****What We Are Reading - Historical Fiction

Where in time are you? Victorian England, Mayan Mesoamerica, aboriginal Australia? It matters not, just let us know where you can be found!

Ok, people. I hope everyone shares their historical fiction recommendations. I don't read near as much historical fiction as I used to read, but I love hearing about others' thoughts.

I just finished Wolf Hall which is set in Tudor times. It's fascinating but might be a bit too political for some. I'm going to look out the Matthew Shardlake mysteries that I haven't read yet which are set in the same time period to read at a later date.

I have just finished reading Bernard Cornwell's Heretic. It is the final of the "Grail series". I like his writing overall but am annoyed at his starting novels with battles that don't further the story. I haven't started the Sharpe series yet...lots of reading there.

#3 (avatiakh): I keep hearing great things about Wolf Hall - it's inching up the TBR list!

I'm reading The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. I like it a lot so far. Thank you to my SantaThing Secret Santa for sending it to me. It is my first Heyer.

Second for Wolf Hall. Another good historical based Tudor one is Portrait of an Unknown Woman.

I read both Wolf Hall and Portrait of an Unknown Woman.

I recently finished, and highly recommend The Concubine by Norah Lofts...touchstones rarely work for this one so here is the link:

http://www.librarything.com/work/173484/book/53932306

I don't read as much historical fiction as I used to, or would like to, but that's mainly out of suspicion of the quality; I had a rash of very bad books and kind of swore off them. But I'm VERY keen to pick up some good-quality recommendations, especially for 19th century stuff (as that will fit especially nicely with my Brontë reading project for this year). So this is starred...

#9 - Rachael - The Secret River is set in the early 1800s and begins in London before heading out to Australia. Life in London is referred to often as they cope with their new life.

I just finished Wolf Hall. I loved it, and "political" isn't the word I'd use to describe it, although of course it is all about politics. It made me very glad I did not live in England during Henry VIII's reign, and yet I found myself quite reluctant to leave that world when the book ended.

laytonwoman, what a great and pithy comment about Wolf Hall! It's a brilliant novel...
If you like that, try Mantel's earlier HF, notably A Place of Greater Safety, which is set in the French Revolution. Wonderful book.
I loved Portrait of an Unknown Woman; her third book, about to be published in the US, is about Catherine de Valois and told through the eyes of Owen Tudor and Christine de Pisan. Excellent, though still not quite as good as her debut.
Heartstone, the latest in the Shardlake saga, is due out this year, as is CW Gortner's followup to The Last Queen (which is very good in its own right); Gortner's second big book will be about Catherine de Medici.
If you haven't read Michelle Moran's first two books, set in ancient Egypt, they are worth a look -- Nefertiti and Heretic Queen. Pauline Gedge has several excellent books set in ancient Egypt, about to be re-released. Try Child of the Morning or the Hippopotamus Marsh.
I've just received a copy of The Master of Bruges, which I've heard great things about. (available in the UK, author is Terence Morgan.)
Norah Lofts' books are being reissued; Crown of Aloes deals with Isabella of Castile, mother of Catherine of Aragon. Another author whose books are slowly being reissued is Hilda Lewis -- look at whatever is available.
There is the wonderful Anya Seton, whose Katherine is one of the gold standard books for HF, as are the books by Sharon Kay Penman. Ellis Peters is best known for her Cadfael mysteries, but she wrote an intriguing series of HF works under the name of Edith Pargeter. Try A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury or The Marriage of Meggotta, or the Brothers of Gwynned series.
Some other Anya Seton books worth looking at because they deal with otherwise little known people or eras are: Devil Water, about the Jacobite rebellion; The Winthrop Woman, about the early years of New England; My Theodosia, about the daughter of Aaron Burr; The Hearth and the Eagle, about the author's own ancestors, the shipping/whaling business and the abolition movement in the 19th century in New England.
Jean Plaidy has covered most eras of European history, though I find her books a bit pedestrian in style and wooden in characterization. Keep an eye out for Margaret Campbell Barnes, whose books are also being re-released, although they can be very saccharine. Within the Fetterlock is a very dense but excellent book by Brian Wainwright. The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham is another excellent English medieval work; her new book is due out in the spring.
TBR piles growing rapidly, yet?? ;-)

What a great post, Suzanne. I love Anya Seton, and haven't read her in years, but parts of Katherine are still very vivid in my memory. After finishing Wolf Hall, I knew I wanted to read more of Mantel, so I immediately ordered a copy of The Giant, O'Brien, from PaperBack Swap.

