History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary discussion
Getting Started: Introduce Yourself
Mod
Once again, Welcome Amanda. I can't speak for all the members but I love to get recommendations on worthy titles.
Would love to have you vote in our latest poll, if you haven't already.
A personal comment about Follett. His writing reminds me of the little girl who, when she was good, was very, very good but when she was bad, she was horrid.
Oh, about that running around and getting into trouble as opposed to reading. I'd like to think I am an example of how it's possible to do both. Maybe, that's because I've always lived a more or less urban lifestyle.
Hello everyone.Ed invited me, based on mutual interests. The idea of historical fiction is new to me. Upon discovering it, I found that it is insanely popular. Even my boss is an avid reader of what she calls "historical fiction."
But becoming aware of something isn't equivalent to understanding it. I hope to learn more about this genre and look forward to interesting things from this group.
Good Reads has been such a godsend. My formal education was concentrated in two specific areas that did not include much literature. I am trying to compensate by reading the things I would have read if I'd sought an English degree. Above all, I've found variety is the spice of life. I am excited about expanding my interest into something new.
Thanks, Ed!
Mod
Ed invited me, based on mutual interests. The idea of historical fiction is new to me. Upon discovering it, I found that it is insanely popular. Even my boss is an avid reader..."
Good historical fiction is well-researched and usually historically accurate about the big things, events, battles, historically significant figures, etc. Where it deviates is in the little things. Usually the main characters are fictional.
Sometimes an author will fudge dates to make the story line work out. I highly recommend you try Patrick O'Brian. Start with Master and Commander. I also recommend almost anything Bernard Cornwell does, especially the Richard Sharpe series, the Saxon series and the Nate Starbuck series. Lastly, any book by Alan Furst. He writes pre-WW II spy stories. His writing is awesome.
Almost forgot Colleen McCullough. She did a seven book series on the end of the Roman Republic that is totally absorbing.
My reading obsessions come and go but historical fiction has always been rewarding for me.
Some people label Romance Novels as historical fiction. I disagree. I hope that isn't what your boss is referring to.
When I was a kid, I loved Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and James Fennimore Cooper. Later, I became obsessed with quasi-tragic "survival" stories: Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca's Narracíon, Ernest Shackleton's South and Heart of the Antarctic, Nathaniel Philbrick's The Heart of the Sea, even McKee's pulpy Wreck of the Medusa. It introduced me to a lot of maritime and nautical terms from the "age of sail" that I wouldn't have known before. I loved the Master and Commander movie for its accuracy (changing the rigging to look like a whaleship!!!). It was like a Jason Bourne movie for nerds.Why it never occurred to me to read the books that inspired it, I cannot say. Again, thanks for the opportunity. Better late than never.
(By the way, even though I have a morbid interest in "survival" narratives, I voted for "American Civil War" in the ongoing poll.)
Mod
You might also like the Flashman books, which have a Victorian setting.
I don't have room in my life for historical romance. I'm heartened by the suggestion nobody here does either.The only historical fiction I own (not counting Cooper and Stevenson) is something so strange I couldn't pass it up when I found it in a junk shop. It's called The Braintree Mission by Nicolas Elston Wycoff. It was published in 1957 and is a little tricky to even locate online (Google Books has a snippet view).
The story, as far as I can tell (couldn't make it past page ten) concerns a peaceful resolution to the American revolution, brokered horizontally in Abigail Adams's boudoir. The idea is pretty appalling to me. Seems like smut. But very unusual smut.
I'm glad we won't be reading anything like that. By the way, how do I see what the group is due to start reading next, so that I can be ready at the beginning? Where/how is it discussed (i.e. are separate comment threads created for each chapter)?
Mod
Hello -- I am new to this group. I think I got on here b/c I saw Alex was in this group and I'm in another group that he is on here on GR (Great African Reads). He always makes interesting points so I cyber followed him to this one (hope that doesn't creep you out Alex) :-D Anyway, I also love to learn about history so I know I'll enjoy following the discussion here.I am hard pressed to choose one specific favorite area of historical interest. I really like reading social history -- especially set in Europe between the first and second World Wars. I also like to read about the colonial periods of Africa and Asia. Currently I'm reading a book about India's independence and partition.
I like reading about WWI and WWII, though more about the people affected by the war and their experiences as opposed to the military and battle stuff.
Another area of interest is the Inquisition and I'm also psyched to see the discussion on the Crusades.
I like US History too, but have probably not read as much on that area as some others. More from lack of time than lack of interest.
Finally, I should also admit to being a huge anglophile and therefore a big sucker for English/UK history.
So, that's my deal -- glad to have found this group and looking forward to lots of good discussion. My wish list is probably going to get even longer than it already is after seeing the books everyone on here is posting about. I'll never get to them all!
