HF That Everyone Should Read

Lately, I have been getting a lot of "Oh my goodness, you haven't read such and such book???!" Or "What did you think of this massively popular book? What - you haven't read it??"

Particularly, for the book Water for Elephants. I'm still getting around to it!

What, in your opinion, are HF books that everyone should read?

I am not looking for your favorite books, but rather, very well known ones. Perhaps they are or were bestsellers, got a lot of awards, are popular, influential... And so on.

For example:

The Red Tent
The Other Boleyn Girl
Memoirs of a Geisha
Atonement
The Book Thief

Well, I have to read Water for Elephants for my book club this month, and I really am not interested in it. However, lots of people at LT who's opinions I trust say that it's a worthwhile read, so perhaps I won't suffer too much.

I am often not crazy about books that become hugely popular, but then again, sometimes I love them.

Of the ones you mentioned:

The Red Tent - haven't read it, have no interest in it whatsoever. I read another book by the author that was good to read, but that I remember very little about now.

The Other Boleyn Girl - it was okay--readable, but not great.

Memoirs of a Geisha - will read one day because I picked up a free copy somewhere along the line.

Atonement - read it before it got super popular, loved it, don't think of it as HF, but yes, I guess it is.

Book Thief - don't know much about it but if a free copy crosses my path I'll read it. Otherwise I won't seek it out.

Here are three more:

The Name of the Rose (I liked it but it was very challenging)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Like it a lot)
Birth of Venus (probably the worst HF book I've ever read)

yeah, water for elephants doesn't interest me either. I haven't read book thief which is on my list. the other boleyn girl and the others I haven't read and I'm not sure if I will. I read adn loved memoirs of a geisha-however, I was living in Japan at the time, and the areas were close to where I was.

#2-havent' even heard of the ones you mentioned!

I have these on my bookshelf that have been highly recommended but I haven't started:
helen of troy
1776
mayflower
master and commander
a bunch of bernard cornwell

yeah, water for elephants doesn't interest me either. I haven't read book thief which is on my list. the other boleyn girl and the others I haven't read and I'm not sure if I will. I read adn loved memoirs of a geisha-however, I was living in Japan at the time, and the areas were close to where I was.

#2-havent' even heard of the ones you mentioned!

I have these on my bookshelf that have been highly recommended but I haven't started:
helen of troy
1776
mayflower
master and commander
a bunch of bernard cornwell

#2-havent' even heard of the ones you mentioned!

Interesting! Well, The Name of the Rose probably teeters over into more the literary realm than HF, although it often comes up in HF conversations. If you're not into the more philosophical end of the HF spectrum, you might want to just watch the movie version with Sean Connery and Christian Slater. I thought it was pretty good (although not as in depth as the book).

Girl with the Pearl Earring is pretty much quintessential HF and the book is much better than the movie (although the later does star the always wonderful Colin Firth and the ever-fetching Scarlett Johanson! But alas, not much of a film)

As for The Birth of Venus, thank the heavens above that you haven't come across this one. The only time this book should surface is in courses on how not to write HF. How it got to be a best seller I'll never know! And according to IMDb, not soon to be made into a movie either.

Nickelini, I didn't really like The Red Tent, so you're not missing much, in my opinion. I remember everyone going crazy over it when it first came out, though.

I don't really have a great interest in bestsellers and "the most popular" books either. At least, that isn't what makes me go looking for a book. However, I do pride myself on having read many, many books... So I like to be able to say "I've read that!"

Girl with the Pearl Earring was stunning!

Hmm... Birth of Venus is on my "To Read" pile. I've actually heard good things about it, but I thought it looked a bit dry after breezing through the first chapters for three minutes, which is why I haven't started it yet.

The Pillars of the Earth is THE historical fiction novel I recommend to everyone. Its sequel, World Without End, was worth reading, but not up to the level of its predecessor.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr is spectacular.

Other top choices:

Cry To Heaven by Anne Rice
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
Bleak House by Charles Dickens -- Yes, I know. It was contemporary fiction at the time it was written, and is considered a classic now, but this is the novel that made me learn to like Dickens after the horror that is A Tale of Two Cities kept me away for decades...