>12 Chatterbox: fantastic post! I actually have a copy of Katherine somewhere, so that will fit in nicely with my aim to read books I already own. Thanks so much.

>12 Chatterbox: arrrghhhh. Not buying books this year. Not buying books this year. Not buying books this year.

I'm just starting Let the Great World Spin, set in 1970s New York and based on the famous tightrope walk between the twin towers. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about this and so far I'm loving it.

Mark has a group read of World Without End, set in I think 14th century England, starting on January 15th if anyone is interested.
--BJ

Reading Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King right now.

I'm reading World Without End as part of the group read.

I am reading Eugene Sue's The Wandering Jew, Volume 1.

I'm locked up in a 16th century Italian convent in Sarah Dunant's Sacred Hearts. It's very good, so far.

I'm also in early 19th century Nantucket in Joan Aiken's Night Birds on Nantucket, though it should be said that these books are in a slightly alternate history where the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 didn't happen and the Stuart monarchy continued, and the baddies in each story are Hanoverian supporting plotters trying to change that situation.

1981 Iran, after the Shah is deposed: The Septembers of Shiraz.

I'm reading The Commoner by John Burnham Scwartz. It's set in Japan right after WWII

I'm starting off Pat Barker's trilogy with Regeneration - should be interesting since I've been listening to Paris 1919 all month.

Help! I started Wolf Hall last night and much as I want to love it, I find her use of the simple present tense (which, IMHO, is grammatically all wrong) distracting and affected. I really want to read the book...so I will at least try until p. 100. Any words of encouragement??

If someone hasn't read them yet, both of Follett's books, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are fantastic. I also enjoyed his book, Jackdaws, which took place during WWII.

>24 dihiba: - Diana - I had a little trouble getting into the rhythm of Wolf Hall too, but I did get used to Mantel's writing style a few chapters in. 100 pages seems like a good test to me.

>26 porch_reader: Amy, I think I have got into the flow of the book now - am not noticing the use of the simple present anymore, and the story is holding my attention so I am not thinking about what I am going to have for breakfast or when I should do laundry....
I think I will enjoy it (the book, not the laundry)! Got to p. 120 and want to read more. Thanks for encouraging me!

I have just started Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick after hearing so many people on LT rave about her books. I haven't read much historical fiction but it's pretty good so far.

I will be starting The Egyptian by Mika Waltari later today. This book was deebee's virtual 'Christmas present' to me last year (a lovely idea, that), so I thought I had better get around to reading it!

I am about halfway through one of my books for a TIOLI challenge this month, Spring Moon, and it is very good.

Just finished with To Glory We Steer (great book!) and have started with Sharpe's Rifles.

I've just finished reading the third and final volume of Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup trilogy, The Dead Republic - the trilogy is a story of Irish Republicanism and of one individual fictional character, Henry Smart, over 100 years. A Star Called Henry is about Henry's childhood and life as a young man, and set during the time of the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Civil War in 1921. Most of Oh Play That Thing! is set in America, where Henry meets Louis Armstrong and travels around with him. This novel takes Henry's story, and that of Ireland, from the 1950s through the 80s and 90s and up to the present day. Lots going on and lots of opinion on various stages of the Troubles and of the armed struggle for Irish independence. Probably quite a controversial novel with lots of people, both for the political stuff and the bad language.

I loved A Star Called Henry and I've been looking forward to this book for ages. I was thrilled to get a review copy and I wasn't disappointed. I will be writing a proper review for The Bookbag shortly and will post a link when it's up.

I have started Stone's Fall by Iain Pears for my TIOLI challenge this month.

I am reading Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh for one of my TIOLI challenges for April.

Just started reading The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, an LTER book. I like it -- but there are a few historical inaccuracies which are niggling at me. It's an advance copy, but these aren't typos -- they are errors. How to handle in an LTER review??? Other than that, I'm enjoying it...

I'm currently reading Sharpe's Havoc. It's a bit slow going, but I'm not yet halfway, so I'm hoping the pace will pick up.

Could people say something very brief about the setting of the novels they mention for the benefit of anyone who might want to read a book set there and then?

I'm not reading a historical novel as such now, but most recently I've read A Watermelon, A Fish and a Bible about the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey in 1974. It's just been published this week, I think. The main characters are a Greek Cypriot woman, a Turkish soldier who had previously lived in the village he has come back to with the invading army, and an Englishman who had lived on Cyprus after WW2.

#37 The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell is about an English Rifleman during the Napoleontic wars. The events in Sharpe's Havoc take place in Portugal at Oporto during 1809.

I am starting The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters today, one of the books I am reading for the TIOLI challenge for this month.

