Based on Bryson, I'd recommend Daniel J. Boorstin, the Discoverers (not funny like Bryson, but incredibly interesting perspectives on the expansion of human knowledge)
Louis de Bernieres' magical realism trilogy (The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord, and the Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman). He has the best comic timing since PG Wodehouse and does magical realism better than Allende or García Marquez.