Favorite Historical Fiction?

[bullet08]

Cryptonomicon - N. Stephenson
Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Taiko - Eiji Yoshikawa
The Complete Compleat Enchanter - L. Sprague de Camp (More of fictional mythology base on number of European mythologies)

 

[AJL67]

The Blues Brothers. What those two did for that orphanage, awe inspiring

 

[warren]

War and Peace and the Hornblower series. Aubrey and Maturin are also good. Gone With the Wind is also a good read.

 

[kcghost]

I would add The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

 

[jeff540]

Off the top of my head:

"The Far Pavilions" by M.M. Kaye The Far Pavilions - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far_Pavilions

"The Walking Drum" by Louis L'Amour. I'm reading this one now, haven't read it in over 30-years. It's very enjoyable and there's a bunch of historic references (their accuracy to be determined by scholars smarter than me)

 

[eslavs]

I would add The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

Anything by Jeff Shaara. All of his books are outstanding

 

[sparker69]

'You astonish me. I had no notion of it. Another language, sir? But I dare say it is much the same thing – a putain, as they say in French.'
'Oh no, nothing of the kind – not like at all. A far finer language. More learned, more literary. Much nearer the Latin. And by the by, I believe the word is patois, sir, if you will allow me.'

Just don't mix up "poutine" and "putain", like I did, talking to an old French Canadian couple while I was learning French years back! It's not the same thing!

 

[sparker69]

Would you read fiction that was FROM the historical period? As in classic Russian novels - The Brothers Karamazov, or some Thomas Hardy - Far From The Maddening Crowd or maybe even some P.G. Wodehouse novels.

 

[Zack Miller]

Would you read fiction that was FROM the historical period? As in classic Russian novels - The Brothers Karamazov, or some Thomas Hardy - Far From The Maddening Crowd or maybe even some P.G. Wodehouse novels.

Well, of course I read it, but maybe that would entail at least one other thread beyond “what are you reading?”

 

[BCF]

The novels, short stories and poetry of Wendell Berry about his fictional community of Port William, Kentucky. Beautiful writing about tobacco farming families spanning from the Civil War through the 20th century.

 

[username]

Don't really read a lot of historic fiction unless you count alternative history like Harry Turtledoves Southern Victory series.

 

[lraisch]

Cryptonomicon - N. Stephenson
Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Taiko - Eiji Yoshikawa
The Complete Compleat Enchanter - L. Sprague de Camp (More of fictional mythology base on number of European mythologies)

The Compleat Enchanter and Lest Darkness Fall are wonderful, fun books. More fantasy than historical fiction though.

 

[LotusEater]

May not really be historical fiction but I enjoy Caleb Carr historical thrillers like “The Alienist”. A lot of period detail and some fictionalization of real historical figures. E.g., Theodore Roosevelt

​

 

[georged]

Flash forward 20 years and the title of this thread will be "Have You Ever Read a Book?"

Over 50% of Americans haven’t read a book in the past year [2022 Study] – WordsRated

wordsrated.com

 

[brian64]

Flash forward 20 years and the title of this thread will be "Have You Ever Read a Book?"

20 years? That's by far the best case scenario...you're much more optimistic than me.

More likely one big Mad Max theme park for however many are still around. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[tnfan]

My favorites are the works of Leon Uris and James Michener.

 

[Zero]

It appears that Dr.Seuss-The Lorax has been removed and The Blues Brothers remain...wow...

 

[Zack Miller]

My favorites are the works of Leon Uris and James Michener.

I like the early Michener—Tales of the South Pacific, Return to Paradise, Sayonara, The Bridges at Toko-Ri. His later work got too pendulous. I believe he employed subordinates to do much of the work.

Still, the first two works mentioned above place him among other greats of South Sea Literature like London, Nordhoff and Hall, Melville, Maugha, et al

 

[Zack Miller]

It appears that Dr.Seuss-The Lorax has been removed and The Blues Brothers remain...wow...

Gives new meaning to the term The Invisible Hand.

 

[Zack Miller]

I just love how it started