Books like Going Solo

Going Solo by Roald Dahl reads as adventurous, witty. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What Going Solo is like to read

A brisk, anecdotal wartime memoir told with Dahl's trademark conspiratorial warmth — vivid set pieces (snakes, dogfights, crash landings) delivered in short, propulsive chapters with dry understatement even at their most harrowing. Best for: readers who love episodic true-adventure memoirs told with wit and immediacy.

Wind, Sand and Stars

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry · 1939

A mail pilot transforms personal experiences of night flight and desert survival into philosophical meditations on human interdependence and mortality, rendered in Saint-Exupéry's characteristic lyrical-earnest voice.

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Out of Africa

Isak Dinesen · 1937

A slow, elegiac unspooling of memory—lush descriptions of land and people rendered in long, lyrical sentences, more meditation than plot.

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Works (Boy / Going Solo)

Roald Dahl · 1992

Both explore adventure & war

Slide Rule

Nevil Shute · 1954

A plainspoken, measured recounting of Shute's lived experience as an aviation pioneer and wartime engineer, grounded in technical detail and professional achievement.

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The diary of a bookseller

Shaun Bythell · 2017

Same memoir feel

Owls in the Family

Farley Mowat · 1961

A warm, episodic boyhood memoir about a prairie family whose household is upended by two very eccentric owls — light, funny, and affectionate throughout.

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Wings on My Sleeve

Eric Brown · 1961

Both explore aviation

West with the Night

Beryl Markham · 1942

An episodic memoir of flight, horses, and East African wilderness, told in reflective vignettes rooted in a singular life.

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All Things Bright and Beautiful (All Creatures Great and Small #3-4)

James Herriot · 1974

A warm, episodic ramble through the Yorkshire Dales in the company of a country vet whose affection for his animal patients and their owners is the whole point.

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Notes from a Small Island

Bill Bryson · 1995

An affectionate, wry farewell tour of Britain, structured as episodic vignettes stitched together by Bryson's outsider-insider voice — grumbles, gratitude, and comic observation in roughly equal measure.

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Cider with Rosie

Laurie Lee · 1959

An episodic, sensuously written recollection of a Cotswold boyhood — vignettes of family, village characters, and a vanishing rural England, rendered in glittering prose shot through with wicked comedy.

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A primate's memoir

Robert M. Sapolsky · 2001

A personal account of scientific discovery and cultural encounter, blending rigorous observation of animal behavior with vivid memoir of youthful transformation in Kenya.

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About Going Solo — what the genome says

Is Going Solo a complete story or a cliffhanger?

It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.

How scary is Going Solo?

Creepy and atmospheric rather than gory or traumatizing.

Who is Going Solo for?

readers who love episodic true-adventure memoirs told with wit and immediacy

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