If You Like….

There was much excitement this weekend over the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who, that quirky British time travel show that’s so very hard to explain. It seemed like a good to do an If You Like about Doctor Who– but for the fact that I’m drawing an (almost) blank. Only two books came to mind:

— Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and

— Charles Stross’s Laundry Files Novels

both of which mesh modern Britain with quirky paranormal and alien activity, with that same sort of tongue in cheek sense of humor.

Other than that, I’m having a hard time thinking of anything that fits the Doctor Who bill. What would you recommend for hard core Whovians?

9 Comments

  1. E on November 25, 2013 at 9:16 am

    Well, if you omit the aliens, you can combine the British and organized time-travel aspects with Connie Willis’ Oxford Time Travel novels. (You could just read Uncharted Territory or some of her short stories, like “Sidon in the Mirror,” if you want to pretend they are all in the same universe.)

  2. Gina on November 25, 2013 at 11:32 am

    I think perhaps Neil Gaiman belongs on this list since he wrote some AMAZING episodes for the show. Things like Sandman (which I haven’t read but looks amazing) and Neverwhere might go well.

    Also I’m thinking of Good Omens by he and Terry Pratchett which may not be ‘timey-wimey’ but definitely has that quirky British humor and an impending apocalypse, so it feels like it fits.

  3. Vicki on November 25, 2013 at 11:53 am

    I would second the Connie Willis rec, and also the Terry Pratchett, especially Thief of Time. A couple more that come to mind include Corrupting Dr. Nice by John Kessel and The Eyre Afffair by Jasper Fford. Not exactly Whovian, but they share many elements of the Who series, time travel, quirky humor, literary allusions, etc. Also, if you like YA, I would suggest King of Shadows by Susan Cooper. Or, maybe the best idea of all, find the Dr. Who audio books narrated by the amazing Davide Tennant, they’re wonderful.

  4. Cate on November 25, 2013 at 12:46 pm

    Any of Ben Aaronovitch’s books ..Rivers of London etc. He’s an ex Who writer and his world building is fab.

  5. Rachel on November 25, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    I would recommend Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. In the US the I think the first book is called Midnight Riot. The author was a screenwriter for Classic Who. The series is part police procedural part magic with quite a few Dr Who references.

  6. Renee on November 25, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    I’d suggest the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde too!

  7. Jayne on November 25, 2013 at 5:14 pm

    Jasper Fforde and Ben Aaronovich would be my picks too.

  8. Elizabeth Lefebvre on November 25, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    Well, aside from the 50 million Dr Who books out there, I’d recommend Paul Magrs’s Iris Wildthyme series, it’s kind of a Who spin-off but stands alone. Oddly enough Neil Gaiman’s “Fortunately the Milk” is VERY Whovian. I’d totally throw in Terry Pratchett as well, just genius covers him. Douglas Adams other series, Dirk Gently, which actually started out as a Dr Who episode (Shada)… I’m sure I can think of more later too 😉

  9. Olivia on November 26, 2013 at 10:51 am

    Definitely Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books!

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