One can't discuss historical fiction without mentioning James Michener. The only one of his novels I could get through was Centennial but other people think he's fabulous.

These aren't necessarily books that "everyone should read", but I've also enjoyed a few of Edward Rutherfurd novels, London and Sarum in particular. The Forest is on Mt. TBR as we speak.

Avanta, The Pillars of the Earth is on my To-Read list! Actually, so is Bleak House.
Mount TBR is a great name for my pile as well... A very fitting name.

Avant7, you just beat me to it. Everyone who has ever read any of my posts knows ad nauseaum how much I love and rever The Crimson Petal and I'd agree with you about Pillars of the Earth (I also loved World Without End), The Name of the Rose and The Alienist. Depending on where history begins and ends, (I'm assuming a personal cut-off of the end of WWII), I'd also recommend that everyone should read the sublime Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Other historical fiction I have thrust at unsuspecting friends with the suggestion "Everyone should read this" include Ragtime, Mary Called Magdalene, The French Leiutenant's Woman, Frenchman's Creek, An Instance of the Fingerpost, Star of the Sea, The Athenian Murders, The Madness of a Seduced Woman . . . I could go on and on (and I already have).

It's hard to give a good reason for suggesting everyone should read a certain book and, for me, my reason would be that these are all books that my life has been better for having read. I'm not saying they are all immaculately researched (some more than others for sure) or that they all achieve the same standards of literacy - though really bad writing wouldn't get a look in, that's for sure - but they are all books that have left me feeling I had an insight into the real feeling of 'real' characters and that have made me look at the world and its history in a different way. Each has made me want to read more about its particular period or country.

For similar reasons I'd have to say that The Other Boleyn Grl is one of the few books I'd heartily recommend no-one should have to read but I know I'm in a minority here.

Wow, the books here are all so recent. I think the oldest may be The French Lieutenant's Woman (except for Bleak House which wasn't historical when it was written). When I think of historical fiction the is influential and you "must" read I think of:

Ivanhoe
The Three Musketeers
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Last of the Mohicans

Then there are all the ones that used to be tremendously popular but now aren't really remembered like:

White Company
Quo Vadis
The Robe

I tend to avoid reading things that booksellers put out in big piles, out of sheer pigheadedness, I suppose. I haven't read any of the books in post 1.

The name of the rose - yes, of course, I was very impressed by it back in the 80s. Don't know if it's lasted: I think I might find it a bit over the top now. But it probably is one everybody should read. Sean Connery is always a delight, but he didn't really convince me as a monk in the film.

I probably ought to read The girl with the pearl earring, given that the picture is in my local museum, but I haven't.

I read The birth of Venus mostly because I sometimes listen to Sarah Dunant's show on Radio Three. I didn't absolutely hate it, but it didn't really convince me.

Not mentioned here yet, but probably a better candidate for the accolade Nickelini awards to Ms Dunant, is the overhyped Das Parfüm, which is not just bad but positively evil. Ugh. I would nominate this as the one HF book everyone should not read.

Fingersmith and Tipping the velvet are probably strong candidates, but there's so much good stuff with Victorian/Edwardian settings: The crimson petal and the white (which I'm reading at the moment) is another one.

I'm quite a Patrick O'Brian fan, but I know there are plenty of people who don't like his books. He's had such an impact that everyone should probably try at least one (not necessarily Master and Commander - there's a lot to be said for sampling one from further on in the cycle, then going back to the start if you find you like it).

I'd say that everyone who's interested in historical fiction should also get to know at least some of the classics of the genre, to appreciate the foundation modern writers are building on: Scott, RLS, Dumas, Robert Graves, Mary Renault, ...

If you're a glutton for punishment, Gore Vidal's books probably count as classics of political historical fiction, but they require stamina and strong wrists. He doesn't know the meaning of the word "brevity".

>10 aulsmith:
Ivanhoe is great fun, but it's a bit on the kitschy side and not set in Scotland - if we had to put just one novel by Scott on the list, then I'd vote for The heart of Midlothian.

