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If you loved
Books like Life of Samuel Johnson
Pull up a chair in a bustling 18th-century London tavern and listen to the greatest conversationalist of the age hold court. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Life of Samuel Johnson.
- convivial
- intellectual
- intimate
- bustling
- 01
A dictionary of the English language
Samuel Johnson · 1819
An opinionated, deeply literary stroll through the eccentricities of the English language, guided by a brilliantly curmudgeonly scholar.
- 02
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin · 1892
A witty, pragmatic masterclass in self-invention and lifelong curiosity from the original American polymath.
- 03
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Laurence Sterne
A gloriously chaotic, endlessly digressive romp that breaks every rule of storytelling to capture the absurd comedy of human existence.
- 04
Istanbul
Orhan Pamuk
A deeply atmospheric stroll through the fading grandeur of a fallen empire, guided by the ghosts of childhood memory.
- 05
The Churchill factor
Boris Johnson
A persuasive and energetic re-evaluation of a monumental historical figure and the contradictions that defined his legacy.
- 06
Diary
Samuel Pepys · 1924
Step into the bustling, unfiltered mind of a 17th-century Londoner who is just as concerned with his new watch as he is with the Great Fire burning down his city.
- 07
John Adams
David McCullough
An immersive, deeply human portrait of a prickly but passionate founding father and the extraordinary marriage that anchored him.
- 08
The meaning of everything
Simon Winchester · 2003
An engaging, anecdote-rich journey through the monumental, decades-long obsession required to catalog the English language.
- 09
Mémoires
Giacomo Casanova · 1922
A scandalous, glittering romp through 18th-century Europe guided by history's most unapologetic libertine.
- 10
Jane Austen
Claire Tomalin · 1997
A deeply researched and reflective exploration of the life, times, and legacy of a foundational English novelist.
- 11
Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain
A nostalgic, sharply observed drift down a mighty river that captures the fading romance of a bygone era.
- 12
Churchill
Roy Jenkins · 2001
A sweeping, insider's view of a monumental life, told with the wry authority of a fellow statesman.