Oh hi Wendy :) Good to see you! Hey, do you have any recommendations for books on the Inquisition? That's another area I'd like to learn about this year - right after the Crusades, whenever I finish trekking through Anna Karenina. (Which is awesome, don't get me wrong - in some ways I hope it's never over.)
...anyway, the most promising book I've stumbled across so far is The Grand Inquisitor's Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God; it gets good reviews, but also apparently spends some time comparing the Inquisition to things like Nazi Germany, which is...well, fair point but off-topic.
The Grand Inquisitor Book looks good. I'll have to add it to my wish list. The book I thought was good was Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors. It also had alot of stuff about Columbus that was interesting, and certainly a slightly different spin than what we probably all learned in school. I haven't read Reston's other books, but hope to get to them at some point. The Dogs of God book basically makes the case that the Inquisition was just a very convenient way for King Ferdinand to finance his war campaigns against the Moors by confiscating all of the wealth and property of the Jews living in Spain. The Catholic Church conveniently cooperated w/ this scheme (and also benefited from it). Not to get all anti-organized religion or anything, but it certainly does give one pause. Let me know some good books on the Crusades. I like reading about the Knights Templar (not in the form of the Da Vinci code) and other stuff along those lines :-)
Oh rad, Wendy, the Reston book looks awesome. So nice to get a personal recommendation instead of having to rely on those morons who write reviews at Amazon. :)I posted one book I'm excited for and another that I heard was good (but looks too in-depth for me) over on the Theme of the Month thread, post 89.
Hi, I'm a library student from the San Francisco Bay Area. As an undergraduate I was a history major. My biggest love historically is the 18th century--the American revolution and the French Revolution. I have this odd sentimental attachment to the Jacobites even though I know the Stuart Kings didn't really care about the Scottish Highlanders who died for them. It's all very tragic and doomed, but I love it. It's the same thing with the Scarlet Pimpernel. I'm not a royalist, but the Jacobins were frightful and I'm a sucker for swashbucklers. Ah Pirates! I read anything I can find about pirates--fiction and non-fiction. There are such wonderful 18th century pirates. It was such a great colorful century!
Hi Shomeret! What's your favorite non-fiction pirate book? I've always meant to read something on them. I need to read Scarlet Pimpernel. Learned about that book from Alan Moore.
Wendy, I'm starting Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades right now if you feel like coming along. :)
All the non-fiction pirate books I've read have been flawed in one way or another, but among the most interesting and unexpected are Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge and The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates.
Hm. Jewish Pirates sounds kinda interesting; I had no idea there was any such thing.Have you read A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier? The title slightly oversells the piracy, but Dampier was a fascinating guy and it's a really fun book.
The Holy Warriors book looks really good. I have to read another (hopefully pretty quick) book for my "real" book club before I can start it, but I'd be up for the Holy Warriors book once I'm done. I was actually going to recommend the Jewish Pirates book as well. I read that one a few months ago and thought it was really fascinating and covered aspects of piracy, colonialism, the inquisition and other stuff from an angle I had not seen before. IMHO it is worth reading.
Yes, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean is worth reading, but none of the figures discussed in the book were what I'd consider pirates. Some funded, sheltered or gave aid to captains who had a letter of marque from various countries. Sir Francis Drake had a letter of marque. So did John Paul Jones. They were called privateers, not pirates. It was war against your enemies by another means. In the case of these Jewish privateers, their enemy was Spain who had expropriated their property and booted them out.I did read a review of A Pirate of Exquisite Mind and intend to read it at some point.
My name is Caitlin, I'm a student.My favorite historical fiction novels are 'Five Quarters of the Orange' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' Neither are very old, but both hold historical significance.
I enjoy books focused on Europe during WW1 and 2
Hello, I'm James and joined the group a month ago but just did a profile. How remiss of me not to introduce myself. I am a retired educator, Head of History in another lifetime. I ran a Men's Book Club for 10 years in Cambridge Ontario but haven't been able to get one going since moving to Victoria BC 3 years ago.I usually mix history and fiction books, any era. My specialty was Canadian foreign affairs but two recent histories were Hitler's Pope by John Cornwell and Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy. And now I am reading the Private Patient by PD James.
I look forward to joining you for discussions and have voted for the Crusades for the summer topic. Cheers, James
Mod
Glad to have you on both ends of the age continuum. The beautiful thing about books and GR is that age doesn't matter.
Ed
Hey all, I see this was started from Hong Kong and I happen to be in Hong Kong. Currently working on something that will turn into a bit of a "history of the future" type series of short stories.I love reading analytical historical works. Stuff where the author is trying to figure something out in the text, not just present their findings.