I would recommend The King's Touch by Jude Morgan. It's about the Court of Charles II and the Restoration of the crown period. Very interesting and I learnt a lot about this time in history. Very good read!

What, in your opinion, are HF books that everyone should read?

I don't actually. I love HF--but I'm only interested in some areas of history. Personally, I have almost no interest in Classical Rome, Ancient Egypt, or the US Civil War. It would have to be a super fabulous book for me to read it. On the other hand, I think the Autobiography of Henry VIII: with notes by his fool, Will Somers is absolutely fabulous--but if you're not interested in the Tudors it probably won't do much for you.

I have read all 5 books mentioned in the original post. The Book Theif was probably the best.

Water For Elephants I despised. I always thought it would make a good movie and infact read like it was a book written from the movie - you know how they do that with TV shows for teens? so I am actually looking forward to the movie but the book ugh.

The best historical fiction writer I think is Sharon Penman.

I would recommend The Sunne in Splendor which is about the War of the Roses - much much better than The Red Queen, The White Queen etc by Philippa Gregory.

This year I have read The Help which I thought was awesome.
The Year of Wonders was also very very good

Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Centennial by James A.Michener
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

and at the minimum the Lincoln of Gore Vidal's "Narrative of Empire" series
Burr
Lincoln
1876
Empire
Hollywood
The Golden Age
Washington, D.C.

Also the historical novels of the Finnish writer Mika Waltari
"The Egyptian"
"The Adventurer"
"The Wanderer"
'The Etruscan"
"The Roman"

I love Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series.

He's written other good HF, like Agincourt.

Devil in the White City
Issac's Storm

are two great ones as well.

Somone already mentioned it, but The Alienist is fabulous, one of my favorite books of all time!!!

I saw the topic and was unable to refrain from peeking in. I was going to suggest, as someone did earlier in the discussion, that the books being listed as "MUST" reads were all so modern. But then, usnmm2 began listing books that I would put on the list:

Herman Wouk's WW2 novels
James A. Michener's books - I like Centennial, but I have bought at least a dozen copies of Hawaii (and given them to friends as "must read"
Mika Waltari - The Egyptian (I see from the Touchstones that I need to catalog my copy right away

I'd also put jamesclavell::James Clavell on the MUST read list: Shogun, Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, King Rat and Noble House

Pearl Buck The Good Earth
Louis Bromfield The Rains Came
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Remarque
Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
The Guns of NavaroneAlistair MacLain'
The Talisman Sir Walter Scott

Wow so many good recommendations! Luckily, I've read most of the ones mentioned so far. I would definitely agree with most of the selections especially:

Lonesome Dove
Gone With The Wind
The Crimson and the White
The Grapes of Wrath
Winds of War and War and Remembrance
Fingersmith
The Good Earth
etc.

I would add:

Exodus and Mila 18 by Leon Uris
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Down the Common:A Year In the Life of a Medieval Woman by Ann Bauer

There's so many, I guess it just depends on where your interests lie.

Oh, I just had to come back and add Patrick O'Brian's excellent naval series, starting with
Master and Commander

I am going to make it my mission to read ALL of these!
My To-Read pile grows.

I don't know why but I have trouble thinking of Grapes of Wrath as historical, even though it falls well within my 'pre-WWII' rule. But yes, you are all so right - one of my favourite books ever and definitely a must-read.

>23 Booksloth:,

I think you're right not to think of Grapes of Wrath as historical fiction, since Steinbeck was writing about a time period contemporary to him, like the Jane Austen example that pops up so often.

>18 lkruczek:,
I believe Devil in the White City is actually classified as history, not as fiction.

#24 You're right Devourer. Now I know why I was having trouble. Still a must-read though.

>25 Booksloth:
Absolutely, one of my favorite books of all time

The best historical novels I've ever read are Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem (I'm haunted by this novel), Spartacus by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Great Maria by Cecilia Holland, and The World is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg, and King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett.

There are others I consider very good, but almost none of those mentioned by previous posters.

