Favorite work of Historical Fiction?

[Mike Daniels]

Two of them for me:

1. I Claudius by Robert Graves- A great look at the politics of the early Roman Empire with the emphasis on the household intrigues that took place during that time. I got into it through the Masterpiece Theater mini-series (there's something I'd like to see remade) and then moved into the two novels which helped flesh out a lot of the supporting players.

2. Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien - What can you say that hasn't been said by hundreds of critics. A great look at life at sea and on land during the Napoleonic wars. A little something for everyone if you can get past O'Brien's somewhat rambling narratives.

Perhaps the only work of literature that made me want to be able to travel back in time to experience that particular time period.

[southpaw72]

1. The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley

Absolutely fantastic read. Very, very different from anything you've ever read.

(Unless you've read the Icelandic Edda...)

[marigold20]

35. Holy Cow! I though I was the only one.

This is a great book - and I've never talked to anyone who has read it. After I read A Thousand Acres, I decided to see what else the library had by Jane Smiley and found the Greenlanders.

[placton]

2. Aubrey Maturin

the best by far. As you say, you do want to travel back. Also, it deals not only with adventure, but science, discovery, friendship, and a lot of great humor!

[Mike Daniels]

8. Re: humour in A-M series

The one incident I remember outright was Aubrey getting a sloth drunk on grog or something and Maturin running into the captain's quarters after the fact screaming "You've corrupted my sloth" in French. (Admittedly, it's funnier within the context of the book)

I was hooked from that point on.

[Zero Gravitas]

14. "Debauched my Sloth"

IIRC.

O'Brian had all sorts of humor in his books from the Cacafuego
("shitfire") to having a character complain that his bankers were "Fuggers & Hoares" (The Fuggers were actually a wealthy banking family in the 18th century I believe).

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush

The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush: 10 Common Sense Lessons from the Commander-in-Chief

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471420069/qid=1080335952/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/104-3342547-6663116?v=glance&s=books

First Son : George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0609808672/qid=1080335952/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/104-3342547-6663116?v=glance&s=books

A Charge to Keep

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688174418/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/104-3342547-6663116?v=glance&s=books

President George W. Bush : Our Forty-Third President
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068984123X/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-3342547-6663116?v=glance&s=books&st=*

just to name a few

[sweetheart]

4. shogun &tai pan eom

.

[sasquatch]

5. The Trinity Broadcast Network and anything out of the Pigmans mouth

:argh:

[carolinayellowdog]

6. Kim, hands down

I first read it in India while doing historical research on the Great Game, and despite Kipling's jingoism the novel has remained popular in India to the present. Fine movie as well.

I'd also recommend Nowhere Else on Earth by Josephine Humphreys, set in Robeson County NC during the Civil War and Reconstruction, which depicts the Lumbee vigilantes known as the Lowrey (sp?) gang.

[Mistress Quickly]

7. the Flashman novels

on edit: the Horatio Hornblower series of novels also

[geniph]

33. If you like George MacDonald Fraser,

then you'd probably also very much like Bernard Cornwell's books, particularly the Sharpe series.

Nice to find another Flashman fan!

[dae]

39. Hornblower, and Flashman are both great...

George MacDonald Fraser also did a fantastic job writing the script for the movies, "The Three Musketeers", and "The Four Musketeers", with Michael York.

[Gildor Inglorion]

9. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

Runner-up: "The Egyptian," by Mika Waltari

[Bertha Venation]

10. James Michener

All of his books.

If I had to narrow it down: Alaska, Chesapeake, and Space.

[livetohike]

12. Michener gets my vote too

I can't narrow it down, but pressed, maybe Centennial......

[Mrs. Venation]

30. Mine, Too, Sweetums

I think Centennial is my favorite, followed closely by Space. :loveya:

Mrs. V.

[havocmom]

11. any of Mary Renault's books about ancient Greek/Macedonian period

Such a fun and wonderful way to get a feel for life's dark and bright facets in that culture.

[WilliamPitt]

13. 'Lincoln' by Gore Vidal

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. All of Gore Vidal's U.S. history novels:

Burr--a look at the earliest years of this country
Lincoln
1876--about the OTHER stolen election
Empire
Hollywood
Washington D.C. (the oldest and, in my opinion, the weakest)

[CBHagman]

15. Most recently, "Mr. Timothy" by Louis Bayard

I was riveted by this Victorian thriller/character study, a tale of mid-19th century London told by Tim Cratchit (Yes, that Tim Cratchit), grown to a very complicated adulthood.

"Holy Fools" by Joanne Harris was also quite a good read, though not as beautifully written as Bayard's novel.

[Snow]

16. I really like Sherlock Holmes

my grandfather owned a set of all the stories & gave them to me. Really gives a good picture of the place & times (at least I suppose it does; I wasn't there, my daughter's opinion to the contrary).

[AP]

17. Book of Daniel by EL Doctorow

Not only is it a great read, but, at the end of the book, it has one of the most brilliant social critiques of Disneyland I've ever read.

It's a fictional account based on the Rosenbergs, from the perspective of one of their kids.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0452275660/qid=1080337574/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-9012890-5748758?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[dwckabal]

18. Grant Speaks by Everett M. Ehrlich

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

[VelmaD]

19. Anything with pirates...

and bodices being ripped. ;-)

Seriously. I love alternate history...the great "what if?" so I'm a big fan of "Fatherland" and "The Prometheus Project" and "Spandau Phoenix".

I'm also a sucker for anything set during world war II with our intrepid hero and heroine finding love while fighting the Nazis. So "Jackdaws" and "Black Cross" are recent faves.

