Kimberly's Idiot's Guide HF List

[Kimberly]

Classics: Too Good To Miss
The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo – Irving Stone
The Far Pavilions – M.M. Kaye
Forever Amber – Kathleen Winsor
Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
I, Claudius – Robert Graves
Katherine – Anya Seton
Shogun – James Clavell


Ancient World
The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean Auel
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant


Medieval Europe
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
The Sunne in Splendour – Sharon Kay Penman
A Vision of Light: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel – Judith Merkle Riley
The Winter Mantle – Elizabeth Chadwick

Europe
The Autobiography of Henry VIII With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers – Margaret George
The Birth of Venus – Sarah Dunant
The Game of Kings First in the Legendary Lymond Chronicles – Dorothy Dunnett
Girl with a Pearl Earring – Tracy Chevalier
The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
Penmarric – Susan Howatch
Through a Glass Darkly – Karleen Koen


United States
The Alienist – Caleb Carr
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Into the Wilderness – Sara Donati
Sacajawea – Anna Lee Waldo


Asia
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

[Nikki]

Well aren't you fancy with ten of them already read =)

[Kimberly]

10 down, 22 to go!! ;-)

[Nikki]

Holy crappers you eliminated a lot! Not a fan of ancient or U.S. eh? Tisk Tisk! lol jk I wonder if I should just delete all the ones not interesting to me. Aye, now I have to go through the whole list again haha.

[Kimberly]

I did delete a lot, haha! I think part of the reason I'm not interested in ancient is that I really didn't like The Red Tent and I have the whole Clan of the Cave Bear series so that will be plenty of reading in the genre for me. Yeah, I'm not much of a war fan and a lot of the US HF books are based on wars. The ones I left on my list under that category sound really good though :-) I am so picky about which books I read, LOL!

[Nikki]

Oh and you deleted all of Africa (a whole two! lol), jeez. ;) I haven't read The Red Tent but that is one of the ones that doesn't interest me. You'll have to let me know how you really feel about Clan of the Cave Bear, I recently added it to my TBR but am ambivalent about it. I looked through the US books again and you're right, a lot of war related books...perhaps that is why many of them don't interest me either. I sometimes am intrigued by a war HF but then when I'm reading it I feel bogged down by it frequently. I'm picky too (about pretty much everything haha) so I completely understand. Hopefully some of these are gems at least! Much like movie reviewers, I may very well completely disagree with whoever put this list together....haha.

[Kimberly]

I've been wondering about where this list originated. Either way, there are definitely some great sounding books on here! Yeah, I totally diced up the list ;-) I just have WAY to many good books sitting on my shelf patiently waiting to be read to waste my time on a so-so book. My eyes just start glazing over when I have to read too much about war--if it's a part of the story that's fine, but it can't be the main focus.

I will let you know what I think of Clan. I'm hoping to start it soon, but it's going to come after the Bronze Horseman because I've been so eager to read that one and it's on one of my challenge lists.

[Nikki]

Beyond it coming from some Idiot's Guide of books you should read, I do not know. Yeah, so-so books depress me, especially after I've read a book I loved. It just makes a so-so book that much worse to get through.

Oh definitely start with the Bronze Horseman, perhaps soon and we can discuss it! No pressure, we already have a buddy read planned for another book haha.

[Kimberly]

I'm actually tempted to read it next! We'll see how fast I get through Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel. It's a First-Reads book and I just finished the first novel, Plantation. Lowcountry is only 350 pgs. so who knows...I may catch up! :-)

[Kimberly]

Definitely not catching up with you now, Ms. Speed Reader! ;-)

[Nikki]

LOL I can be fairly fast...but it depends on the book. No worries, if you still wish to read it soon it will remain fresh in my mind! I'm sure there would be a good amount to discuss from this book.

[Kimberly]

Hmm...I think TBH belongs on this list!