If you liked
Books like Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman
Anxious People is Fredrik Backman doing his signature trick: a bungled bank robbery and a hostage situation that turn out to be a warm, funny, quietly devastating study of ordinary people failing and forgiving each other. If you want more books that make you laugh and then catch your breath, here they are.
The shortlist
What to read next
A Man Called Oveby Fredrik Backman
“A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 2012 review. A fifty-nine-year-old Swedish curmudgeon plans his suicide until a young family moves in across the courtyard. Backman's debut.”
Beartownby Fredrik Backman
“Beartown by Fredrik Backman 2017 review. A small Swedish forest town stakes its identity on its junior hockey team. An assault by the star player splits the town. Backman's most ambitious novel and the first of the Beartown trilogy.”
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fineby Gail Honeyman
“Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 2017 review. A thirty-year-old Glasgow office worker develops her first adult friendship. British Book Award Book of the Year 2018.”
The Maidby Nita Prose
“The Maid by Nita Prose 2022 review. A neurodivergent hotel maid finds a guest dead in his suite and becomes the primary suspect. New York Times bestseller and the basis for the Florence Pugh film.”
Lessons in Chemistryby Bonnie Garmus
“Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 2022 review. Elizabeth Zott, a chemist pushed out of academic research in the early 1960s, becomes the unlikely host of a hit cooking show. A debut novel that became the basis for the Apple TV+ adaptation with Brie Larson.”
The Thursday Murder Clubby Richard Osman
“The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 2020 review. Four Kent retirees who discuss cold cases weekly land an actual murder in their retirement village. Canonical contemporary British cozy mystery.”
FAQ
Common questions about Anxious People read-alikes
- I want more Fredrik Backman.
- A Man Called Ove is the beloved starting point, a grumpy widower whose story sneaks up on you exactly the way Anxious People does. Beartown is the heavier, more serious side of Backman, a small hockey town after a terrible night, and it is his best-reviewed work.
- What is the closest match in tone?
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Gail Honeyman's debut runs on the same current of loneliness played for humor and then heartbreak, with a prickly narrator you end up loving. It is the book people most often recommend right alongside Backman.
- I want the warmth with a mystery attached.
- The Maid by Nita Prose gives you a neurodivergent narrator, a dead body and a fundamentally kind heart; The Thursday Murder Club sets a gentle whodunit in a retirement village. Both keep the Backman balance of cozy and genuinely moving.
- I want a charming underdog against the odds.
- Lessons in Chemistry follows a 1960s chemist forced onto a TV cooking show, and it lands the same mix of wit, injustice and warmth. It is funnier than Backman and just as easy to press on a friend.
The original