I just finished Revolver, a fabulous YA novel. It takes place during the Alaska gold rush.

Revolver is now on the tbr pile. Thanks for the recommendation.

I am currently reading Cold Mountain (finally!)

I'm reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, set in Ireland and Brooklyn, New York in the 1950s.

Just finished The Queen's Pawn by Christy English, about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Alais of France, circa 1170s. Not recommended.

I'm almost finished withThe Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli which is a Viet Nam War story. Excellent.

Working on Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

#46: Me, too!

I'm re-reading The Killer Angels.

I am currently reading Fludd by Hilary Mantel, the third of her books for me.

Just started Passage to Mutiny, another Richard Bolitho naval book.

I am currently reading Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson.

Stasia

How do you find such interesting books?

#52: This one came off 'The Tui List,' a list she keeps on her profile page, so blame her.

I'm currently reading Sharpe's Fury, with Sharpe heading off to Spain.

I am currently reading The Siege by Helen Dunmore.

ETA (for Luci): WWII - Leningrad

But when/where are the books you're reading set?

I am currently reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles. It is set at a New England boarding school in 1942.

Amanda (snat) did a review of it recently and since it has been in the BlackHole forever, I decided it was finally time to dig it out.

I also just started A Separate Peace. I was reading so many really long books that I just felt the need for a shorter one. (And then I read a wordless book!) I have just barely started.
--BJ

#58: I picked it up because it is a coming-of-age tale and I wanted to read it in conjunction with The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden that I just finished yesterday, another coming-of-age novel.

I'm in 7th century Ireland, though sure I will be moving to England soon, in Credo by Melvyn Bragg.

Just ventured out into Vilette by Charlotte Bronte.. accompanying a young Victorian Lady seeking to establish herself in mid-nineneenth century Brussels.

This is the only Bronte novel I haven't yet read so I am excited about it. :)

I'm just starting Troubles by J. G. Farrell, set in Ireland in 1919. It won the Lost Booker Prize last month (because of rule changes to the Booker Prize, there was none awarded for books published in 1970 - but now there is!).

I'm going to have to find a copy of Troubles - I think I used to own a copy but either I imagined that or I've lost it. Interestingly, at the time it was published it was only set 50 years previously - I consider that to be "recent historical" but I know that if I post in some places about stories set in the 1950s, some people question that definition.

One of my favourite crime writers, Andrew Taylor, has written a series of 8 books and one in a trilogy set in the 1950s, and other novels set in other historical periods. Although it may be the recent past, and in the living memory of some people, part of the interest in these novels is the showing how attitudes have changed, more than the physical historical details.

I'm now reading Bleeding Heart Square by him, set in 1930s London.

Currently reading Sharpe's Battle and am on the border between Spain and Portugal in 1811.

After two very good Sharpe novels (Sharpe's Battle and Sharpe's Company), I'm now reading Sharpe's Sword. I'm only half-way, but thus far it has not been as good or satisfying as the others.

The narrator's voice interferes with the flow of the story and irritates me at times. And I had so hoped that Cornwell would break away from the stereotypes and that he'd let Sharpe walk away in the scene with "El Mirador".

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about 'classic' Greece? As in Perikles, Thukydides, Xenophon and the Peloponnesian War? Or even focusing on the theater and arts at the time.

But please without ideas of the 19th and 20th century transplated to 400 bc...

Any ideas?

#66: I have not read this book yet, but you might give Goat Song by Frank Yerby a try.

alcottacre

Thank you for the rec. I must admit that a) I can't get a hold of a copy over here and b) it sounds a bit too 300 for me ;) But there doesn't seem to be anything else out there about that period in time, either. *sadface*

#68: Sorry I could not be more helpful!

I liked Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series for the most part though towards the end the scenarios seemed repetitive. The Grail series was well done for the most part and I really liked Agincourt and Gallows Thief. I was less enamored with his pre-history and viking stuff. What I liked about his novels is the character detail and I feel I really know what it was like to be in the Napoleonic wars as a redcoat or rifleman as well as earlier as a longbow man.

I liked Conn Iggulden's series on Ghengis Kahn as well.

Currently I am trying to get into Simon Scarrow's series on the Roman Legion...I doubt that I will read beyond the second book of the series. I HATE his use of modern British slang in his characters' conversations...it spoils the whole atmosphere of the book for me. Also I grew up thinking that Roman discipline was the leading reason for their success in battle.....there seems to be little of that in Scarrow's descriptions (limited as they are) of battle scenes. He may be a scholar on life in those times but he cannot write a popular novel about it to save his life IMHO.