Anyone enjoy history? Can you recommend Historical Fiction or Non Fiction?
Anyone enjoy history? Can you recommend Historical Fiction or Non Fiction?
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Anyone enjoy history? Can you recommend Historical Fiction or Non Fiction?
The nightingale by Kristin hannah
Winter garden by Kristin hannah
Tattooist of auschwitz by Heather Morris
Anything by Bernard Cornwell
The other Einstein and Carnegie’s maid- Marie Benedict…. the silent land- David Dunham …. no mans land- simon Tolkien … virgin of the wind rose- glen Craney…confessions of young Nero and the splendor before the dark- Margaret George
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel.
Century trilogy by Ken Follett
Gosh sooooooo many but I’ll go with only a few, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, James Clavell’s Asian Saga (6 books) are just a some of the historical fiction I could recommend to you.
11.22.63
Historical Fiction: “Salem Burning”
The Gulag Archipelago
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir – a historical accounting that reads like fiction. For historical fiction Philippa Gregory is always a good read. But there are SO MANY to choose from!
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Sisters, the Saga of the Mitford sisters. It’s non- fiction, great read.
Karen Maitland
Anything by Sharon K Penman, anything by Ariana Franklin, C.J. Sansom, Diana Gabaldon
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
If you are interested in WWII/The Holocaust here is my ever-growing list. It has about 300 right now. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VPahHLl4mNnjP7yVAYmsN2krfFv1byYLp46n2j-hBQU
Nonfiction rec: The Radium Girls The story of real women at the mercy of businesses who see them only as a potential risk to the bottom line is haunting precisely because of how little has changed; the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still. https://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/525765323/the-radium-girls-is-haunted-by-glowing-ghosts
I bought this. On my TBR
@Aidan It’s good, but heartbreaking. And still unfortunately relevant.
Fiction rec: A Fierce Radiance :A novel from Belfer (City of Lights, 1999) about the race to develop penicillin and other antibiotics during World War II. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128444970
Phillippa Gregory writes good historical fiction. And I have a whole bookcase full of history books (mostly military history and wars)
The nightingale
Lilac Girls also
Read both & loved them ?
Look up @Regan
“The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II,” by Jeff Shaara, is excellent! https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-Novel-World-War/dp/0345461371
Ines of my soul isabel allende
Bone garden tess gerritsen
Tia Pan by James Clavell, historical fiction about the opium wars of the 1840’s . Great book someone tried to make it into a movie and destroyed it.
Did you like it or Shogun better. I read both of them, but it was so long ago I can’t remember which I thought was better. If I remember correctly, I’d give the nod to Shogun.
@Gail both excellent books with gobs of history. Tia pan was his first book I read and maybe for that reason I remember it more fondly. King Rat was another of his that as soon as I finished the last page I turned it over and read it again.
@Mike I read those three books too.
The Book of Negros is a fantastic historical fiction book. Bring a strong stomach with you though. The imagery that some of Hill’s scenes bring about are heart breaking.
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
The Alice Network!
They’re YA, but i enjoyed Chasing Lincoln’s Killer and a few other books by that same author, i just cant remember his name
Tudor/Plantagent books by Phillippa Gregory
“The Secret Chord” by Geraldine Brooks
I’m half-way through “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow. It’s a beautiful book
Kinda depends on what era you are interested in. Bernard Cornwell covers a wide range of eras of in British History.
I’m interested in pretty much everything honestly, but I’m strongly drawn to 1500s Europe and late 1800s America. That being said Homegoing is one of the best books I’ve ever read and it’s set in 1600s Africa. I like variety
The Other Boleyn Girl is pretty good.
Anything by Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir.
Jacqueline Winspear’s series on WWI & WWII – Female protagonist
Anything by Alison Weir. She is fantastic.
Lauren Willig writes fun books.
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Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon. The first in a series about a young assistant to a magistrate during witch trials. Quite dark.
The nightingale !!
Fave non-fict history books
The hands-down favorite historical fiction in our house is the genius writing of Patrick O’Brian in the epic 21 book Aubrey/Mauterin nautical series beginning w/Master & Commander. You’ll be a scurvy wag in no time!
If you like some romance with your history, Bertrice Small.
Elm Creek Quilters series by Jennifer Cheiverini
Books by Tracy Rees
Elizabeth Chadwick
Tamar by Mal Peet!
Unraveling the Christmas Star Mystery.
The Designer!
Widow1881 by @Sara
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Pillars of the Earth, everything by Morgan Llewellyn (Irish history), Mists of Avalon, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Pillars of the Earth is amazing!!!!
I really like “Salem Burning” (but I’m completely biased…)
Margaret George has a bunch based on notable historical figures that are great! Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Henry VIII, Mary Magdalen, Mary Queen of Scots etc.
Lincoln, by Gore Vidal.
One of the best I’ve ever read.
A Wounded Civilisation by VS Nypol
Anything by James Michener. He stays as close to fact as he can but telling it in a story. You don’t have to read them in order just pick a topic you want to learn about and read.
The Warmth of other Suns.
Bernard Cornwell is a historian first and foremost, so his books are really darn accurate. I loved his novel called Agincourt. He has a long series based around Richard Sharpe set in the Napoleonic wars that I understand is excellent. (Side note, a tv series was made based on the books, starring Sean Bean. Which just ups the cool factor in my mind because, Sean Bean ? )
Scarlet pimpernal by baroness Orczy.. It is based on the French revolution
Sharon Kay Penman
Im reading “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society… its set post WW11
The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire by Gibbons. A word of caution, it is a very long book with very long sentences, exquisitely put together. I think no one outside the academic world reads Gibbon now.
I love all the Philipps Gregory books like The Other Boleyn Girl
The southern angel series by cheryl zach is amazing
The Autobiography of Henry VIII.
“The Alienist” by Caleb Carr.
Sooooo good!
Matthew Flinders’ Cat by Bryce Courtenay
everything by Anthony Beevor
All The Light You Cannot See (Anthony Doerr). Fantastic!
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
For American historical fiction, anything by Ken Roberts or John Jakes.
All the light we cannot see……By Anthony Doerr!!
Fawkes
I prefer historical non-fiction but occasionally tempt myself and delve into fiction such as @TLs books. They’re great
At Dawn We Slept, The Journey Back From Hell, The Longest Miles. All historical non fiction. The first two are LONG books.
Scaramouche.
Non fiction The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Outlander series
Anything by Alison Weir
Anything by Hillary Mantel.
Use the Search bar. You should find lots!
The Secret Keepers
All of James Michener books, esp Hawaii
I love historical fiction. A few of my favorites include…. Paris the Novel by Edward Rutherford, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and anything by Khaled Hosseini (my favorite of his is A 1000 Splendid Suns)
Anything by Thomas Flanagan or Leon Uris.
I’ll have to pop in later but I agree with Outlander.
London or Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. Loved both.
I’m reading, From a Paris Balcony right now. Historical
Fiction.
Daphne du Maurier’s Mary Anne and The King’s General are romantic light reading. For real history written like fictional narrative I can’t go past Peter Ackroyd. Desperately awaiting Volume V of his History of England series.
Some of my favorites: “The Teagirl of Hummingbird Lane”, “Signature of All Things” Elizabeth Gilbert (my favorite) and anything by Pearl Buck.
“Lisette’s List” and “The Forest Lover”, both by Susan Vreeland.
http://www.author.com/author/seturner