They aren't great literature...but their fun reads. :)

[SaveElmer]

20. The Killer Angels

Michael Shaara

[blindpig]

21. just read Quicksilver

by Neal Stephenson. Guess it could be called historical fiction, though somewhat gonzo. Deals with the Enlightenment and the Royal Society, among many other things. Newton, Hooke, Pepsy, what a cast!
Great read with 2 sequels coming, 900+ pages.

[MasonJar]

22. Gone With the Wind a great classic. I first read it as a child and

I remember crying for the last 100 pages. It is an even greater movie.

[randr]

23. The Sot-Weed Factor--John Barth

Hilarious-Brilliant

[Snow]

28. Oh, I'd forgotten that -

read it when I was in the Peace Corps, a few years ago (like 35). It was my first exposure to Barth. Really enjoy it. I still pull it out for a read from time to time. American colonial history as she really was, I like to think.

[randr]

34. Grew up around the Chesapeak

and related to many of the characters. Barth provides an insight into the early American mentality that remains with us today.

[SiobhanClancy]

24. The Irish Century series by Morgan Llewellyn

1916,1921 and 1949 so far. Up next...1969. Very well-researched and good character development. The story of Ireland in the 20th century is of course an exciting subject. Her books about Brian Boru are also good.

I've just begun a new book by Edward Rutherford,"The Princes of Ireland",author of such books as "Sarum","Russka","London" and "The Forest". These are books in the style of Michener,who I loved(and miss).

[The Lone Liberal]

25. A Star Called Henry

Great Irish novel.

[SiobhanClancy]

26. That was indeed excellent!(n/t)

[VOX]

27. Shelby Foote's "Shiloh"

Threads several characters (North and South) together. Some very harrowing scenes that will stay with the reader.

[Snow]

29. Mark Helprin, "A Soldier in the Great War"

an elderly Italian gentlemen reminisces about his part in WWI while taking a very long walk with a young man he met on the bus, after they both get tossed off said bus.

Helprin has right-wing politics, but I don't really see them showing in his books, and he's one of the best writers I've ever read.

[Westegg]

31. Yep, "I, Claudius," plus some others:

"Claudius the God" (Graves' follow-up); "Legs" by William Kennedy, about the gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond," and "Ragtime," by E.L. Doctorow. And a shout-out to Mailer's "Armies of the Night"---"the novel as history; history as a novel" ---Great stuff about the peace march in D.C, in '67.

[Parrcrow]

38. Try some of Graves' other works

Like Count Belisarius or King Jesus. Also very good.

[Menshevik]

32. The Winds of War and War and Remembrance

...by Herman Wouk

great books about WWII

[Jim__]

51. I thought "The Winds of War" was great

Fascinating analysis of what various historical figures were thinking and the historical roots of the war.

I was extremely disappointed in "War and Remembrance" - I didn't think it came anywhere near the level of "The Winds of War."

[sablescort]

36. I'd take Michener along with

John Jakes

especially Jakes' "The Kent Chronicles" and the "North and South" series.

Michener? I'd name "Chesapeake" as my favorite. Reading the book makes me feel like I was transported right smack into the Chesapeake Bay Area. Especially if it was during the period of "Ducks and Big Guns" chapters.

[Parrcrow]

37. The Name of the Rose

I'm coming down with a cold so I don't feel like getting into it. Maybe someone else agrees and will pick it up for me. I did want to get it on to the list though.

cough cough

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

40. Amazing, no votes for the Bible... I am impressed, for once.

[amazona]

42. well...

...the Bible is very skimpy on plot and character development by modern standards in my humble view. Now if we were voting on "favorite clunky piece of historical fiction," fine.

[amazona]

41. An Instance of the Fingerpost -- Pears

...should definitely be mentioned.

His other books are sadly throwaways so I have no idea if he really wrote this one or ripped it off or what. But whoever wrote it, it's fantastic.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. An Instance of the Fingerpost--YES!

The plot is simple: It's the 17th century. An Oxford don dies, and his maid is hanged for murdering him.

But wait till you see how the story is told by four different people with four very different biases. Each one reveals something that the other conveniently left out, and at the end, we are still left with a mystery: which of the narrators is right about who the maid really was?

If you're interested in early modern history, English history, the history of religion, the history of science, or literary devices, you'll find this book fascinating.

Highly recommended.

[NewHampster]

43. The Persian Boy

Mary Renault

A wonderful tale that follows the loves, lives wars and history of Alexander the Great and his Persian Boy

"We follow him from the viewpoint of the Persian boy of the title, a narrator very different to the usual fictional protagonist. But this boy is not fictional, he really lived, and I venture to suggest that Mary Renault's tale is not half as colourful as the real thing must have been."

http://www.aviewoncities.com/zzbooks/showproduct.php?asin=0394751019

[ashling]

44. I went to a methodist College

I read the Bible, not my favorite piece of fiction, but it ranks right up there ... with the Iliad and oh yes, the Odessy, that was good too.

[ScreamingMeemie]

45. The Last Full Measure by Jeff M. Shaara

A great look into the minds of Grant and Lee as the Civil War came to an end. I personally think Grant is one of the most underrated historical figures. His story is fascinating at times. The man was a true humanist. I couldn't even begin to try and compare him with any of today's warmongers. :hi:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

46. Frank Yerby's An Odor of Sanctity

[terrya]

49. "At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie O' Neill

A story that takes place in 1912 Dublin...a friendship of two Irish boys.

This book is amazing. The writing is almost lyrical and I had such a sense of time and place...it was if I was magically transported to 1912 Dublin.

I heartily recommend this book.

Terry

[kodi]

50. josephine tey's "the daughter of time" about Richard III

.