Member: Calwise

i've just started a novel that i thought i'd mention to you. it's called [the doomsday book]. it won both the hugo and nebula awards, which ain't bad. it's a sci-fi book involving time travel *and* medieval history. i started it last night and although i'm doing it in audio and don't like the narrator, if i could read it, i'd call it a real page-turner. i'm hooked.

here's the full link at amazon.com and below that the snip url link. some people can't get snip url to work so i included both.

http://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Book-SFBC...

http://snipurl.com/qq7qc

later.

posted by mirrordrum at 2:06 pm (EST) on Aug 22, 2009

hey calwise--hope you had a good day. my historical fiction reading is fairly limited. there is some well-reviewed historical fantasy fiction around as well.

i'm a great fan of all of mary renault's work but her critical acclaim came with her novels set in ancient greece in chronological order according to historical time not when they were written: [the king must die], [bull from the sea], [last of the wine], [mask of apollo], [fire from heaven] and [the persian boy] are the best. the first two deal with theseus and the founding of athens. the third takes place during the time of socrates and goes up to his death with much attention on the Peloponnesian war, including the disastrous athenian attack on syracuse. the fourth takes place during the time of plato and the academy and a lot of it deals wonderfully with greek theatre, dionysius I and II of syracuse and plato's relationship with dionysius II and with dion of syracuse. [fire from heaven], probably my favorite, is about the early life of alexander the great up until the death of his father. [the persian boy] follows alexander to persia and beyond and up until his death.

another fine series is patrick o'brian's aubrey/maturin novels. these are fine, well-researched, witty and tremendously compelling novels set during the napoleonic wars. they're about a british captain, jack aubrey, and his special friend, stephen maturin, a british spy, physician and natural philosopher. they sail round the world encountering all kinds of adventures, nautical and land-bound as jack moves up through the ranks from post captain onward. lots of storms and sea battles, descriptions of life in the england of austen and dickens and in the navy of that period. tremendously compelling reading.

i'll see what else i can think of that might capture your attention.

have a good evening.

posted by mirrordrum at 7:42 pm (EST) on Aug 20, 2009