All of Dorothy Dunnett's books are excellent historical fiction. In addition to King Hereafter, her two series The House of Niccolo and the Lymond Chronicles should not be missed, IMHO!

Anything I would suggest has already been listed here. First and foremost, The Book Thief. I am in love with that book, and I think everyone should read it. Mayflower was also mentioned, and I enjoyed that as well. However I had a personal interest in that one since I had an ancestor on the Mayflower, and he was mentioned in the book a couple times. As for Water for Elephants I think anyone questioning it should give it a try. I read it for a book club not expecting much, but I ended up enjoying it.

I just realized that no one has mentioned I, Claudius yet. One of my top favorite books of all time.

>30 jordantaylor:
Definitely - I mentioned Graves in passing above, but it does stand out among his rather mixed output of historical novels (Wife to Mr Milton, anybody? No, I thought not...).

>31 thorold: Robert Graves is amazing. Has anyone read Homer's Daughter? It's coming up on my To Read pile.

>32 jordantaylor:
Long, long ago.
I thought it very clever when I was 14, but I doubt it would stand up to re-reading. Too many real feminist rewritings of history have come along since then.

>3 homeschoolmom:
Do you mean 1776 the play (see link)? Your touchstone went to 1776, the very much nonfiction book by David McCullough. It's usually smart to check where your touchstone is going -- take a look to the right of the text box in which you type your next post. If you need to adjust a touchstone, click "others" and select the book you meant.

Holy cow, and I thought I read a lot of historical fiction but I barely touched on the books mentioned in this post.

I always thought The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was right up there in historical fiction.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

A fascinating thread. I was glad to see the father of HF listed. I reread Ivanhoe last year and loved it. And will second the opinion that the Kristen Lavransdatter series is excellent.

I think that like Devil in the White City, Mayflower is history, not historical fiction. Among Philbrick's books, I much preferred In the Heart of the Sea to Mayflower. But again, not fiction.

I tried to get into The Book Thief and couldn't make a go of it. I keep thinking I ought to try again. Sometimes books just hit wrong for where you are at a given time.

The Killer Angels is an amazing book. I also recommend Mackinlay Kantor's Long Remember which also addresses Gettysburg.

Howard Bahr's novels of the Civil War, especially The Black Flower also warrant attention.

A classic novel set in the dying days of the Western Roman Empire: Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem. A legate tries to keep barbarians from crossing the Rhine, but the Rhine freezes and the barbarians pour across. Then a climactic battle is fought at the 30th milestone between Trier and Mogantiatum (Mainz). This is one of my favorites ever!

Kenneth Roberts' Arundel, which is about an ill-fated invasion of Montreal during the Revolutionary War, is very good. I liked Anya Seton's Katherine, too.

>39 Bjace:
I think that touchstone was supposed to point to Arundel. Somehow the default for "Arundel" is 20,000 Leagues under the Sea -- which is doubtless an excellent book, just not the one meant here.

>17 jnwelch: I am also a lover of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, also the Grail Series and Azincourt. I did not like his Saxson series though.

I like CS Forester 's Hornblower series only a couple more to track down and read.

I also like Historical mysteries CJ Sansom's Shardlake series is excellent in the time of Henry VIII and E. Marston's Christopher Redmayne series in the time of Charles V is great though I did not like his railway series.

I woul dhave to add a big thumbs up for my 2 favourites Shogun by James Clavell and Ross Poldark by Winston Graham. The Poldark series is 13 long and great reaidng all the way thru.

Some of my favorite historical fiction:

Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (massive, but so worth the commitment)

The Hanging Tree by David Lambkin (a contemporary paleoanthropoligst finds evidence of a four million year old murder in Kenya and in the process of piecing together the evidence, also uncovers a mystery surrounding the ill-fated Patterson hunting expedition.)

Obasan by Joy Kogawa, a beautiful story of life in a Canadian internment camp during WWII.

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth -- one of my favorite writers. This is a short and intense story about a medieval troupe of players who decide to re-enact a local crime and in the process become embroiled in a strange plot.

Kepler by John Banville -- sharp, intense prose. He also wrote Copernicus, which is also great, but Kepler I found first.