A great example for me is "Faces of the Enemy" by Sam Keen - a look at the history of propaganda and its roles and reasons for existing.
Anyway, I look forward to exploring this site and this forum more in the future.
Hi Everyone! Just a quick intro. I am an author whose work sits the fence squarely between historical fiction and historical romance as are most of my very favorite books - Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, James Fennimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales (esp. LAst of the Mohicans), Gone with the Wind, John Jake's North and Sout trilogy etc..
I love history in general, but as to favorite eras, I am drawn to English history both the Restoration and Georgian periods with all of the corruption, vice, and Jacobite intrigues, The French Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars. I am also interested in pre-revolutionary as well as revolutionary America, and plan to include some history of the Cherokee Wars in a future novel.
I am also fascinated with the history of horseracing, which was the basis of my new novel, THE HIGHEST STAKES, in which I explore the roots of the Thoroughbred racehorse back to its three progenitor stallions. (Please forgive the plug as it's in context!)
Look forward to getting to know y'all.
Emery Lee
Greetings!
I'm a writer and a reader. Have published several historical fiction books about the American West, and pride myself with historical accuracy--even down to the moon phase on a certain date.
A favorite title is Liar's Moon by Philip Kimball. That I liked this book is interesting because I think he plays with historical accuracy a bit. Has anyone else read this book?
I'm a writer and a reader. Have published several historical fiction books about the American West, and pride myself with historical accuracy--even down to the moon phase on a certain date.
A favorite title is Liar's Moon by Philip Kimball. That I liked this book is interesting because I think he plays with historical accuracy a bit. Has anyone else read this book?
Gosh, I'm not quite sure where to start. Right now I don't have a favorite period of history or topic. . . I pretty much follow where the rabbit trail takes me. Awhile ago I got tired of all the books I had been reading, you all know the ones, the kind where you can escape your life for a couple of hours and then get back to the real world without being altered in any way. I wanted something more. I picked up a popular Tudor history book that hooked me. It quickly spread to more, and then more. The Tudors somehow led to Egyptian history, (although thinking back I'm not sure quite how), and that led to Roman history, which led (naturally) to the Vietnam war, which led to the WWII (from the Pacific realm) as well as the Holocaust (in France) and somewhere in there was a couple of books about Russian history (but I'm not sure where they fit in). And now, I've got this huge stack of tbr's and even more topics that I'm interested in--the Crusades? Hello! So fascinating!
I'm really looking forward to talking history with you guys and getting more ideas for rabbit trails (Jewish pirates? I'm on it! :)
Hello all, I'm glad to find an interesting group on Goodreads devoted to history, one of my favorite genres. I'm a big fan of Stephen E. Ambrose, Mark Bowden, and David McCullough. I have a particular interest in military history, but absolutely enjoy other history as well. I hope to contribute a bit to the group and get to know some folks around here.
Hi again Philip, and hi Tina. I do that sometimes too - the rabbit trails. It's hard to stay focused when so many interesting things have happened in so many interesting places.I'm currently on Seven Ages of Paris, speaking of veering off-topic, which was recommended to me by several people. It's a fun, breezy tour of Paris from the Middle Ages to today. Alistair Horne has no problem editorializing, but he does it in such a pleasant way that it doesn't bother me like it sometimes has.
Mod
I'm currently on..."
Me too! I just finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, a memoir of recent Chinese history and a long way from the crusades plus Keegan's bio of Winston Churchill.
Focus, ed, focus!
Mod
I'm currently on..."
Me too! I just finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, a memoir of recent Chinese history and a long way from the crusades plus Keegan's bio of Winston Churchill.
Focus, Ed, focus!
Hello everyone,I joined the group a few weeks ago but this is the first chance I've had to introduce myself.
I will read just about anything though I have a soft sport for anything that relates to history. I don't have a favorite period or a favorite author. I like nonfiction though I've been reading a lot of fiction the last few months.
I joined because I think this will be a great place to get to know others who share my passion. I am history major but my classes are completely online so I am pretty much on my own. Regardless of topic it would be nice to have a place to bounce around ideas.
Alex wrote: "Wild Swans is a great book!"Sounds good! You're the third & fourth people to mention it in the last month or so. . . I think that MUST mean I should read it :)
Mod
I like both WW's, history and fiction as long as it's not romance.I'm currently reading books by Winston Churchhill. Battle of Britain. I just finished an o.k. semi-romanic WWI book. Love all of Harry Potter, I enjoy books about Japan and China history and fiction. I like crime and mystery books. Martha Grimes is a favorite writer of that genre. I would like to join this group and talk to others that enjoy many different kinds of books
Welcome to the site Alyce!
Mod
Sounds good! You're the third & fourth people to mention it in the last month or so. . . I think that MUST mean I should read it :)"
You can find my review of it at:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Enjoy!
