Hannibal,” by Thomas Harris, you may like: “Darkly Dreaming Dexter,” by Jeff Lindsay
Why: This one comes with something of a caveat. If you liked the Harris books because Hannibal Lector was such an engaging – if evil – character, you will have to like Dexter. It certainly helps to have a sense of humor with Lindsay’s book because he spreads the smiles far and wide while dealing with a particularly gruesome subject. Dexter, like Lector, is a serial killer and, also like Lector, Dexter is smart and charming. But Lindsay pulls off a major feat – he makes you not only laugh at a monster but also actually come to like him, despite your best judgment. A true original. (Look for Lindsay’s new one, “Dearly Devoted Dexter,” to come out in a few weeks.)
If you liked: “Zorro,” by Isabel Allende, you may like: “Captain Alatriste,” by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Why: Both of these will remind you why you went to the movies as a kid. It’s all about adventure, and in both of these books there is a ton of swashbuckling good times. Most of us know the tale of Zorro, the bemasked son of a rich landowner in the formative days of California who uses his sword – never fatally – to avenge wrongs and find justice for the downtrodden. In 17th-century Spain, Capt. Alatriste is a soldier of fortune who hires out his sword to the highest bidder.
If you liked: “102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers,” by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, you may like: “Perfect Soldiers: The Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It,” by Terry McDermott
Why: It’s hard to say you “like” either book; they are not pleasurable reads. Yet they are enlightening – and important. In “102 Minutes,” you find out in finely detailed and crafted reportage what it was like for people inside the World Trade Center towers after the airliners struck on 9/11. In “Perfect Soldiers,” you gain a clearer understanding of why they were hit and what kinds of people it takes to do such a thing.
Staff writer Tom Walker can be reached at 303-820-1624 or twalker@denverpost.com.