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes -- the author's take on an actual court case of racial injustice that Arthur Conan Doyle became involved in and that eventually resulted in reforms to the British court system. But in Barnes' hands, simply jewel-like prose.

Regeneration by Pat Barker -- in fact, the entire trilogy, but especially the first book, in which a British psychiatrist is put in charge of a hospital for shell shocked soldiers during WWI. His job is to make them "sane enough" to go back to war. Among his patients are Wilfrid Owen, and Sigfrid Sassoon--the latter of whom was sent to the hospital under the ruse he was suffering a nervous breakdown after he condemned the war.

Serena by Ron Rash. A biting, chilling, marvelous Appalachia story. Read the book before you see the movie.

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot: another WWI story (I seem to gravitate towards these) wherein a French "white widow" discovers her fiance may actually not have died as she had thought, and tries to discover his fate, against the wishes of the army that does not want to admit what happened to him.

The Prospector by Le Clezio -- an author I discovered thanks to LT. A treasure hunt story, a return-to-Eden story, set on the island of Mautitius pre and post WWI. Gorgeous writing. A great sea-voyage story as well.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood: based on a real series of murders, and told from the point of view of the woman convicted of the crime. A great "unreliable narrator" story-- and a much, much better "alienist" story than Carr's book

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald. A strange tale of the poet Novalis, and his abiding love for an apparently ordinary young girl.

The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett -- one of my favorite underappreciated writers. This is set on a 19th century arctic expedition, told from the point of view of the naturalist on board.

An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by Cesar Aira. A tight, vivid, tiny, and somewhat surreal story of the German painter Rugendas, who was struck by lightning traveling through Argentina and his work forever affected.

> 43 I am currently reading Obasan. It is pretty tough sledding as the book is a very personal write that seems to ramble all over the place. You certainly get the sense of frustration and outrage at being Canadian (born in Canada) but having everything striped of value from your family simply because you have a Japanese ancestry and lived on the BC coast. You would like to think such outrages were a history lesson but with the current situation in the middle est I could see such prejudice happening again with innocent practitioners of Islam in today's society.

Looking at your list of books I think you should read the history of China during Mao's reign and the Cultural Revolution. Here are a list of books I have read describing what it was like being young middle class, a rich person, a patriot family...each has a unique look of those terrible times.

Red Azalea by Anchee Min, Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng, and Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

Very much enjoyed Hillary Mantel Bring up the Bodies. I didn't think I could stomach another Anne Bolyn book but this is a very different take. And Mantel's sardonic wit plays very much into my mental picture of Cromwell. Wolf Hall was a good read, but I thought Bring up the Bodies was great. Another historical fiction author I enjoy a lot is Colleen McCullough; her Master of Rome series is very entertaining.

For those who have not had the pleasure of reading Dorothy Dunnett, I second the recommendations above; her books are fascinating and well worth the effort they entail.

The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr are great stories.

Try also the Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson, a great and sometimes hilarious `Enlightement saga`.

There have been so many great recommendations, but always room for a few more. Anything by Mary Renault, starting with The King Must Die about Theseus for anybody interested in the ancient world. And what about I, Claudius? So very unlike the home life of our own dear Queen...

I have just read Longbourn, a most entertaining story about the Bennet family's maid. The characters and events of Pride and Prejudice appear in the background, but it stands up as a very good little historical novel in its own right.

I agree that Dorothy Dunnett is wonderful, though for some people it might be better to get into the Francis Crawford series with the second book Queen's Play.

#43
The books you recommend may all be very good reads, but as far as I know none of them are fiction, though you do have to allow for the spin and tricks of memory that biographers and autobiographers are prone to.

#43
The books you recommend may all be very good reads, but as far as I know none of them are fiction, though you do have to allow for the spin and tricks of memory that biographers and autobiographers are prone to.

Huh? I've only read a few of those, but they were all quintessential historical fiction. What do you mean?

>48 dajashby: #43
The books you recommend may all be very good reads, but as far as I know none of them are fiction

They are all fiction, @djashby. Did you mean to reference someone else's post?