Hi, I am a new book blogger but a long time reader. I love history and will read all time periods but love WWI. My favorite book in history is Tuchman's Guns of August. I enjoyed reading the reviews here and am putting books on my TBR from members recommendations. How often does this group choose a book for a group read?Kathy
(http://bookdairy2010.blogspot.com)
Mod
We don't usually do "group reads" - too restricting. We choose a topic and discuss the topic using whatever resources we want, books, movies, gossip, TV, etc.
The current topic is the Crusades 1, 2 and 3.
Too bad you missed WW I which we discussed earlier.
Hello. I'm a former history major that opted for the greener grass and better pay on the other side of the fence but I still like to pick up a good history (or alternate history) book. My tastes are fairly catholic though I do admit to a bias towards the more military side of history. I've always found primary sources to be the most interesting and am currently trying to learn Latin to be able to read many of the ancient & medieval sources in the original. As for modern authors I've found Robert K. Massie and John Keegan to be excellent historians and Harry Turtledove to be a worthwhile read as an alternate historian. I'm not too sure what else to say, so here's looking forward to some interesting reading & discussions.
Mod
Welcome to the group, Eric.
I, too am a history major who ended up in the business world as an O.D. consultant.
What do you think of Doris Kearns Goodwin, who I respect greatly? What about David McCullough, the biographer.
Do you ever read historical fiction?
I, as opposed to you, find Turtledove, boring. If you know of any other alternate history authors, I'd like to know about them.
Hello, all! My name is Kaci, and I am a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I am studying for an MA in History. My primary areas of interest are 19th century America and military history. I am most interested in personal narratives than I am politics and strategy. I also have a weekness for novels pertaining to Regency and Tudor England. I am looking forward to discussions and recommendations!
Mod
Welcome Kaci,
We would love to get your recommendations for our next discussion topic. The Crusades, our current topic, seems to have aroused a great deal of lethargy. Perhaps it's just because it's summer.
Mod
Also, my back is acting up a bit, which makes it hard to read in my preferred position.
Therefore I'm currently reading the Oxford history, as it can be read in segments easily.
Hi everyone. My main interest is Italian History during the 18th Century (The Age of Enlightenment). I am a musicologist and this is my period of study. I read to get the background on the period.I am currently readingRome in the Age of Enlightenment: The Post-Tridentine Syndrome and the Ancien Régime.
Turtledove is the dude who wrote a book about Nazis riding unicorns, yes? (A: Yes, that happened.) Man, I'm not gonna read that but the fact that it exists makes me incredibly happy. Or disturbed. Apparently it's possible to be both at once.You're a freakin' musicologist, Anthony? Sigh. I wish I had a cool job. I'm about to get into some reading on the Renaissance, which as you know is just like the Enlightenment except earlier and about different things.
Alex, Musicology is my retirement 'job'. Unfortuately my daytime job wasn't as cool! I can now spend the time I didn't have before. There's chance for you yet!!Good reading with the renaissance.
Mod
Hi there. I am just joining the group. I've written a book, Above the Fray, a Novel of the Union Balloon Corps. Anyone interested in Civil War fiction?
Mod
The U.S. Civil War will be one of our topic choices for the next discussion.
BTW, we have an authors' Corner for authors to let the membership know what they are doing and thinking about.
I have been a member of Goodreads for several years, but I just haven't been actively involved in the discussions and keeping mybooks up to date. I hope to do so in the future. I very much enjoy reading historical fiction, especially if it pertains to World War II. Jack Higgins, Robert Harris, Ken Follett, Glenn Meade, and James Thayer come to mind. The Raven--by Michael Murray--was my lastest read.Of course, as an AP Literature teacher, I am always out looking for additional material for my own bookshelves as well as my students.
Hopefully, this group and my involvement with Goodreads will give me additional ideas and lend itself to some good discussions.
Hi, Mark. I enjoy historical fiction as well. I think my favorite work is Herman Wouk's series, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. My favorite work by other authors, that is. Like most writers, I am my own favorite writer.
hi. just got here. don't really know what to say, how about: the dorothy dunnett books changed my life?
History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Mostly I stuck with horror, thrillers, or mysteries but as I've gotten older, I've started branching out a bit. I really enjoy any sort of historical fiction (oh Ken Follett, where have you been all my life!), and I've started looking into all sorts of non-fiction as well.
I've found that I really enjoy books that discuss the lives and times of royalty or are otherwise very character driven, like the focus on the monks in Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth or World Without End. I'm looking forward to getting to know some like-minded people here and seeing what interesting book suggestions pop up. :)
I'm currently reading: Grapes of Wrath, The Wolfman, Through the Looking Glass, and The Zombie Survival Guide.