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If you loved
Books like Going Solo
A wry, gripping memoir that filters the harrowing realities of war and the African bush through the lens of a master storyteller's eccentric, unsentimental eye. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Going Solo.
- sun-baked
- perilous
- nostalgic
- surreal
- 01
Boy
Roald Dahl
A mischievous, darkly funny, and deeply nostalgic romp through the triumphs and terrors of a 1920s childhood.
- 02
Danny, The Champion of the World
Roald Dahl
A cozy, conspiratorial celebration of a father and son teaming up to outsmart a wealthy bully.
- 03
The Great Escape (Bull's-eye S.)
Paul Brickhill · 1990
A masterclass in tension and ingenuity that reads like a thriller but carries the heavy, authentic weight of true wartime sacrifice.
- 04
Fate is the Hunter
Ernest K. Gann
A white-knuckle, philosophical journey into the cockpit during the golden, deadly age of aviation, where survival is a roll of the dice.
- 05
Empire of the Sun
J. G. Ballard · 1994
A chilling, unsentimental portrait of a boy adapting to the surreal horrors of a world at war.
- 06
The Second World War
Winston Churchill · 1948
A front-row seat to the twentieth century's greatest cataclysm, narrated with the booming authority of the man who helped steer the world through it.
- 07
Child of the Holocaust
Jack Kuper · 1967
A stark, deeply personal testament to survival and the shattering of childhood during one of history's darkest chapters.
- 08
"The Good War"
Studs Terkel · 1984
A sprawling, intimate chorus of ordinary voices dismantling the myths of a legendary conflict to reveal the raw humanity underneath.
- 09
The man who rode the thunder
William H. Rankin
A gripping, true-life plunge into the terrifying heart of a thunderstorm.
- 10
Grandpa’s Great Escape
David Walliams
A cheeky, high-flying adventure that wraps a poignant exploration of aging and memory loss in layers of slapstick comedy and daring escapes.
- 11
Reach for the Sky
Larry Forrester, Paul Brickhill and others · 2000
An exhilarating, stiff-upper-lip testament to sheer human stubbornness and the thrill of flight.
- 12
Masters of the Air
Donald L. Miller
A harrowing, novelistic plunge into the fire-filled skies of World War II that captures both the adrenaline of flight and the devastating cost of war.