ETA: I like Mary Renault, but although The King Must Die is one of her best known, I've always been fond of The Praise Singer --about the poet Simonides. I tend to like stories about writers and artists.

In that vein, Moon and Sixpence is a great story about a fictionalized Gaughin.

I have always been a big fan of Ivanhoe. However there are other of Scott's Novels I would recommend, such as Redgauntlet, Quintin Durwood and The Antiquary. One of the novels that I had lots of thoughts on after I finished was Les Miserables although it is very different from Scott's novels. Another fun one to read is Scaramouche

Pre-World War I America -- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. If interested, see my book review.

I think #48 meant to reference #44 which had many autobiographies.

>53 Morphidae: Perhaps, but those recommendations were made to me as someone who liked Obasan, and books set in times of war, not as recommendations for historical fiction.

As far as cultural revolution and fiction go, I'd recommend Camilla Gibb's The Beauty of Humanity Movement, which is set in Hanoi sometime in the 80s, with flashback's into the 50s during a short-lived dissident movement. It avoids being too preachy, and does have this going for it--the main character is a man who sells pho (Vietnamese beef broth soup) from a cart, and the descriptions of the dish are compelling enough that I spent a week trying to make it at home. With very little success.

Whoops, I did indeed mean #44. Obviously if you are interested in a particular period you will read histories, biographies and fiction, anything you can get your hands on to get a feel for it. I'm sorry, I did not pick up the connection between Obasan and the other books, which after all are set in a period of civil strife rather than war. However, I just have the idea that recommending allegedly factual works is not quite appropriate in a thread specifically devoted to discussing fiction.

If you like novels set in wartime, what about Cold Mountain? It is so lyrically written, in my head it sounds like Shelby Foote reading something actually written in the 1860s. Then there's March by the estimable Geraldine Brooks, set at the same time. Thomas Keneally has written many histories and novels (59 at the last count, not all of the novels are historical novels) - I think you might enjoy Daughters of Mars. The central characters are sisters who join up as nurses in the First World War.

>55 dajashby: If you like novels set in wartime

I like novels that are well written, regardless of time and place. So my pool for acceptable times and places of historical fiction is closer to an ocean. I tend to read war stories because I like explorations of moral ambiguity, which are often front and center in a war.

Oddly enough, I'm a little cooler about Geraldine Brooks, and I wasn't overwhelmed by the plague book Year of Wonders, (diseases and epidemics being another great setting for bringing out moral dilemmas) -- mostly because I thought Anna was a 21st century woman in a 17th century costume. I don't tend to like it when writers try to make their characters more likable by sacrificing the prejudices and preconceptions of the era they are in, in favor of more modern sensibilities.

Cold Mountain I did like, although not as much as some other writers of the region--James Still, Robert Morgan.

You may be right about Anna. It's almost impossible to get into the mindset of somebody living in even the recent past. Some writers don't even try but still get away with it, as Dorothy Dunnett does with Francis Crawford who is really both physically and mentally fantastical, although surrounded by characters whom I find authentically sixteenth century. On the other hand Rosemary Hawley Jarman got right up my nose with We Speak No Treason in which the main characters struck me as late twentieth century New Yorkers agonising about their relationships.

Have you read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet?

Alexander and Hannibal and Roma: Der erste Tod des Mark Aurel by Gisbert Haefs. Exellent, exellent works. He manages to truely transport you 'there' and 'then', great reads.

*pokes lj* why don't I get the right touchstones... *poke, poke*

>58 aquascum: You can change the touchstones when the default one isn't right by clicking "(others)"

Gisbert Haefs: Noted. Aren't these translated into English? Can't find them in English, straight off. (if not, why not...)

@59 that didn't work, have tried

and @60 don't know about English, they certainly have been translated into other languages. Hm, looks like he is an English translator himself (Kipling, for example) perhaps things were not up to his standards?

It does, though. Hannibal See? This is the book by the author you mention.

YaY, glad one works! Thank you!

