Chapter 41 - Big Magic

In her book, Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert makes the observation that there are ideas floating around the universe and we just need to pick them up and act on them. She observes this when two authors write very similar books within the same time period. Since it takes about 18 to 24 months for a book to come from author to publication, it is highly doubtful that one author has plagiarized the other. A good example of this is Kim Michelle Richardson's book The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and JoJo Moyes' book The Giver of Stars. Both books are about the Pack Horse Librarians who traveled the backroads of Kentucky bringing books to people who lived in the hills. That similarity is where the story ends however as each book is uniquely its own.

For those of us who love to read, however, it means that we might be able to find a similar book to the one we have loved. So here are some books I've read that are completely the same but entirely different from others I've suggested in the past!

If you liked The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams try either The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan or The Last Library by Freya Sampson.

If you enjoyed the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia Macneal (Mr. Churchill's Secretary) try the Maisie Dobbs series (Maisie Dobbs) by Jacqueline Winspear or A Peculiar Combination (The Electra McDonnell series) by Ashley Weaver.

If The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was more your jam, read The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer.

If you enjoy Emily Henry books (Beach Read or Happy Place) consider Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld.

For short chapter spy thrillers like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series, try The Power Couple by Alex Berenson or The Expats by Chris Pavone. Follow it up with The Paris Diversion also by Pavone.

Read and enjoyed Fall of Giants by Ken Follett or another family saga? Try The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, Paris by Edward Rutherfurd, or Jeffrey Archer's Clifton Chronicles series which starts with Only Time Will Tell.

Did you like The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, try Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Do you have any suggestions of read-alikes? Please let me know.