Roma. Der erste Tod des Mark Aurel and Alexander There's the proper touchstones. You probably want to remove the ones you did for wrong books, since that confuses things ;)

Yes! So how do I copy the html code of your post to mine?

It's not HTML, it's just touchstones. For Roma you just need to put the full title, Hannibal you can either do the full title or click "others" like I said earlier and look through the list for the right name and choose that one, and Alexander for some reason doesn't want to list the proper one so I forced the touchstone, where you use the work number (1323847 in this case) followed by :: and the title, in square brackets as you do for touchstones, so it'd look like [1323847::Alexander].

*goes to poke lt again*

Lots of books already mentioned with which I thoroughly agree. Would like to add Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller for a new take on a very old story.

this is my contribution to best historical fiction read of 2013

This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson it is an amazing write about the friendship and disharmony of relationship between Captain Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin as they sail together on HMS Beagle around the tip of Antarctica South America and beyond. You will see the interference of religion that enters into the lives of both men and their scientific pursuits and in their friendship as well.

It is a long read (900 pages) but it seems too short when read. it has a star rating of 4.33 and most deserved of it. I rated it at 5 stars. Not only is it a factual write but very moving as a novel....my only regret is this author died before writing another such work.

Not my period, but WWI novel Flanders by Patricia Anthonyis an astonishing novel

If I was you, I would read the Great Gatsby:)

The Sunne in Splendour (by Sharon Kay Penman), The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova), and The Long Ships (by Frans G. Bengtsson)

Touchstone fairy:
The Sunne in Splendour
The Historian
The Long Ships

The Origin by Irving Stone This has been my first of future reads on a theory that stirred much debate. Insightful. Stone books were highly recommended by a neighbor and I was well pleased. Took my time, looking for statements that reveal the character of the person, Charles Darwin. Good start to my investigation via books and articles.

#74

You might like Mr Darwin's Shooter if you're interested in Darwin's character.

#9, I love almost everyone of those books you thrust at your friends!

#73--Even though it was a very slow start, I ended up loving The Historian.

#56
The high sea of historical literature are my favorite as well. I like the rough seas that puts the boundaries of technology and moral standards of the focal era to the test.

Morgan's Run by Collen Mccullough a great novel that vividly portrays the shocking savagrery of the british empire. Her "Masters of Rome" series, that # 45 mentions, won her a doctoral laurate

The Clan of the Cave bear by Jean M. Auel
Highlights advantages of technologies developed during the Upper Pleistocene era. This novel won the author scientific acclaim and laurates but is all based on conjectures and might have beens.

Vägen till Jerusalem and the rest of the Arn Magnusson series by Jan Guillou
A thrilling story of young love in medieval sweden and a fascinating viewpoint during the era of the early crusades between the second and third Crusades

#19 I'd also put James Clavell on the MUST read list: Shogun, Tai-Pan,...
Hear hear, fascinating story long remembered

Røde Orm by Frans G. Bengtson
Highly acclaimed during its time. I've forgotten it quickly.

The Three Musketeers
Fascinating story still remembered from my youth.

The Name of the Rose
Set my record for longest read. Took me years to struggle through this long winded story.

#43 The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Now in the ethereal clouds of Mt. tbr

In this vein of stories of arctic expeditions I will recomend the Non-fiction Ultima Thule : Oppdagelsesreiser i Arktis aka A history of : Arctic Exploration : Discovery, Adventure and Endurance at the Top of the World by Matti Lainema and Juha Nurminen. Fascinating stories of from sucesses long forgotten to the "recent" disastrous ones and nuggets of information throughout.

#78 Read "Clan of the Cave Bear" very many years ago and really enjoyed along with some of her other books. Enjoyed even more by my wife who is not normally a historical fiction fan. Also agree with you on "The Voyage of the Narwhal"

Røde Orm by Frans G. Bengtson has a life as "The Long Ships" in its English translation. I push it on all my friends.

>80 DinadansFriend: So do I. I adore that book!

#81
Me too!

Touchstone Fairy: The Long Ships

Anything by James Michener such as Alaska, Chesapeake Texas, Hawaii, Space,Caravans Centennial etc. I have read several of them twice.